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Tips & Resources, The CLIMB Show by Brent Baxter, Team SWPro on March 24, 2020
Join Johnny and I as we dig into Jake Owen’s current hit song “Homemade.” Listen in as we discuss why it’s a hit and what makes it a commercially-competitive song. Also, we reveal how these insights can help YOU in your songwriting journey!
LISTEN NOW on the DiscMakers website: https://bit.ly/JakeOwenHomemade
You can also listen right here:
Here are some of my key takeaways:
HAMMER THAT HOOK:
The writers, Ben Goldsmith, Bobby Pinson, Drew Parker, & Jared Mullins, didn’t want the listener to wonder about the title. So the hook (title) of Homemade shows up at the very end of each verse and EIGHT times in each chorus! Any question what the title is after one listen? Didn’t think so.
KEEP IT FRESH:
The writers use “Homemade” in a variety of ways, and that keeps it fresh. They use it in the traditional sense, the sense that you’d expect when talking about the homemade George Strait mixtape and mama’s ice cold homemade lemonade. But they use it in a more unexpected way in the chorus when it talks about how "home made" him who he is. How "home made" him love a dirt road and want mama’s ice cold homemade lemonade. And then they use another version of homemade with “a home made for the two of us.” That’s keeping it fresh!
BRING THE LOVE:
The chorus brings up the subject of love. “a home made for the two of us,” and the 2nd verse really dives in to this. He talks about how his pickup lines didn’t work, but you know what did work? His homemade George Strait mix tape! This keeps the love story on theme with how his whole life is homemade. He wouldn’t even have the girl without a homemade mix tape.
BRING A SIMPLE UNIVERSAL IDEA:
This isn’t rocket science. It’s a simple idea: the things I love are all homemade because home made me who I am. That’s pretty dang universal. Nothing too complicated about it. Plus, nostalgia never hurts with stuff like how you grew up and mix tapes and stuff. It punches an emotional button with the folks who lived it.
IMAGERY:
From getting dressed up in a buttoned-down shirt and good jeans to collard greens to Friday night lights to Miller Lites, there are images all over the 1st verse. And in the chorus, the images keep on coming: dirt road, ice cold lemonade, mama, home for the two of us…. The 2nd verse had a pickup truck, windows down, singing and a George Strait mix tape. Give the listeners something to see, feel and hear!
SNEAKY COOL LANGUAGE:
V1: "Friday nights living for them lights to come on… then I turned to Miller Lites when I turned 21." Nice use of "turn" and "lights / Lites."
V2: "My pickup lines didn’t seem to work. Guess my pickup truck must’ve got to her." Nice play off of "pickup."
These are simple lines, not amazing wordplay. It sounds natural, conversational. Almost like you’re sitting with a clever buddy who’s good at telling stories. You’re not sitting at the feet of a hoity-toity poet. But these lines do heighten the language, and they bring connective tissue to the lines and the thoughts. It says the same old stuff, just in a little different way.
Listen, if YOU want to write songs that artists want to sing, fans want to hear, and radio wants to play, I have a great online workshop for you. It’s called: Song Ideas: From Blank Page To Finished Lyric, and it’s available NOW in the Songwriting Pro store.
This course is designed to take you from a blank page to a new song idea to a fully developed concept to a finished lyric. You’ll learn a repeatable process you can use to discover and develop strong song ideas again and again and again. And you’ll also learn how to frame and focus those ideas for maximum commercial impact and appeal. Oh, and it's video-on-demand, so you can watch it when you want and at your own pace!
If you want to find more (and better) song ideas, finish more songs, impress more cowriters, and impact more listeners, this is the course for you!
You can get all the details and get instant access to the course NOW with a CLICK HERE.
God bless,
Brent
PS- Thanks for stopping by Songwriting Pro! I appreciate it. As a matter of fact, I want to give you a special little something just for your visit. It's my FREE ebook "Think Like A Pro Songwriter," and it reveals valuable I-learned-it-the-hard-way-so-you-don't-have-to tips to help you succeed at the art, craft and business of songwriting. You can download it at www.GiftFromBrent.com.
Brent Baxter is an award-winning hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Lonestar, Ray Stevens, Gord Bamford, Steve Cropper, and more. He's had a top 5 hit in the US, a #1 hit and CCMA Single of the Year in Canada, a top 10 hit in Southern Gospel, a top 10 hit on the Texas country music charts as well as cuts in CCM, bluegrass, and more!
