I’ve read many books about songwriting, been on many forums for songwriters, discussed songwriting with many people, and spent many hours thinking about songwring. Here’s a tongue in cheek list of the top five myths about songwriting.

1. Anyone can write a hit song 

This myth is transmitted down the generations by musicians and non-musicians alike. On one side, you’ve got the super skilled musicians who think that if something is easy to play, it is easy to write. On the other side, you’ve got people who think that if they can remember a melody, it was easy to write. And they both say they could write a hit song but they can’t be bothered/don’t have the time/don’t want to.

2. If you can’t sing, you can’t write a great song

When asked to play a song of yours on the spot, you are often judged on your vocal ability, rather than the song itself. Then, some musicians will tell you “learn how to sing first”, and some people will tell you “i sing better than you”. Well, being a great singer isn’t a pre-requisite for being a great songwriter. Songwriters write songs, singers perform songs, they both need each other and it’s team work. But since the advent of singer-songwriters in the 70s, it seems that being “only” a songwriter is worthless… 

3. If i’ve not heard any song of yours on the radio, you’re a bad songwriter

When people ask what you do and you say you’re songwriter, the next question automatically follows: “have i heard any of your songs?”. Of course, the answer is usually “no”, because unless you’ve had a top 40, you have to assume that they haven’t indeed heard any of your songs. They then proceed to tell you how they also “write poetry”, or they would like to “write a song if they knew how”; you are lucky if their next question isn’t “how do you find inspiration?”, or “can you give me one of your song titles, you know, for inspiration?”. 

4. Starving/drugs will help your songwriting

Oh yes, the romantic image of the starving songwriter writing from dawn to dawn, shivering in the cold winter. Surely such a songwriter would be better placed to write a song from the heart? Equally annoying is the cliche that songwriters write better under the influence of drugs and alcohol; “i just need a smoke and i’ll write the best song”, he said. While extreme physical conditions will influence your writing, it doesn’t make it better or worse.  

5. You only made it because you knew someone in the music business

Both bitter musicians and the general public tend to assume that a songwriter only gets to work with top singers if she/he knew them before hand. While this is the case for some individual cases, a vast majority of songwriters didn’t know anyone in the music business when they started out. Sure, it is often a contact that led to their first big cover, but it is a contact they had made themselves a few years before, and not a “friend of the family”.

You’ve read mine, now’s your turn. What’s your top five myths about songwriting?

Related articles: