Songwriter Advisor Blog

…………………….Tune Sleuth
After receiving a confidential informant report that “I’m Still A Guy” was Brad Paisley’s seventh consecutive #1 single as a country artist, I was left with no choice but to investigate further to find out what all the hoopla was about:

My findings will be based partly on facts and a lot of objectivity and subjectivity, and those songs found in violation will be subject to the full extent of songwriting law!

As a free song reference, I can click virtually anywhere and audition either the promotional video or hear the audio file. For this song, I visited AOL music to hear and analyze the single.  Like any other consumer, If I like what I hear I will purchase his CD to support and enjoy his music.
Most artist web sites provide lyrics as a courtesy for their fans.  So grab or write down the lyrics and follow along:

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                        “Im Still A Guy”
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Writers:
Brad Paisley, Kelley Lovelace, Lee Thomas Miller

                  Here are the first few lines:

When you see a deer
You see Bambi
And I see antlers up on the wall
When you see a lake
You think picnics
And I see a largemouth up under that log……
……..

To conduct my investigation, first I’ll run the song through the song checklist found at:
http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/songwriting-checklist.html  I will then point out good techniques used as well as possible flaws in the song’s construction.

Most importantly, at the conclusion I’ll list all the cool techniques we can all apply to improve our songwriting.

 
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1. Song Title
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As in many country tunes it appears the title came before any of the final lyrics in this song because of its purposeful lyrical structure totally based on the theme, “I’m Still A Guy.” **Picking the song title first is the best and easiest way to structure lyrics around the theme because it is always clear from the start!
   

I guess I’ll have to ask one of the writers if the title was picked first, but until then, let’s just use that assumption for the rest of this song investigation.
   

The meaning of the song’s title becomes abundantly clear after the first verse, and this works well for this song.  But another great strategy would be to delay the payoff of “I’m Still A Guy” until somewhere in the first chorus, or even the final verse or chorus!

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2. Song Form
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The song is in Verse-Verse-Chorus-Verse-Instrumental-Chorus-Verse (AABACBA).  Wow! Talk about an interesting song form!  This song form has been used before, but you can hear how interesting this song becomes when, after the third verse, the song goes into an instrumental instead of the usual chorus.
      
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3. Hook/Chorus
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The phrasing in the chorus starts with lead-in notes before the downbeat of the chorus (And I’ll pour out my heart…..).  This is usually the 2nd most powerful way to begin vocal phrasing in a chorus (right on the downbeat is usually the strongest)–but this depends on many variables such as song tempo, lyric structure of other sections, etc.
  

Notice the hook “I’m still a Guy” is NOT contained in the chorus.  It occurs in the end of each verse and ends up making the verses more memorable than the chorus.

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4. The Verses/Pre-choruses
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The intro begins with a sweet acoustic guitar until the vocal starts in the first verse.  During the 4th bar of the first verse (And I see antlers up on that wall) an electric guitar plays an ascending riff into the third line (when you see a lake….) making the third line explode powerfully into the rest of that verse. 
   

The second verse builds even more momentum by incorporating a cool, busy, underlying electric guitar riff until the chorus strikes!  The song continues to build momentum into the first chorus and the first chorus has only slightly more intensity than the second verse. 

    ****If you were to play this song with a solo instrument, you’d start quietly for the first two lines, add intensity for the 3rd line by playing notes louder and perhaps adding more notes with your finger picking (guitar) or finger work (piano) for the rest of the two verses, and finally add even more intensity during
the chorus by playing straight chords.

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5. The Bridge
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The song doesn’t contain a bridge but it does have an instrumental part after the third verse, just as we’re expecting the second chorus, and it works well!  Let’s put this one into our neat little bag of tricks.

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 6. Point of View
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It’s hard to argue with the successful point of view used by Brad Paisley in this song, 1st person narrative. 
Paisley uses tongue-in-cheek humor about his perspective on how guys and girls have different views, something he’s already sung about before.
   

However, this song could also have been easily written in 3rd person—check this out:

{Chorus}
And he’ll pour out his heart
Hold your hand in the car
Write a love song that makes you cry…..

Also as an example, in 3rd person, the 1st verse would be:

When she sees a deer she sees Bambi
And he sees antlers up on the wall
When she sees a lake she thinks picnics
And he sees a largemouth up under that log

The point here is:
Always try your song in all three different points of view.  I actually think this song would be even funnier and more interesting if the writers would have chosen 3rd person narrative.  I’ll bet you these pros at least thought about it!

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7. Rewrite
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Like most country songs, “I’m Still A Guy” appears to be rewritten and polished to near-perfection.  There’s hardly a wasted word and the song moves logically forward. 
   

It’s hard to find country songs by major artists that are not super-polished, because the Nashville, TN music industry demands it!  There are so many great songwriters in country music and many industry pros swear the best songwriting in the world is right over there in that city called Nashville!  It’s easy for me to believe that based on the acts I’ve seen and heard performing at Music City.
   

I’m a firm believer that if you want to learn general songwriting principles these days, you should consider studying some of the best modern country songwriting and perhaps country songs that cross over into the pop arena. 

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 Verdict
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Although this is not my favorite Paisley song it’s a strong one that points out a few helpful songwriting cues for all of us.  see LESSONS LEARNED below>>> 
   

It’s easy to see why this was such a monstrous hit.  Although it’s a great song, if you’re a devout country music fan, if you could have listened to the top ten country songs as of July 15, 2008 you probably would have heard what I heard–the top ten was a little below usual standards as far as quality. 

But this happens in every genre, and usually doesn’t last very long–there are simply too many great writers and artists in this genre!  
   

There have been no detectable songwriting crimes committed in this song, so Mr. Paisley, you don’t have to worry about an officer knocking on your door and confiscating your guitars and notepads via a search warrant.  Tell your co-writers to rest easy and write another one of your monster hits for our listening pleasure!

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Lessons Learned
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It’s hard to pick out any obvious flaws in this song’s
construction.     
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Here are techniques and cool tips we’ve learned from this song to improve our songwriting:
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1. Write a song by coming up with a clear-cut, deliberate title, referring to a person’s characteristic traits, and how they affect you.  An obvious hit that used this approach was Shania Twain’s single “You’re Still The One.”

2. Put your hook/song title at the end of each verse for a change and either include or exclude it from the chorus.

3. Vary your verbs, i.e., When you see a deer you SEE Bambi
                         when you see a lake you THINK picnic

4. Instead of going into the 2nd chorus after either the 2nd or third verse; go into another section such as an instrumental or a bridge. 

5. If you’re using humor in your song, use it throughout the song or in a consistent manner such as the next-to-last line of each verse or any other section you see fit.

6. Consider adding intensity during the middle or end of the first verse instead of the usual 2nd verse or prechorus.  

7. Remember to try all “points of view” either during your songwriting or during a rewrite.

…………………….Tune Sleuth

After receiving a confidential informant’s report that“She Was” by Mark Chesnutt was one of the greatest all-time Country Music tear-jerkers, I was left with no choice but to investigate further to see if it could benefit our readers:

My findings will be based partly on facts and a lot of objectivity and subjectivity, and those songs found in violation will be subject to the full extent of songwriting law!

As a free song reference, I can click virtually anywhere and audition either the promotional video or hear the audio file. For this song, I simply played the song on acoustic guitar from memory to really hear and appreciate it in its simple form.

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“She Was”
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Writers:

Jimmy Melton
Neal Coty

She started her new life ten dollars in debt
That’s all it took to get started back then
A trip to the courthouse across that state line
No one could stop her
She’d made up her mind
He was eighteen,and she wasn’t

But she said she was
And never thought twice
And came back home as my daddy’s wife
She just shook her head when her mama said:
“Are you sure he’s the one?”
And she was

He took a job and farmed on the side
He made the ends meet,but she kept’em tied
Changes were comin’ to their little world
She said “What would you like?
“A boy or a girl?
And he said,”Are you?”

And she said she was
And never thought twice
‘Bout takin’ the next step in building their lives
Soon there were three and she tried to be
Everything to us
And she was

Those precious moments turned into years
In what seemed like the blink of an eye
I held her hand as I leaned down to ask her
“Momma,are you ready to say goodbye?”

And she said she was
But she thought twice
Holdin’ my hand as she let go her life
Daddy always said a woman like her
Would be hard to give up
And she was (She was)

If there ever was a picture of love

She was

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To conduct my investigation, first I’ll run the song through the song checklist.
I will then point out good techniques used as well as possible flaws in the song’s construction.

Most importantly, at the conclusion I’ll list all the cool techniques we can all apply to improve our songwriting.

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1. Song Title
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The song title was effectively used in this song. It provided a way to help color the end of each chorus differently.

E.g.,

End of 1st Chorus

—She just shook her head when her mama said:
—”Are you sure he’s the one?”
—And she was

End of 2nd Chorus

—Soon there were three and she tried to be
—Everything to us
—And she was

End of 3rd Chorus

—Daddy always said a woman like her
—Would be hard to give up
—And she was (She was)

End of song

—If there ever was a picture of love
—She was

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If you read the above you’ll see how this well-written song makes sense with just the last few lines of each section.
This is a common pro technique used to bring the song into clear focus. If you’re writing a “story” song and you plan on changing the chorus lyrics throughout your song, you can
start a song by writing the last few lines containing the song title/hook and make it the end of your first chorus. Then proceed to the 2nd and 3rd chorus,and do the same while moving the story forward.
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The song title also gives us interesting possibilities in that it used a personal pronoun (She) followed by a past tense verb (Was).

—(Personal pronouns) I, you, she, he, it, we, they

I can immediately think of a few potential titles with this
method:

I Knew……………I might use it for an (R&B) song
You Lost………….” ” ” (Country) ”
She Tried…………” ” ” (Country)
He Prayed…………” ” ” (Inspirational)
It Hurts………….” ” ” (Pop, R&B)
We Listened……….” ” ” (Rock)
They Lived………..” ” ” (Rock)

I wrote the “genres” so you can see my personal idea of the type of song which popped into my head based on the titles.  Obviously, everyone would have a different opinion on what type of song to write based on the titles because all of us have different perspectives and influences!
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2. Song Form
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The song form used in this one is:
verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus

This classic song form is virtually foolproof when it comes to attracting the masses because it’s the one most people are familiar with in popular music, regardless of the genre.

The writers definitely chose the correct song form to drive home the song’s message with each verse and chorus. In each section the singer tells the story in logical progression:

1. Before he was born, his mother assured her own mother his father was “the right one” before marrying him.

2. His parents struggled but were successful in build a quality life around their three children.

3. Time passed ever-so-quickly, his mother passed away, and his father had always told him “A woman like her would be hard to give up” to which he affirmed “She was!”
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3. Hook/Chorus
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The melody in the chorus shows contrast by having generally higher notes and right off the bat, the phrasing of the first two lines in the chorus are shorter than any other phrasings in the song:

—But she said she was
—And never thought twice

The contrast makes the first two lines of each chorus stick out like a sore thumb that’s been healed!

Notice also how the lyrics in each chorus change after the first two lines until the hook “She was.”
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4. The Verses/Pre-choruses
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Notice how the verse immediately grabs you with the totally original line, “She started her new life ten dollars in debt.”

The verse contains an uncommon amount of bars; 10 instead of the usual 8 to 16! The last two bars contain the lyrics, “He was eighteen,and she wasn’t.” This is an excellent way to get to the chorus quickly. You simply add a line after the 8th bar, and just leave it out there suspended (as if it were dangling) with
or without a rhyme to create anticipation into the chorus.
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5. The Bridge
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The bridge takes you into a totally new dimension because it’s much higher in pitch than any other section, then it drops back down in pitch before the final chorus. The result? After the final chorus lines, “And she said she was, But she thought twice,  Holdin’ my hand as she let go her life” the song busts out with more intensity than ever with the help of the following simple technique: You can use this technique at any point in a song and create surprise and momentum by lowering the intensity of musical and vocal delivery,then by intensifying at a point you feel it will give the song the most impact. Experiment!
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6. Point of View
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The writers successfully used “third person narrative” which is custom-made for story songs.
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7. Rewrite
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The song was obviously rewritten and polished. There are no wasted words.
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Verdict
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Lessons Learned
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Here are techniques and cool tips we’ve learned from this song to improve our songwriting:
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1. You can structure the idea of your song more effectively and keep the story progressing logically by writing the last 2 to 3 lines of any section (verse, chorus, etc.) before writing any other part of the song.

2. If you’re writing a story song and you would like to change the lines of each chorus, use the above method and remember to use the title consistently in those lines.

3. We found a cool way to develop song titles; Use a personal pronoun = (I, you, she, he, it, we, they), followed by a past tense verb.

I.e.,”She Was” – “We Listened” – “They Lived”

4. We were reminded the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus not only still works well in modern music, it’s the easiest way to write a song that appeals to listeners.

5. At the beginning of a chorus, to add contrast and make your song more interesting, create the first two lines using shorter phrases while singing that part with generally higher notes than in the verse or prechorus.

6. Spend time creating an awesome opening line or lines; the rest of your song will be much clearer and more importantly, your listener will be hooked immediately.

7. Experiment by using 6, 10, and 14 bars on the first verse instead of the usual 8, 12, and 16!

8. If you add a line for 2 bars at the end of an 8 or 12 bar verse without rhyming it, you can draw focus to that line, and it’ll add anticipation and intensity to the chorus.

9. If you want to emphasize a certain part of a song, sing and play the part immediately before it, with much less intensity.
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Enjoy!