Murphy’s Laws of Songwriting

Ralph Murphy
....I reiterate, that every year I look at the #1s on the previous years Billboard Charts so I can get a sense of "listener expectations" for the New Year. I do this as a business person, not a songwriter, because I'm in the "Music Business"....for better or worse!

There were 11 #1s on the Billboard Hot Country Charts in 2015
All of them had intros which means they were probably designed to accommodate the radio format...14.4 seconds

The one thing that you can count on in the Music Business as in life, is change. And change was certainly the theme for 2011! The number of songs reaching #1 was at an all time high of 34 and the number of writers matched that all time high in climbing to 80. Again this year, 50% of the singles that reached #1 (17) were written in whole or in part by the artist.

I get a lot of heat for studying only #1 records.  Strangely enough, not from the writers, publishers or artists that have one.  My feeling is that if the “business” feels it is worth promoting, pushing, bullying or outright buying a record to the top, they must be pretty confident in the “foundation” that the artist’s career is built on…..the song.  So, no matter how they got to the dance, here are the songs that went to the #1 ball.  In line with “no one throws a # 2 party” this is a look at what made it to No. 1 in 2009.

For a small business owner such as a songwriter/publisher, knowing the market is vital. Budgeting for success means looking at income (when it decides to come in!) and making informed decisions about how to spend it most effectively. Up near the top of the list of expenditures (almost right next to eating) are demo costs. The financial outlay for demonstration recordings has risen to $750 - $1,000 per song. So, if you write 30 songs a year and only have $10,000 in your demo budget, you're going to have to make some hard choices.

As you go through your song's story and the verses, check your rhyme scheme. Whatever it is -- change it in your chorus. For instance, change an A B A B rhyme scheme to A B C B .

The reason you do this is to subtly alert listeners that something important is coming. A change in rhyme scheme combined with the change in melody going into the chorus should have them ready for the hook.

A couple of effective ways to get the most out of your hook (90 percent of the time, your title is the final line or hook) are to:

Every time a writer (or writers) finishes a song, the inevitable question comes up: How should this piece of work be demoed? Let's start by defining what we are taking about. Demo is short for "demonstration," which Webster's Dictionary tells us means "an explanation by example, a practical showing of how something works or is used."

So, step back from your song and take a long, hard look at it. What are its strong points, and what is the simplest, most eloquent way to show it off, i.e. to demo it?

After performing at a songwriters' showcase recently, an A&R person I'd known for years asked me why -- as I obviously sang reasonably well -- she had never heard my voice on any of the song demos I'd pitched to her. Here are the four reasons I gave -- think about them:

I was having lunch recently with a new writer just signed to his first major publishing deal. He told me that his publisher had been setting up co-writing appointments for him with established writers, and that he had some questions on how to approach writing on such a different level. I thought addressing his two biggest questions here might be useful to writers in similar situations.

I'm straying from our usual format just a bit because I feel the need to speak to you about how to make your songs stronger in the long-term rather than in the short term.