Encyclopedia of Hooks and Songwriting Devices

In Progress: a cross-referenced compilation of types and specific examples of songwriting hooks and devices.

Lyrical Hooks | Musical Hooks | Cross-Category Hooks

o-o-o-o-o

What's a Hook?

A successful pop song has to stay in your head. A hook, as far as we're concerned, is anything that makes a song stick. (Though with your help we'll continue to refine that definition. Follow the "What is a Hook?" tag.) The best hooks are those little bits of songs that lodge themselves in your brain, even after a very first listen, so that a song you've never heard before becomes a song you'll never forget.

For this encyclopedia (for which we welcome your contributions! and we'll give you full credit and links back to your own site), we categorize hooks as follows:

Lyrical Hooks: when the words are memorable
Musical Hooks: when the music or arrangement is memorable
Cross-category Hooks: devices that can be used with lyrics or music/arrangement

The line between hook and just plain music is a vague one, and we may draw it in places where you don't think it belongs. We'd love to hear from you. Please comment freely across this site.

Comments

[Aidan M-J]

A great lyric that i will always think is brilliant is the lyric from "Pink Floyd's" song "Wish You Were Here" is:

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.