John Lennon's 'EASY' Songwriting Formula

[00:00] in 1983 David Bowie whilst touring

[00:02] Australia was interviewed by Molly

[00:04] Meldrum and talked about how much he

[00:06] admired John lenon for the way his

[00:08] lyrics and songwriting really cut

[00:09] through and in one beautiful moment

[00:11] during that interview David B recalled

[00:13] something that John Leonard had once

[00:15] said to him it's very easy all you have

[00:17] to do is say what you mean make it rhyme

[00:20] and put a BackBeat to it and sure when

[00:22] you say it like that it does sound easy

[00:25] and almost unhelpful to us mere mortals

[00:27] but if we examine that statement a

[00:29] little more and zoom in on each of those

[00:31] three elements perhaps we can discover

[00:33] some of the secrets to John Lennon's

[00:34] incredible songwriting so in this video

[00:36] I'm going to break down those three

[00:37] elements go through some specific songs

[00:39] in John's catalog to really bring these

[00:41] Concepts to life and find out if it is

[00:43] after all very easy number one say what

[00:46] you

[00:47] mean we can interpret this a number of

[00:50] different ways but for practical reasons

[00:52] let's start with this idea that if

[00:53] you're going to write a song about

[00:54] something a good place to start is to

[00:56] write about a feeling that you have on a

[00:59] particular subject because one of the

[01:00] traps we can fall into as songwriters is

[01:02] moving too quickly through the process

[01:04] trying to focus on lyrics and chords and

[01:07] Melodies and rhythms all at the same

[01:08] time before we're really clear on what

[01:11] this song is all about what it is we

[01:13] have to say what we can do with this say

[01:15] what you mean statement is divide it

[01:17] further into two parts the first part is

[01:19] find out what you want to say and then

[01:21] the second part is say it like you mean

[01:23] it in other words once you discover what

[01:25] the central message is of this song

[01:27] don't hold back say it courageously and

[01:29] with with conviction let your song be

[01:31] the vehicle to take this idea out into

[01:33] the world if we look at the lyrics to

[01:35] imagine one of John's most iconic songs

[01:37] you can see this point in action and in

[01:39] these lyrics it's clear what John's

[01:41] point is it's clear what he's upset with

[01:43] it's clear the change he is seeking so

[01:45] we hear John making this plea to

[01:47] humanity to join together and put aside

[01:49] their differences and importantly we

[01:51] hear and feel this message throughout

[01:54] the entire song and both the clarity and

[01:56] the consistency of this message cannot

[01:58] be underestimated or overlooked it is

[02:00] one of the biggest challenges we as

[02:01] songwriters face and we face it for two

[02:03] reasons firstly when we're writing a

[02:05] song we have the backstory we have the

[02:07] context it's all in our heads we forget

[02:10] that others don't we forget that no one

[02:12] else knows what we're thinking we hope

[02:14] or delude ourselves into believing that

[02:16] when someone hears this song for the

[02:17] first time they'll somehow understand

[02:19] the cryptic references and the in jokes

[02:21] they'll have empathy for our main

[02:23] character and understand why they're

[02:24] saying the things they're saying but the

[02:26] reality is none of that is true because

[02:28] telling a story to a room full of people

[02:30] and writing a song that goes out into

[02:32] the world are two very different things

[02:34] when we're telling a story we're able to

[02:36] pause we're able to clarify we're able

[02:37] to take questions go back over a certain

[02:40] detail when we write a song and send it

[02:42] out to the world we send it out on its

[02:43] own we can't be there standing over the

[02:45] shoulder of everyone who's listening

[02:47] explaining that cryptic metaphor in

[02:49] verse two or that slightly ambiguous

[02:51] twist at the end of the chorus so when a

[02:53] song like imagine lands with such impact

[02:56] and ripples through generations it is in

[02:58] part because of the clarity of of that

[03:00] message because The Lyricist has found a

[03:01] way to say what they mean and say it

[03:03] with such conviction the rest of the

[03:05] world stops and takes notice the second

[03:07] reason songwriters can get themselves

[03:09] into trouble with this issue is when

[03:10] they deliberately make the lyrics

[03:13] ambiguous we actually catch ourselves in

[03:15] the act of deliberately making things

[03:17] unclear either because they're too

[03:19] personal or because we want to protect

[03:21] the feelings and identities of people

[03:22] that are close to us or perhaps because

[03:24] we haven't really investigated how we

[03:26] truly feel about the subject we're

[03:28] writing about whatever theas Reon saying

[03:30] what you mean carries with it a personal

[03:32] responsibility to stand by what it is

[03:35] you say and mean and sometimes this

[03:37] occurs in a very public setting in his

[03:39] song Luck of the Irish Lenin criticizes

[03:42] the history of British rule in Ireland

[03:44] using some fairly strong language to

[03:45] make his feelings known a land full of

[03:48] beauty and wonder was raped by the

[03:50] British brigands so this is clearly a

[03:52] political song and lenon wrote lots of

[03:54] political songs in this one he's taking

[03:56] the side of Ireland a country he

[03:58] declares himself very fond of and in

[04:00] fact he even planned to retire there

[04:02] however Beetle biographer Chris Ingam

[04:04] describes the song as sentimental

[04:06] condescending poetry and much like

[04:09] political propaganda so saying what you

[04:11] mean is easy to say but doing it is a

[04:14] whole other thing because it often

[04:15] invites criticism and judgment and

[04:17] backlash and justifications of All Sorts

[04:20] that a lot of songwriters would just

[04:22] rather avoid and these situations are

[04:24] certainly more likely to arise in

[04:25] political songs but what if we shift our

[04:27] Focus to something a little more

[04:28] intimate perhaps a love song song

[04:30] Jealous Guy recorded in 1971 is a

[04:32] perfect example of this I didn't mean to

[04:35] hurt you I'm sorry that I made you cry

[04:37] oh I didn't want to hurt you I'm just a

[04:39] jealous guy these lyrics feel raw they

[04:42] feel honest they're self-deprecating and

[04:45] it's almost as if we eavesdropping on

[04:46] Jon talking to his lover talking to

[04:49] journalist David Chef in 1980 John

[04:51] revealed the lyrics explain themselves

[04:53] clearly I was a very jealous possessive

[04:55] guy toward everything a very insecure

[04:58] male on BB se's women's hour radio show

[05:01] John continued to reflect on his

[05:02] changing view of relationships when

[05:04] you're actually in love with somebody

[05:05] you tend to be jealous and want to own

[05:08] them and possess them 100% which I do I

[05:11] love Yoko I want to possess her

[05:13] completely that's the danger that you

[05:15] want to possess them to death so in

[05:17] Jealous Guy JN is really expressing some

[05:19] very honest feelings and whether we

[05:21] agree with those feelings or not it's

[05:23] fascinating to hear him use the vehicle

[05:25] of songwriting as a way to work through

[05:27] his beliefs on relation ships and love

[05:31] and his own insecurities the second part

[05:34] make it rhyme John has another famous

[05:37] quote on this topic tell the truth and

[05:39] make it rhyme and for songwriters there

[05:41] is no avoiding it rhyme is a big deal it

[05:43] is what separates lyrics and poetry from

[05:46] everyday language and is really one of

[05:47] the most powerful tools in the

[05:49] Songwriter's toolbox but saying make it

[05:51] rhyme is like saying paint it blue which

[05:54] shade of blue there are so many shades

[05:55] of blue and each of them has a different

[05:57] mood and creates a different effect

[06:00] so how do we choose the shade of blue or

[06:02] the type of rhyme that is appropriate

[06:04] for our song as a very quick overview

[06:06] let's just talk about rhyme schemes and

[06:07] the notation that goes with them mostly

[06:09] when we talk about rhyme we're really

[06:10] focusing on endline Rhymes the words

[06:12] that land at the very end of each line

[06:14] and we learn rhyme schemes very early on

[06:16] we learn them as children funnily enough

[06:18] in nursery rhymes so in nursery rhymes

[06:20] we often find four-line STS with very

[06:22] stable rhyme schemes for example twinkle

[06:24] twinkle little star how I wonder what

[06:26] you are up above the world so high like

[06:29] a diamond in the sky that is a classic

[06:32] AABB rhyme scheme very stable four lines

[06:36] two rhyming couplets one after the other

[06:38] the other thing to consider is rhyme

[06:40] type and rhyme type really slides along

[06:42] a scale between perfect and imperfect

[06:45] Rhyme now in musical theater perfect

[06:47] rhyme is really the only rhyme that

[06:49] counts in a lot of rap hip-hop and

[06:51] contemporary songwriting however

[06:53] imperfect rhyme is used frequently and

[06:55] very effectively so looking at Twinkle

[06:57] Twinkle Little Star High and sky are

[06:59] perfect Rhymes if we were to choose an

[07:01] imperfect rhyme for high we might go

[07:03] with KN it still has the I sound in the

[07:06] middle and that's what allows the two

[07:07] words to be paired together but the hard

[07:10] T sound on night makes it imperfect and

[07:13] it also introduces a lot of tension so

[07:16] rhyme really does serve some very

[07:17] important functions it helps the

[07:19] language to flow it creates a Sonic road

[07:22] map for the ear as we're guided through

[07:24] the lyrics and it gives the songwriter

[07:25] the ability to create tension and then

[07:27] resolve that tension and John was clear

[07:29] aware of all of these functions but the

[07:31] best songwriters also know how to make

[07:33] little variations with these techniques

[07:35] twist them ever so slightly to create

[07:37] something new and interesting so if we

[07:39] go back to Jealous Guy and look at the

[07:41] rhyme scheme past and fast perfect

[07:44] rhyming couplet I began to lose control

[07:46] I began to lose control that's not a

[07:48] rhyming line that's just a repeated line

[07:50] I didn't mean to hurt you I'm sorry that

[07:52] I made you cry I didn't want to hurt you

[07:55] I'm just a jealous guy here we have the

[07:57] rhyming couplet split in to CD CD and

[08:01] this is also a very stable type of rhyme

[08:04] scheme at the start of the second verse

[08:06] we hear a beautiful little variation I

[08:09] was feeling insecure you might not love

[08:11] me

[08:12] anymore now insecure and anymore don't

[08:16] sound like they rhyme a perfect rhyme

[08:18] that would go well with insecure is pure

[08:21] but John's not necessarily looking for a

[08:22] perfect rhyme he's looking for the word

[08:25] that expresses what he has to say so

[08:27] when you listen to the recording you can

[08:28] hear him deliver this rhyming couplet as

[08:31] insecure

[08:33] anymore he he lengthens the anymore and

[08:36] instead of going oh he makes it more

[08:38] like a uh because every songwriter and

[08:40] singer has this ability to shape the

[08:42] vowels and shape the Sounds in their

[08:44] mouth and take what would normally be

[08:45] very jarring and imperfect Rhymes and

[08:49] actually blend them together so they

[08:50] sound quite close this is such an

[08:52] important thing for us as songwriters to

[08:54] remember if you ever find yourself in

[08:55] the songwriting process hunting for

[08:57] lines that rhyme together but don't

[09:00] necessarily express the idea that you

[09:02] want to express this is a good time to

[09:04] stop and go back and discover what it is

[09:06] you really want to say and then find the

[09:09] appropriate words to serve that message

[09:12] imagine gives us another insight into

[09:14] how John thinks about Rhymes schem

[09:15] imagine there's no Heaven it's easy if

[09:18] you try no hell below us above us only

[09:21] sky so line one and three don't rhyme

[09:23] with each other or anything else but

[09:25] line two and four rhyme and this is a

[09:28] classic rhyme scheme but then we get

[09:30] this little tag imagine all the people

[09:32] living for today and people and today

[09:36] are un rymed and because they're un

[09:38] rymed they're less stable so the whole

[09:41] structure of this song is actually quite

[09:44] unstable because a majority of the lines

[09:46] aren't rhyming with anything else and

[09:48] this reveals a rhyme pattern that John

[09:50] used a lot in his lyric writing Lucy in

[09:52] the Sky is another great example of this

[09:54] pattern picture yourself in a boat on a

[09:56] river with Tangerine trees and marmalade

[09:58] skar eyes somebody calls you you answer

[10:01] quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope

[10:04] eyes so there we have skies and eyes

[10:06] again line two and four rhyming but

[10:08] lines one and three are again un rymed

[10:11] with themselves or anything else then we

[10:13] get cellophane flowers of yellow and

[10:15] green towering over your head look for

[10:18] the girl with the sun in her eyes and

[10:19] she's gone green head gone they're not

[10:24] rhyming with each other or any of the

[10:25] lines in the previous section so here's

[10:27] a song where we're looking at seven

[10:29] lines of lyrics and only two of them

[10:31] rhyme and the question you might be

[10:32] asking is why is John lennin only

[10:34] rhyming a few lines and leaving the rest

[10:36] un rymed and to answer that we want to

[10:38] go back to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

[10:41] because for a lot of us the rhyme

[10:42] schemes we learn as children are the

[10:44] rhyme schemes we keep using as we get

[10:46] older so if left unchecked we can find

[10:48] that a lot of our songs have this AABB

[10:51] or ABAB or even x a XA rhyme scheme

[10:54] repeatedly used and the problem with

[10:57] that is it's very predictable and it's

[10:59] sounds like the writing of a much

[11:00] younger person so John knows that in

[11:02] shaping his language to make it sound

[11:04] mature to make it so that it's not

[11:06] predictable to create the element of

[11:07] surprise by giving us what we think will

[11:10] be a rhyming couplet but in fact what we

[11:12] hear is two un rymed lines all of this

[11:14] adds up to language that is not only

[11:16] more conversational replicating the

[11:18] patterns of everyday speech it's also

[11:20] unique when compared to a lot of other

[11:22] songwriters so when John says make it

[11:24] rhyme what he really means is just make

[11:26] some of it rhyme don't feel you have to

[11:28] have a series of rhyming couplets one

[11:30] after the other giving that closure and

[11:31] resolution in a very predictable way

[11:33] instead pick your lines carefully know

[11:35] that a little bit of rhyme goes a long

[11:37] way and leave the rest as conversational

[11:39] UNR language the third part put a back

[11:43] beat to it now fair question to ask is

[11:46] what is the difference between a beat

[11:48] and a back beat by definition the back

[11:50] beat is a steady pronounced Rhythm

[11:52] stressing the second and fourth beats of

[11:54] a four beat measure so if we're thinking

[11:57] in terms of drums the kick comes comes

[11:59] on the one and the three the snare comes

[12:01] on the two and the four and the BackBeat

[12:04] really started in jazz and then moved to

[12:06] blues and R&B and eventually into rock

[12:08] and when you hear gospel music and

[12:10] people clapping in time they're clapping

[12:12] on the two and the four they're

[12:13] replicating that snare so I think it's

[12:15] fair to say that the BackBeat Groove is

[12:17] probably the most common and popular

[12:19] form we have in contemporary music but

[12:21] is this what John meant when he said put

[12:23] a BackBeat to it was he specifically

[12:24] thinking about the two and the four or

[12:26] was he saying it in a more general term

[12:28] was he really just meaning put a good

[12:30] Groove to it either way I think the more

[12:32] interesting point is to consider how

[12:34] crucial John believes Rhythm to be he's

[12:37] included it as one of his three elements

[12:39] in this formula he's not talking about

[12:42] Melody he's not talking about Harmony of

[12:43] course they are crucial and John is

[12:46] responsible for some of the most

[12:47] beautiful Melody and core progressions

[12:48] we've ever heard but he's made this

[12:50] point about songwriting being easy when

[12:52] you first Focus On lyrics and then focus

[12:55] on Rhythm but I want to keep talking

[12:56] about the importance of the term

[12:58] BackBeat for a minute because

[12:59] interestingly the only way you can have

[13:02] an emphasis on the two and the four is

[13:04] if you have a four beat measure which

[13:06] means we have to be thinking in 44 so

[13:09] does this mean that when John's thinking

[13:10] about Rhythm he's really just thinking

[13:11] in 44 well if we look at John's catalog

[13:14] of songs first focusing on those he

[13:15] wrote with the Beatles in this list you

[13:17] see some of the biggest hits of all time

[13:19] from me to you she loves you I Want to

[13:22] Hold Your Hand a hard day night Ticket

[13:24] to Ride help Day Tripper we can work it

[13:27] out the ballot of JN and Yoko Love Me Do

[13:30] come together something please please me

[13:32] You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

[13:34] Norwegian Wood Nowhere Man Lucy the Sky

[13:37] with Diamonds I Am The Walrus Happiness

[13:39] is a Warm Gun All You Need Is Love

[13:41] Across the Universe Strawberry Fields

[13:42] Forever don't let me down and out of

[13:46] that incredible collection of songs only

[13:48] two of them are not using 4 four You've

[13:52] Got to Hide Your Love Away and Norwegian

[13:54] Wood are both using the 68 swung feeli

[13:57] losing the Sky with Diamonds all also

[13:59] has a swung 68 feel in the verse but the

[14:01] chorus is very much a driving 44 pattern

[14:04] and some of these songs like all you

[14:06] need is love often drop beats to create

[14:08] a 74 feel but again in the chorus of

[14:11] that song we hear that driving pulse of

[14:13] 44 loud and clear turning our attention

[14:16] to the songs he wrote as a solo artist

[14:18] we have imagine woman give peace a

[14:21] chance just like starting over watching

[14:24] the wheels workingclass hero Whatever

[14:26] Gets You Through the Night Jealous Guy

[14:28] happy Christmas War is Over Instant

[14:30] Karma mind gamed give me some truth

[14:33] beautiful boy mother nobody told me oh

[14:35] my love crippled inside and number nine

[14:38] dream and out of that list we have only

[14:41] three songs that are not in 44 just like

[14:43] starting over workingclass hero and

[14:46] happy Christmas war is over those also

[14:49] have a swung feel in 68 or 128 depending

[14:52] on how you're counting it so yes it

[14:54] seems that John does have a preference

[14:56] for writing in 44 which makes perfect

[14:58] sense because the Beatles really were a

[15:00] perfect blend of R&B pop and rock and

[15:03] all three of those genres have 44 as the

[15:05] Beating Heart of that music and it's

[15:07] important for us to understand the

[15:08] Nuance of different time Fields one of

[15:10] the reasons dance music and rock loves

[15:12] 44 is because it has that driving energy

[15:14] it has that forward propulsion in

[15:16] contrast if we look at a time feel like

[15:18] 68 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 you can see

[15:23] it has that side to side motion it

[15:24] doesn't have the drive the forward push

[15:27] and a lot of songwriters have a LoveHate

[15:28] relationship ship with 44 because they

[15:30] know it's the most popular time

[15:31] signature and yes if you only write

[15:33] songs in 44 and write them around the

[15:35] same BPM you will find that your songs

[15:38] all start to sound a little bit same

[15:39] same so exploring other time signatures

[15:41] is a really important part of the

[15:43] Songwriter's Journey but we forget how

[15:46] versatile 44 can be we forget how much

[15:48] variation we can create with those four

[15:50] beats within that bar

[15:52] [Music]

[16:20] all of those were in 44 and even though

[16:22] some of them were very similar tempos

[16:24] there are so many other variables going

[16:26] on with the song that we don't think

[16:29] they sound similar at all even though I

[16:30] was just playing the chords you could

[16:33] still hear that each of them had their

[16:34] own unique sound and feel one of the

[16:36] things we're always trying to work out

[16:38] is how does some songwriters through

[16:40] history make it look so easy how do they

[16:42] consistently produce these works of

[16:44] Genius over generations and without

[16:46] knowing for sure perhaps for John it was

[16:49] his Clarity of mind and his ability to

[16:51] either consciously or subconsciously

[16:53] distill the world of songwriting down to

[16:56] this simple formula I one will'll be

[16:59] trying this formula out and seeing what

[17:00] the results are and if any of you try it

[17:02] out as well please let us know what

[17:04] works what doesn't work and if there's

[17:06] any specific areas you'd like us to go

[17:08] deeper on in future videos please put

[17:10] those in the comments too happy

[17:12] songwriting bye