In songwriting, what is a hook?

When I was starting out as a songwriter, this was one of my most frustrating questions. I would meet with publishers and record companies, and they’d say, "Great lyrics, nice music—where’s the hook?"

I’d say something like, "What’s a hook."

They’d answer back that it was that, you know, thing you could "hang your hat on" or other such garbage.

Simply put, a hook is something that stays in your head the first time you hear the song. It can be a repetitive lyric/music combination, or it can be a musical figure like the slide guitar in George Harrison’s "My Sweet Lord."

There are some tricks to coming up with hooks. It’s worth taking a minute to define one of the classic kinds of hooks that works so often in formulaic writing. You can find a lot of lyric/music hooks in the choruses of songs. They often are, or contain, the name of the song. Some examples:

Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
It Only Takes a Minute, Girl (to fall in love) - Tavares
She’s Gone – Hall and Oates
Take it Easy – The Eagles
Peaceful Easy Feeling – The Eagles
Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown – Jim Croce
One Thing – Finger Eleven
Calling All Angels – Train
Another Day in Paradise – Phil Collins
American Pie – Don McLean

The list could go on and on, and there's a reason for that. If you can come up with a hook, you know what your song is headed. Without it, you are meandering all over the place until you find one, so I like to have the hook figured out first.

Take a look at this:

When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all
I’m on your side, when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found

Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down

*from Paul Simon, Bridge Over Troubled Water

Notice that, since the hook, "Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down,' is SO strong, that it becomes a sort of psychological magnet that encourages every line to lead up to it. This is the magic of a good hook. It helps the song almost write itself.

Don't get me wrong, I’m sure Paul found lots of challenges for his formidable songwriting talent to turn this song into the masterpiece that it is. But I submit that it was probably easier to write if he came up with the hook first.

Pay attention to that the next time you write. Try to find a phrase, as I mentioned in another post (Where do ideas come from?) that encapsulates the idea of the whole song. Then make sure every line of the verse leads up to that payoff, the chorus (and the hook line).



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Where do ideas come from?

Who knows. I've had some of my best while I've been doing something mindless, like ironing, showering, or washing dishes (yes I do those things, despite rumors to the contrary).

In Nashville songwriting circles, "ideas" are those unique phrase turns, exploded clichés, and "wish I'd thought of that" moments. There are a million of them, and they go from the ridiculous to the sublime.

An old lost friend of mine, Nashville songwriter Rick Giles, teamed up with Eddie Rabbitt to write "I Love A Rainy Night." What made that an idea worth using? The answer is that it gave the songwriters something that they felt they could expand upon--and other ideas that supported it. It's simple, but if you listen to the song, you can almost see them sitting in a room with a couple of guitars or a piano, thinking of all the reasons they loved a rainy night. It spoke to them, and they were able to make it speak to us.

An idea for a songwriter has to either be unique, or has to be something that inspires them to explain it in a unique or new way. "Beer for my Horses"? Now that's unique. How about "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than have frontal lobotomy?" It's Five O'clock Somewhere, if I told you you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?, she's got to be somebody's baby, Magaritaville, Lord have mercy on the frozen man, I've got friends in low places--and all the lyrics buried deeper in well-written songs. One of my favorite ideas was from Paul Simon (despite its musician-oriented focus), "I was underneath the stars, playing my guitar, just thankin' the Lord for my fingers."

I have a few tricks for coming up with ideas, but it is going to depend on you as to how you use them. Different phrases will speak to me than will speak to you. It's what gets your creative juices flowing.

When I'm dry of ideas, I do a lot of reading. Sting used to read the classics--even the Bible, though he's not very religious. I used to read a lot of self-help stories (and not just about sex) in women's magazines, because I thought it helped me develop a more sensitive approach to my writing. It worked pretty well, too.

One day I was walking by a bookshelf at a savings and loan where I worked. There were a bunch of old, out of print books on the shelf just for effect. I read "Give Sorrow Words" on the spine of one of them. I had to write the song, and I never read the book. Another was an article about women fighting abuse and rape. It was called "Take Back the Night." I used it in a totally different way, but what a great phrase.

Another source of ideas can be your own vision. What sort of title would look good on a CD cover? When you come up with the title, do you see a video or pictures in your mind? It helps you come up with ideas that have gravitas, bold and weighty.

I've been talking about mostly titles, but there are ideas deeper inside the lyrics, too. My song, Man on the Moon--written years before REM's--has some okay examples:

"I'm makin' love to you and you're here, but you're gone
It seems like we're both in tune, but we're singing different songs"

That's a real oldie for me, but in context of the time and the song, it was pretty good.

I've discovered a really interesting source of ideas recently. Horse names. Go to the paper right now and look at the section on local horse races. A lot of effort went into naming these horses, and I'll bet you'll get some ideas just reading them.

Every once in a while, I'll tune in Delilah's syndicated romantic request show on the radio, just to hear people's stories. A few months ago I was driving home late, and a guy came on the line. She asked him to tell her about his girlfriend. He said "If God could sleep, he'd dream of this woman" because she was so beautiful. I had the chorus written before I pulled into the driveway (see www.RyanRocks.com/videos.htm).

Let's Write Some Songs

I’ve noticed some real schlock songwriting out there lately, and my friends have been pestering me to teach songwriting classes…or at least a master class. When I realized that some of that schlock was my own songs, I figured it was time to re-examine the basics. This is gonna help me as much as it’s gonna help you…I hope.

Teaching songwriting is like teaching judgment or creativity, it really can’t be done. It is up to the individual to figure a lot of these things out for themselves. However, a mentor can at least tell you when you’ve got a good idea, have turned a clever phrase, or have lost your audience because you’ve gotten undisciplined or confusing.

In subsequent posts, I will talk about hooks, ideas, rhymes, structure, and a few tricks to keep you from writing yourself into a corner.

Do you have a lyric, demo, or recording that you want someone to critique? Send it along or post it here. I’ll be honest and gentle. I’m no Paula, but I’m no Simon either.

Ryan Michael Galloway
972-841-0226
http://www.GigsterClinics.com
http://www.WeDontNeedNoStinkingRecordCompany.com