How to define the message of your song?

written by Melanie Naumann

Do you wonder if it's necessary to express a kind of deeper meaning in a song? Does there need to be a takeaway for the listener?

Isn’t it enough to have a catchy melody and let everyone hit the dance floor?

Sometimes that’s cool, but if you want your song to resonate with your listeners and make an impact or even change their lives, you need to tell a story in your song so that your message can 'bypass your audience's critical mind to touch their heart and change their worldview' (Shawn Coyne)

It's only through storytelling that we can write meaningful and impactful lyrics that deliver a valuable takeaway WITHOUT falling into the trap of preaching to our audience.

How can we define the main takeaway or the message of a song?

If you’re familiar with Jack Perricone and his book›Great Songwriting Techniques‹ he defined the central idea as something

According to Jack Perricone, the central idea is something "your song revolves around and assumes direction from."

To better understand this definition, let’s turn to the approach that Robert McKee, a famous screenwriter, takes on when defining the controlling idea of a story.

Because a message is not just an overall theme or an inspiring idea that your song revolves around, like Perricone suggested, but it’s actually extremely clear and specific.

McKee says:

A controlling idea must be boiled down to the fewest possible words and cannot be longer than a one-sentence statement.

If you need to write more than a paragraph explaining what your song is about, then the message of your song might not be clear at all.

The controlling idea must describe the climactic value charge of the entire story, either positively or negatively.

Each story is about something abstract like love to hate, justice to injustice, life to death, or vice versa.

Your story's progression, for example, from meeting someone new to starting a relationship, is a positive progression.

On the other hand, if it’s a song about a couple breaking up, regarding the value of love, it's a negative progression from being together to being alone.

The message must be as specific as possible about the cause of the change in the value charge.

So, if you write about a breakup, the message of your song should include the reason why the breakup happened.

If we put the criteria of:

including an abstract value,
a progression of a value charge
as well as the reason for the change into one sentence,

then you’ve got yourself the message of your song.

Song examples that have a powerful message.

Let’s look at an example to understand that theory better:

If you have a song that’s similar to the ending of Romeo and Juliet’s love story, then your message could be:

»Love conquers all but death.«

So you see it’s a very short statement.

Only 5 words. We have the value in there, which is Love, and we have the cause of the change: death.

So when I talk about the message in a song, I’m not referring to political statements or how to change the world.

Of course, there are songs about that like Placebo’s ›Allergic (To Thoughts of Mother Earth)‹, Green Day’s American Idiot, Holiday or 21st Century Breakdown, or the introduction of radical politics into the music by the Beatles.

More often than this a song has a message that can be as simple as:

»Love fails when promises are made to win someone back, but no actions are taken.« – I’ll be there for you by Bon Jovi
»Betray me and you will suffer the consequences.« – Infra-Red by Placebo
»Danger to life results when a person is so focused on attaining what they want and is blind to the threats surfacing around them.« – 'Like A Rolling Stone' by Bob Dylan
»Tyranny reigns when the justice systeme is flawed and the person on the stand does not get a fair trial.« – 'The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia' by Vicki Lawrence
»Meaning prevails when we believe in ourselves and know that we are enough just the way we are.« – 'I'm Just Ken' by Ryan Gosling
»Love triumphs when you are able to move on after a failed relationship and don't give up on love.« – 'Last Christmas' by WHAM!

Why a message embedded in the song lyrics matters.

The most successful songs of all time have a message embedded in the story told in the lyrics.

For example, let’s look at Placebo. Many of their songs on their first albums revolved around the controlling idea of staying true to yourself.

Just look at 'Come Home', ' 36 Degrees', or 'Nancy Boy'. They are all about how your life gains meaning if you stay true to who you are, even in a multi-layered and imperfect world.

Or there’s Green Day who rebel and want to be the Minority.

There’s My Chemical Romance who invites everyone to join the Black Parade to become the saviors of the beaten and the damned.

Songs that deliver a meaningful message can even save someone's life.

Here’s what Eminem said in his song: Sing for the Moment:

"Or for anyone who’s ever been through shit in they lives

'Til they sit and they cry at night, wishing they die

'Til they throw on a rap record, and they sit, and they vibe

We’re nothing to you, but we’re the f***in' shit in their eyes"

Sing for the Moment © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., BMG Rights Management

This is how impactful songs can be.

Whatever music artist you are a fan of, chances are, they make you feel like there’s someone out there who understands you.

There’s comfort in that thought.

It's something special.

And you can be that special person to someone else because of the message you embedd in your songs.

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Melanie.

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