Composers: want to write a timeless song?

When you write a song, think of it as something that will last forever. Sure, music styles will change over time and that’s okay and expected. However, there are a couple of things you can avoid, lyrically, that can help preserve your song over time.

Avoid catchphrases

Many times a phrase appears that is somehow very popular at the time, and then disappears. At the very least, it’s branded cheesy for the rest of eternity. For example, in the 90s there was a certain period of time when it was socially acceptable to say something and then follow up with “…No!”, to deny what you just said. Like, “You’re great… No!” As silly as it sounds now, there was a time when it was said all too often. We have Wayne’s World to thank for that.

You may be thinking “I would never use such a boring phrase in my music”, but you may not know it, because now it’s so cool. The general rule of thumb is that if something became super popular, practically overnight, and already has (at least) a little bit of cheesiness in it, it probably won’t stand the test of time.

An example of this occurs in Uncle Kracker’s song, “Smile.” In the opening verse, he uses the line “Cooler than the other side of my pillow, that’s right.” When the song first came out, it already felt weird that he was copying a phrase from the moment, and it only sounds weirder as time goes on.

Use a sentence of the moment like this could Work in your favor if you’re writing a super catchy pop song that could be an instant hit, because you’re attaching it to something that’s popular at the time. But don’t expect that to last. I also wouldn’t suggest using that as a strategy when writing.

So try to avoid phrases like that in your songs, if you want your songs to be timeless. After all, imagine what it would sound like if you were still releasing a song that said “…No!” after a line of your letter. Learn to be a judge of what has legs and what won’t last. If you avoid clichés altogether, you won’t even have to worry about this problem.

Address Dates

The way you approach dates and ages can also come back to bite you later on. Let’s say you have a song about going out into the world. If you used a line like “I was from the class of 2012”, that will get old fast. But if you said something like “I graduated last year”, it will last much longer. Granted, that line won’t always be objectively accurate, but it won’t sound awkward to someone listening to your song five years after it was written.

Talking about your age can have the same effect. If you say “I’m 28” in a song that stays with you, when you sing it twenty years later, it might sound funny (unless its inaccuracy becomes intentional as you get older). Instead, you can say, “I was born in (insert year here).” As long as your song isn’t about being young, that will carry your age with you as the years go by.

The easiest way to approach moments like these is to simply ask yourself “will it sound weird if I sing this song in five, ten or twenty years?” If the answer is yes, you might want to reword things to be more time friendly. There is always a different way of saying something that can give you the results you are looking for.

last note

It’s harder to predict what will or won’t be great musically in the future, except to say that if you’re copying a sound that’s super catchy and became popular very quickly, it probably won’t last long. So the end of the music is hard to predict. But if you follow the general rules we saw here, it’s a good start to writing lyrics that can be timeless. Just trust your gut and always ask yourself if the lyrics would still apply at a later time. Then you will be on your way.