In my last book, I talked about how I learned a lot from going to songwriter's conventions. I was really interested in getting feedback on my songs, and I was fortunate enough to have around 8-10 other students also getting feedback on their own work.
Sure, these critiques could sometimes be tough sessions, but I always came away with gold from these sessions, not just from my own songs but from others' songs being critiqued. And it was at one of these sessions I heard about a second songwriter’s secret weapon.
The Songwriter’s Secret Weapon II
I already knew songwriters had a Secret Weapon, one I mentioned earlier in my first book, which is about how people are deeply moved by LOVE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY – see here. However, during song critiques, I realized there was a Second Secret Weapon, one I found I’d use more and more.
It was simply this:
When wanting to write a successful commercial song, artists are not looking for middle-of-the-road songs, but they are looking for songs that are:
At the edge of the table.
What does this mean? I was initially thinking they meant that if you take a circular table and point to the middle of the table, most songwriters are writing songs like that. And that’s true. But, if you point to the edge of the table, that's what artists are most looking for. Songs like this are more likely to be heard and cut than songs that are similar to all of the others but not so different that they fall off the table entirely.
Examples
Here are some examples –
Rock: Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” - where did that song come from? For me, that would have been well and truly off the edge of the table, but it's worked, clearly
Pop: Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park”, nicely sung for Jimmy, Richard Harris, and Donna Summer, but it’s pretty at the edge of the table, lyrically
Pop: The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, another right at the edge lyrically
Take, for example, the top 3 songs in the overall charts in the UK a little later, we had:
Lil Nas X – Old Town Road (remix feat Billy Ray Cyrus), at the edge of two tables: Country and Hip-hop/Rap
Billie Eilish – Bad Guy, Alternative, space, speech, and right at the edge of production, too (“Duh”)
Lizzo – Juice, Pop, 1980 samples and speech and shouts, again production edge of the table
In all of these, hugely successful songs have something either in the writing of the music or, often not, writing in the lyrics that make it away from the middle of the table of others who might be writing that kind of genre.
Question
Here are a few questions –
What successful songs in the genre you write are ‘edge of the table’ songs?
What is about them that makes them so successful in your genre?
Is there anything you can do to make your own songs more edge of the table, further away from the middle of all other songs but not so far away that they go off the edge of the table?
How about trying to write a new edge of the table song?
Hope this helps with your songwriting!
Simon.