SONGWRITING 101

A friend inquired about my current favorite OPM or original Pilipino Music, in which I replied Ako’y Sayo by First Circle (click on the title of the song to hear its streaming version, as well as for its complete lyrics).

First time I heard it, I was reminded of a songwriting workshop I took one summer in New York. The instructor was Sheila Davis, author of the book, The Craft of Lyric Writing. This song, Ako’y Sayo truly exemplifies her mantra, which is essentially all about clarity and specificity.

Moreover, Sheila argued that to hook the audience into listening to your entire song, the first verse of it alone should immediately depict the who, what and where elements — as in the following example:

Ikaw na ang may sabi, na ako'y mahal mo rin
At sinabi mo ang pag-ibig mo'y di magbabago
Ngunit bakit sa tuwing ako'y lumalapit ika'y lumalayo?
Puso'y laging nasasaktan pag may kasama kang iba

Accordingly, the first verse reveals the characters as two lovers. And although they've already once expressed their love for one another, the girl somehow seems mysteriously elusive. Interestingly, mentioning this conflict early in the story further holds the listener into sticking around to hear the rest of this lonesome tale.

Sheila also encouraged her students to make use of alliteration other than the usual rhyming of the final syllables. This is supposedly to add spice or avoid redundancy and predictability to the overall structure of your song — as in this fourth verse:

At kung di ka makita, makikiusap ka'y bathala
Na ika'y hanapin at sabihin ipaalala sa iyo
Ang nakalimutang sumpaan
Na ako'y sa 'yo at ika'y akin lamang

And most important of all, and here’s the clincher, the overall cadence of your lyrics should reflect the melody. Hence in the following line:

Ikaw na ang may sabi, na ako'y mahal mo rin

If it were to be spoken, you'll notice that its cadence does not stray too far from that of the melody; thus, a pure blending of the lyrics with the melody; making it naturally easy to sing, as well as sonically more pleasing.

This should also explain — when Paul McCartney had the melody but not yet the lyrics and title for the Beatle song, Yesterday — why he used ham and eggs for the tune's first line.

Audio streaming courtesy of Tristan Café’s Filipino Online Radio Station

* * *

Please note:
I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.
Thank you!


*