Essay: "Critical Listening".

When I write the first Line is of strategic importance. It's the Line that suggests a story I want to hear more about.

"On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair, warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air."
That's an incomplete sentence, but The Eagles had this southwest, desert 'persona' going with their other Songs, and "Hotel" fit right in. I was hooked, and wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is (pure?), and she's buying a Stairway To Heaven."
Complete sentence. And the poetry of it, Rhythm and Rhyme, and the idea of someone buying a stairway to heaven, hooked my interest.

I hear too many recordings where the Lyric is not audible, buried in the mix, enunciated poorly, and the first Line doesn't get through my ear in a recognizable form. If I get a word or two they're ineffectual in 'Hook Factor'. For want of the words the Line fails. For want of the Line the Stanza fails. For want of the Stanza the Song fails. The Chorus can't make sense of the Verse, if I can understand the Chorus at all, because I didn't 'get' the Verse.

Folks try to crowd words into a space in time, smearing them over the beat, the Rhythm, and don't 'hit' the beat with Rhyme. It doesn't work. Failing to 'Hook' my interest I drift off to other thoughts, stop paying attention, and notice when the Song ends that I don't know anything about the Song that just played in my ears, or very little. THE Hook, the title Line, might be 'memorable', and retained, but the overall appeal isn't there. I'm generally not interested in hearing the Song again, and certainly not willing to put my money in the jukebox, or to buy a hard copy to own and listen to, or download to enable listening any time I 'want'. I don't 'want'.

"Hotel California", July 14, 2021, was still a pleasure to listen to. Listen to the Lyric, and observe the guitar work, the percussion. This is a hell of a composition. When people cite the length of these two particular Songs as justification for the length of their own compositions, I say, "Yeah! Write a Song like that and you can probably get it played." Just a long Song that goes on without good poetry, or a good storyline, isn't likely to work. The Leadership Decision-Makers in radio and other industry offices, Gatekeepers, aren't likely to be Hooked and think it can make them money. If it doesn't Hook them they will probably doubt it will Hook an audience.

As a Song-Writer YOU are the first listener. You should be Hooked the same way you hope others will be.
But we're often Hooked by the feel of the 'emoting' as we sing a Lyric, entertaining for us, but without our critical evaluation of whether the Lyric and Melody have 'Hook Factor' for other listeners. Again, that first Line; does it suggest a story I want to hear more of? Or is it bland, obscure, uninteresting in Lyrical content, Rhythmic appeal, and supported with continuity of Lyrical coherence, Rhyme, and arrangement (instrumental accompaniment)? If I can't understand the words, I'm drifting away to think about the girl with the twinkle in her...whatever she's got twinkling. I'll notice when the Song ends, but they lost me, either from the get-go, or somewhere along the way. I came 'Un-Hooked'.

I don't have to know what the writer intended in a Lyric. If I can conceive something it works. "Hotel California" comes across as some nightmare, like an arrival in a 'hell' of his own making. The Singer-Character becomes obvious, a pronoun, 'I', appearing in Lines, so we get a sense of this First-Person story-teller, telling what's happening, somewhat in real time, as it happens. Very engaging of the imagination.

Yeah. Write a Song like that.

The Song, the Lyrical story, sung, communicated, can give you a Structure upon which you can build the Melody to which it is sung, and the instrumentation, the Production to support it, any way you want. Tempo, key, nuances, fills, percussion, harmony vocals, can all work from that basic Structure of the Lyric.

Even an instrumental composition can benefit from Structure. Lyrical Verses are Musical Movements. They begin, move through, 'passage', and end. They Repeat, Repetition supplying Structure. A listener can relate to Structure, or be lost without it, listening to a meandering composition that doesn't Repeat.

They Change, change supplying renewal of 'Hook-Factor', a refreshing of listener interest, avoiding monotony of 'Too Much' Repetition. It's an elusive concept of 'Enough', versus 'Not Enough' and 'Too Much'. Change is accomplished by the Chorus, or Chorus Refrain, or by a Bridge. If you analyze Songs you think 'do it right' you'll probably be able to perceive Structure, Repetition, Change, and the timing of them. Had they Repeated, perhaps a third time, without Change after the second Repeat, you might have drifted off to other thoughts, and only noticed when the Song ended that you weren't 'listening', weren't entertained. It was just background noise. If, after a second Repeat, they Changed, with a Chorus or Bridge, renewing your interest, you might have been attentive when they found a third Lyrical Verse, third Repeat of a Musical Movement, and welcomed hearing it again, because you 'learned' it and liked it the first two times. You can also analyze Songs you think 'don't do it right'. Why don't you like that Song?

The things you learn analyzing Songs you don't like and do like should manifest in your own compositions, being aware of 'Enough' Repetition, or 'Not Enough', or 'Enough' Change, or 'Not Enough', or 'Too Much'. Not Enough Repetition, no Structure to relate to, Too Much Change. Too Much Repetition, monotonous, lets me come Un-Hooked.

Enough coherence of ideas to tell an interesting Lyrical story, or Not Enough, or Too Much. You decide. The 'Enough' concept can apply to volume, percussion, every element of the sound, every element of the composition.

If you're not a critical listener of your own Songs you're probably not a critical listener of other peoples' either. Tastes vary. A person's reasons for liking or disliking a piece of music may have criteria far different from your own. They 'buy' some new music and want to share it with you. They 'like' it. You don't. It was worth their money to them. Your money stays in your pocket. Your own compositions and recordings have the same potential to earn money, for all the reasons people buy music. Or, they may not please 'Enough' people to get shared and promoted and sell.

Keep exploring. The possibilities are endless. Despite thousands of years of Song-Writing we have not exhausted the possibilities. Someone will write a new Song and masses of people will agree that it is a good Song. It might become a classic. If you're studious, and an explorer, you could be that Song-Writer.

There will always be another song to be written. Someone will write it. Why not you? www.garyeandrews.com