In a Trivia game focused on music I read a card:

"What album hit the top of the pop, R&B, and jazz charts all at the same time?"

The answer? Sade, "Promise."

A good song transcends category to appeal to listeners whose main listening is restricted to one or the other of the popular genres.

Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" was a country hit. The cover for the movie, "The Bodyguard," by its star, Whitney Houston, was not 'country' and was an even bigger hit (I think), getting even more plays and sales than Dolly's original. I think I heard Dolly say something along the lines of, "I paid a lot of bills with Whitney's cover of that song." And someone will re-release it in the future and hit again with it. It has that classic staying power.

A song can, and should work in more than one genre. I often try works as a blues, or simply increase or decrease the tempo, to see what I can learn about them, the phrasing, the prosody and execution. Most will work in some other way than the one in which it was written. Sometimes the original is my favorite way, but sometimes I end up with two versions I like equally.

You can also rewrite the lyric to be sung by male or female singers.

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