How do you become the greatest songwriter ever, period?
That question, asked by one Quoran, is almost unanswerable. I don’t think it’s really all that hard to answer. And soon I’m going to tell you how to become the greatest songwriter ever. But it is incredibly hard, if not impossible, to do.
McCartney, Lennon, Dylan, Elton, and Prince are great songwriters… but that’s just rock. What about Andrew Lloyd Weber? Or Johnny Cash? Jimmy Webb? Woody Guthrie? George Gershwin? Duke Ellington? Cole Porter? Rogers and Hart? Great songwriters all, but completely different genres.
Now, I think Dylan’s an amazing lyricist, and Rolling Stone’s named him #1 on their list of the 100 greatest songwriters of all time, but he stole a ton of melodies from old folk songs early in his career. And while he has been prolific, neither his albums nor his songs have been consistently at the top of the charts.
The Beatles released 23(!) studio albums between 1962 and 1970. Of the 17 US releases, 14 reached #1 on the US charts. (In contrast, of the 38 studio albums Dylan has released since 1962, eight reached #1 on the US charts.)
Lennon and McCarty wrote 180 songs together, many of them great songs. Of those, 17 reached number one. That’s impressive, but during that same period, Elvis (not a songwriter!) had 21 number ones. In addition, Elvis beat the Beatles in combined weeks at number one, 80 to 69.
The writers I’ve mentioned were all talented, and they all worked at their craft. So before we go any further, you have to have at least a little bit of talent. And you have to really, really love songwriting because becoming a very good songwriter is going to take hours upon hours of extremely hard, sometimes very frustrating, work.
And that’s just for starters.
How to Write Great Songs
To be considered even one of the great songwriters (much less the greatest songwriter, ever, period), stop writing good songs.You have to write great songs. How do you write great songs? It starts with having great ideas and being able to express them in an original way.
But just having a great idea or a unique way of expressing it doesn’t mean that you will turn it into a great song. To do that, you need to have mastered the art of song craft.
To master the art of songwriting, you have to listen to lots and lots of great songs. You have to dissect them to learn what makes them work, and you then have to apply what you learn to your own ideas. And even if your songs are technically perfect, what you have to say in them has to be relevant to others.
But even writing great songs that other people want to hear doesn’t necessarily make you the greatest songwriter ever, period, any more than dominating the NBA record book makes Wilt Chamberlain (with 72 NBA records, 68 by himself, including ‘unbreakable’ average of 22.9 rebounds/game for a career or 50.4 points/game in a season, scoring 100 points or 55 rebounds in a single game, scoring 65 or more points 15 times, and 50 or more points 118 times) the greatest basketball player ever.
How you become the greatest songwriter, ever, period, is this:
Write the greatest songs ever, period.
Not merely great songs, but the greatest songs…
Not once or twice, or a few times…
Not for one year, or seven years, or even 10 years, but year after year after year…
Not just in one genre, but in every genre...
And not just for your generation.
Write "Forever" Songs
Your songs have to have ‘staying power’, the timeless quality that NPR referred to as something that “transcends the moment and genre of its creation.”
The kids who grow up listening to the songs you write have to cover them when they’re in the twilight of their careers, in much the same way that Dylan has been covering other songwriters in four of his last five studio albums.
And it isn’t enough if your peers and their kids love your songs. In 20 years, you’ll have to be able to speak to the new ‘18–34’ demographic when it will no longer be your peer group in a way that makes them love your songs. The language will have changed, and you will have aged along with your peers. But you’ll have to speak to the younger generation in their voice to stay relevant, and that’s next to impossible in itself.
I love the Beatles. They really were a ‘magical mystery tour’. But when I listen to rock stations on the radio, I hardly ever hear any Beatles songs. I don’t even hear current artists covering them. And when was the last time McCartney or Dylan had a ‘pop’ hit?
You want to be known as the greatest songwriter ever, period? Write songs that will still be relevant 100 years after your great-grandchildren are dead.
Damn difficult to do.
In Summary...
Before you embark on this journey, consider that you’re writing not merely for yourself, but for your audience. Whether you become the greatest songwriter ever will be determined by a combination of your effort and by how your songs are received by the listening public. You can’t control other people or the results, only the effort and time you put in.
It doesn’t matter if you succeed. As long as you write the best songs you’re capable of, get better as you go along, successfully communicate what you’re trying to say, and thoroughly enjoy the process, it won’t matter how history judges you. (In any event, you won’t be around to know!)
Best of luck!
