Spacedog,

In relation to your comment ...

Quote:
I've been trying to write songs with a prechorus but haven't made one work yet.

I personally find that it's more productive for me to use what people call a 'prechorus' as a 'transitional bridge' (this is Pat Pattison's concept). As a bridge, it links the verse to the chorus when the verse does not quite have enough content to establish the chorus properly.

Quote:
For example, consider the following verse/chorus ...

Verse
Red, yellow, green, blue,
This perfect rainbow reminds me of you
Standing here getting soaking wet,
I know I'll never forget
I'll never forget

Chorus
I can see sunshine on the horizon
Clouds are drifting away
Sunshine on the horizon
Weaving a whole new day



While the above kind of works, I find myself thinking that I might be able to strengthen the verse's relationship to the chorus by adding a transitional bridge (maybe two or three lines will do the job).

What about ...

Quote:
Verse
Red, yellow, green, blue,
This perfect rainbow reminds me of you
Standing here getting soaking wet,
I know I'll never forget
I'll never forget
You showed me how to get the most out of life
You showed me the road to travel so I could survive

Chorus
I can see sunshine on the horizon
Clouds are drifting away
Sunshine on the horizon
Weaving a whole new day


Lyrically, it's still got a way to go but to my ears, the transitional bridge has given whole new meaning to the chorus. It's also helped to solidify the verse/chorus relationship. In addition, this bridge has got me thinking about many more lyric possibilities for a second verse. One of these possibilities could be to write about the past. The same transitional bridge could then possibly be used at the end of verse 2.

One other thing to note is that I've changed the poetic meter of the transitional bridge. This helps define it as a new section and, because I've lengthened the bridge's lines, it gives a feeling of lyric deceleration. This will help to make the chorus feel like it 'lifts' because it will seem to accelerate after the transitional bridge.

Hope these thoughts are useful!
Noel

Last edited by Noel96; 03/31/14 01:53 AM.
MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2025