Quote:
If you are telling a story, imagery can be whatever you want it to be.

If you are trying to relate, sometimes "vague specifics" work well.



Universal Lyrics.... that's what they're called. They tell a story but they omit any specifics that lock the song into a narrow area, whether it's a person or geographic in nature.

" I met Linda down by the Swanee river..." might be a great line in your song and mean something to you, but Betty, Carol, and Susan might have a harder time relating to it as well as their boyfriends.

Writing specifics is OK for artists.... Chesney wrote quite a few songs about Mary. Buffett wrote about a specific town called Margarittaville.... well maybe that one was in his head..... or bottle as the case might be.

But...getting back to Universal lyrics.... if you are writing for film and TV you absolutely must be writing using universal lyrics. Being specific with names of people, towns, places, cars, stores, whatever, immediately limits your song to a very, very narrow possibility of ever being used. If you're singing about Mary, and the leading lady in the film is Joan, nope... can't use that song about Mary. If you're writing about how great a town New York City is, sorry, the movie is set in Dallas Texas and that song won't work.

Universal lyrics, when properly written, can easily conjure up a personal story in the listener's mind which allows him or her to insert themselves into that song's story line.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with being very specific in a song. Hit songs are written and sung that fit that form all the time.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.