Writing a sad song that does not feel sorry for itself
An artist joins Jonah to take apart a grief song she wrote for her father, talking about restraint, specific details over big words and the line that nearly did not make it.
The chorus that was a bridge for six months
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Show notes
When the bridge became the chorus
A song that sat unfinished for six months until one section moved. Jonah and his co-writer play the voice memos in order, from the first idea to the version that got recorded, and talk about recognising when a part is in the wrong place.
- The first voice memo and the title that came before any music
- Six months of versions that almost worked
- The afternoon the bridge moved to the chorus
- Rewriting the verses to earn the new chorus
- This week's exercise: swap two sections of a song you are stuck on
The exercise and a structure sheet are in the notes.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to Verse Chorus Bridge, I am Jonah Lefebvre, and this is the show where we take one song apart at the kitchen table. Today my co-writer is here and we have brought a song that sat unfinished for six months, and we both know exactly why: the best part was in the wrong place. The chorus you will hear at the end started life as the bridge, and it stayed there for half a year while we wrote and rewrote everything around it. We have the voice memos, all of them, so you can hear the moment it moved and how everything else had to change to earn it. At the end, a small exercise to try on a song you are stuck on. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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