SongwritingHooks

When September Ends, Green Day: lyrics and intervals

From quasi-punk pop band Green Day came "Wake Me Up When September Ends" in 2005.

The first thing I love here is the lyric. I don't know any of the other lyrics in the song, but I know that one line from the title, which is repeated (hookishly) at the end of every verse. Such a vivid emotion, phrased in a new way: "wake me up when September ends."  Awesome.

Intervals as Hooks

Most pop melodies move within a narrow range of notes, and when the interval between consecutive notes gets bigger, the passage gets more memorable.

Hear the hook: When September Ends MP3, intervals             Copyright info

Here, most of the notes in the verse go from the note A to the note B -- two half-steps (in this clip, the first two words, "like my"). But then there's a big leap, the G to the E (nine steps) in "has gone." The big interval, and the contrast between the small one and the big one, make this a memorable phrase, and a good hook once it's repeated over and over again.

[Editor's note: you can look forward to more about intervals from guest blogger David Kraut, coming up next Friday.]

Descending Bass Line

As I just mentioned in the Lauren Hill/"Can't Take My Eyes Off You" post, descending bass lines are a hook-y arranging device. This clip is from the very start of the song.

Hear the hook: When September Ends MP3, bass line             Copyright info

The bass line (implied, mostly, since it's all played on the acoustic guitar) starts on the G, and goes down the scale do-ti-la-so-fa. Very catchy.

Paper Planes, by M.I.A.: Samples, novelty and gansta-ism as hooks

M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" got a huge boost to its mainstream, international profile when it was used in Slumdog Millionaire, but the song had a pretty good thing going already beforehand. It charted in 2008 before the movie was released, not least because of some strong hooks.

The song's first and most pervasive hook is the staccato guitar/descending high-pitched trio of notes (D-C#-G or D-A-G) that forms the foundation of the song. Here it is at the start of the song. Listen for it in the background:

Hear the hook: MIA Paper Planes MP3, background trio             Copyright info

This combination repeats from the very beginning to the very end of the song (just a short pause in the breakdown). Somehow I didn't notice until someone else pointed it out: this is actually a sample from "Straight to Hell" by The Clash.

Hear the Clash version of the M.I.A. hook: Straight to Hell MP3             Copyright info

On the Clash track, it works to give the song a war-in-Japan feel -- sort of Asian, sort of unsettling. It does the same here, both by the music's own virtue, and (if you know the reference) by the connection to the Clash song. (The chorus of the Clash song is "Go straight to hell, boys..." and is obviously about young men in combat.) And sampling, as I've written, is hook-y because it's familiar -- if you knew a hook already, it's easier to remember a new song that incorporates that hook.

The other super-distinctive hook has got to be the non-instrument sounds of gunfire and a cash register in the chorus.

Hear the hook: M.I.A. Paper Planes MP3, gunfire and cash registers             Copyright info

Non-musical samples like this are always hook-y when they're incorporated right into the song (as opposed to just an ambient embellishment). Think of the ping-pong ball sound in Depeche Mode's "Pipeline," the hammer-on-anvil percussion in "Tainted Love," the cash register (just like this one) in Pink Floyd's "Money" -- all super hook-y.

M.I.A.as a Gangsta: Shock Value Hook

I've argued before that novelty and shock are hook-y devices, because they're memorable (and better yet, because people will talk about them and spread the word of your song).

Though "gangsta" music (usually rap) has been around since the early '80s, it still carries shock value for most of the non-rap-listening community. I'm pretty sure people introduced to "Paper Planes" via Slumdog Millionaire aren't, for the most part, a gangsta crowd, so the shock value would be easy to come by. In "Paper Planes," you get lyrics like "some I murder / some I let go," and the song is all about stealing people's money, so I think it qualifies thematically as gangsta-ism.

The shock hook is boosted by M.I.A.'s delivery, which at times sounds like she's singing a nursery rhyme. In those instances, the shock hook combines with a novelty hook, too. The Indian/Sri Lankan feel also add to the novelty, given that we haven't yet had a huge influence from Indian music in North American pop. 

Structurally, the song is also set up for hook-y success: every verse is repeated a second time right after it's first introduced.

Curious footnote: "Paper Planes" has now itself been sampled and referenced lyrically by various artists including Kanye West. Is being sampled the biggest form of musical flattery?

"Suddenly I See," KT Tunstall: sweet groove, nice build

KT Tunstall's breakout song is much more than the "Ugly Betty" theme, right? This is a solid pop song with some real infectiousness.

It starts with the beat:

Hear the hook: Suddenly I See MP3, almost Bo Diddley (and nice bass line, too)             Copyright info

Anyone remember the 1982 cover of "I Want Candy," by Bow Wow Wow? The drums here in "Suddenly I See" are totally catchy in the same way. A little like a classic Bo Diddley beat, which I hope to get to in a post sometime soon (though I'll put in another plug here for guest contributors, in case anyone is in the mood to do the talking).

What is it about this beat that works so well? Feels a little primal, maybe. And it's unrelenting -- start to finish, the same beat drives through the song, and it catches you up and takes you with it. The only place it drops out is the bridge/breakdown the only exception. Which leads me to:

Hear the hook: Suddenly I See MP3, bridge/breakdown/buildup 

So much going on in this passage. First the drums drop out (not really evident in this clip -- sorry), and then it's a slow build, repeating "She's got the power to be the power to give the power to see yeah yeah" over and over, coming up from a slow simmer to a full boil. Right when the build starts up, the beat comes back in again, adding to the momentum. And I'd say you've got a bit of call-and-response too, with the backup vocals adding "Suddenly I see" after each "yeah yeah."

Repetition: the key to songwriting hook-y-ness

If I weren't already sold, I am by now: note how every hook we cover has repetition as a common point. Do something once and it's a lick. Do it more than once and it's a bit hook-y. Repeat something over and over in a song and you've got the basis for an effective hook.

In "Suddenly I See," there's repetition in the drum beat, in the bridge, and also within the verse structure:

Her face is a map of the world, map of the world
You can see she's a beautiful girl, she's a beautiful girl

Makes the lyric easier to sing when the song is new to you, easier to remember down the road, gives the listener cues on when/how to participate. 

You may have noticed that among the tags for each post is "repetition." I'm retiring this tag now, because I expect it to be applicable to virtually every post, which will make the tag kinda useless from an organizational perspective.

"Kiss," by Prince: catchy falsetto, cool chorus

A short post today, but I suspect it will still get stuck in your head.

Hear the hook: Kiss MP3, killer chorus             Copyright info

I've really liked Prince's music, sometimes in spite of myself, since the early '80s. I desperately wanted to see his Purple Rain tour, but was talked out of it by a girlfriend who found him objectionable. (She's not the only one, of course: it's said that Boy George once compared him to a dwarf dipped in a vat of pubic hair.)

Whatever Prince's trajectory -- from oversexed grape-flavored stiletto-wearing freakazoid who writes about "masturbating with a magazine" to born-again grape-flavored stiletto-wearing freakazoid who won't sing some of his own songs because he now finds them inappropriate -- the man does have a spectacular musical gift.

In "Kiss" I think the falsetto is half the hook. Tom Jones covered this song (with Art of Noise) some years after its release, singing it in full Tom Jones voice, and it didn't have the same sticking power.

Lyrically, too, the chorus is so good:

You don't have to be rich to be my girl
You don't have to be cool to rule my world
Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with
I just want your extra time and your... kiss

And how sweet is the last word: even if you can't retain the rest of the lyrics, there's the title of the song, set apart from the rest of the chorus, with a few empty beats before it to make sure you have time to get in position.

And the beat is so catchy...
And the chord structure is I-IV-V...
Great song.