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Originally Posted by lcjones
Hey guys,
You all know I'm just a dyed in the wool Tom Petty fan. Tom writes extremely simple pop/folk-rock lyrics and tunes. So simple in fact, that they take the bull by the horns and shake it around .He doesn't over complicate matters by delving too awfully deep into his subject matter. Yet at the same time, with his simplistic view on life, he nails his core idea and thoughts to a T. He is a master of words.
Paul Zollo wrote the book ' Conversations With Tom Petty' .
Paul was asked if he has been influenced by Tom's writings ....
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Yes, it has. He has mastered a simplicity and purity, of which I wrote earlier, and a great mastery of the song form. The man knows how to write a good chorus, for example, and great verses and bridges. This, he said, he got from Jeff Lynne, who said if the verse isn’t as good as the chorus, that you should throw it out, and create one that is.
Tom also told me once that if a chord doesn’t sound right in a song, it probably shouldn’t be there. This advice went a long way, as songwriters, including yours truly, are prone to use unusual chords and chord progressions just to do something different. Tom has shown me it doesn’t need to be different as much as it needs to be good, and pure."
Yep. Thats a fact. 
Les |
I couldn't agree more. I really like Tom Petty. I remember when he first came out, he was definitely 'alternative'. Well, whatever, he was different. In an era when Boston was king, he broke some molds.
Tom is certainly a purist, and I sure admire that. So many people want to be 'different' in their writings (both music and lyrics), understandably. But he has such a great point about just having it all be good and pure. I'll add the word 'palatable'.
I guess a songwriter needs to be conscious of who their audience is. If a writer is trying to craft lyrics that will reach a goodly number of people, then they would do well to spend time on honing the craft through study of lyrical forms, imagery, focus, etc., and most of all be open to critique.
If a songwriter doesn't care about these things, maybe they shouldn't be surprised or angry when someone critiques their work. We're all looking for a pat on the back here and there, but in the world of lyric writing, we're best when we can write something, re-work it one more time, re-work it a second time and...who knows how many times? One old saying is: "It ain't final 'till it hits vinyl". The whole point being that the audience is looking for a coherent story, in most cases. We have so much in the way of ideas around the story that often we need another point of view to help us with our focus. But as the writer, we ourselves need to critique the critique! In one songwriting forum where I used to hang out, we had a saying, 'take what you need and leave the rest'. Hey, it's your song.
But what are you trying to do with your song? Writing it for yourself so you can sing it for your friends? Writing it for your band? Writing it in the hopes that some artist might become interested in recording it? These are questions that help shape our focus for our goals as a songwriter, and will tell us the areas where we need work.
There's something else that Tom was quoted as saying. "Rhythm guitar is a trip that most people miss". How true. I know this comment belongs in the playing forums, but it just goes with Tom's attitude of purity and rock-solid basics. Writing lyrics and music is the same way. We all need to study the art of lyric writing and song construction separately and focus on each. For music writing, learning forms and learning what kind of forms are being used out there in which genres are a great start. And then stick to keeping chord selections repeatable and pure!
Sorry, just some ramblings....
Steve