Scott Coner: 'There are no Rules in Songwriting'

By Scott Coner

Singer-Songwriter

            NASHVILLE -- Songwriting seems to be different for all people. I have met and talked with several writers around Nashville as well as other places, and their approach is always consistently different. For me, for whatever reason, my writing seems to improve when I read quite a bit and don't listen to other music. I find that the silence allows me to hear other melodies and phrasings that I wouldn't be in touch with otherwise. I hate to admit it, but I also write better when my wife and kids are gone for a while.

            I find that I may have some line or phrase that I carry around for weeks or even months, and sometimes that leads to a song, or I might have a piece of music that I search for a suitable melody and theme that works. Most of the time I write with an acoustic guitar, but recently I have written several songs on a Les Paul using a loop pedal. I don't know how it all works. I wish I did. Writing songs for me is that place that I go to that is personal, imaginative and without rules.

            Paul Zollo has put together a fantastic book called, "Songwriters on Songwriting". In it, Mr. Zollo has chased down a massive amount of outstanding writers including the likes of Jimmy Webb to Burt Bacharach and Hal David. I actually keep his fourth addition on my nightstand and read it when I have trouble sleeping. I love the backstory of a song. I like to know why the song was written and what inspired the writer. 

            I have never been that guy with a ton of friends hanging around. I stay pretty quiet in my little world when I'm not working in Nashville or somewhere else. Because of this, and I mean no disrespect, I have always kind of understood Brian Wilson. Brian didn't surf, he didn't swim, and he didn't drive fast cars. But he wrote songs that would make you believe he was the golden boy of the California Coastline. The Beach Boys became an American institution, and it was all because of Brian's genius.

            I certainly don't compare myself to Brian Wilson's talent. But, I have written a lot of songs based on other people's lives and stories. "Maybe She Lied" is a song I recorded with Tanya Tucker a few years back, and it is a good example. A guy that I know came home one day and found out that some major changes had taken place while he was gone to work. His house was empty, most of his things were gone, and his heart was broken. I thought about what had happened to him for a few days, then sat down and wrote the song. As the lyrics came, I wrote it in first person as if the damage had been done to me. Thank God the story isn't about me, but as I put the song together, I "witnessed the movie" in my mind and the song wrote itself.

            There is nothing more cleansing to me than writing a song. I don't try to write for radio, and I don't write by radio's rules. I think a song should live and breathe the way it wants to, and this includes the length of the song. There is a theory out there that the hook should be the primary theme in the song, and there is no question that this approach works. But, I don't live by those rules. I don't believe the listening public needs to be on a diet of baby food. I think people still enjoy the journey a song that can be related to, can take you on. For radio stations, it is about getting X amount of songs in between advertisements. To me, it is about writing and recording a song that I feel good about and am proud of.

            So, if your a songwriter like me, you have no doubt noticed that I have no good advice. If you are a music lover like me, then I am certain that you agree that the song and the craft of songwriting is something that is magic and not available in a bottle. A song, if it’s lucky, ends up as part of the fabric of someone else’s life. I consider this to be one of life’s highest honors and most humbling achievements.

(Scott Coner has worked with some of country music's top artists and musicians, including Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown, and Charlie Daniels. Learn more about him and hear his songs at www.ScottConer.com or www.Facebook.com/ScottConerMusic.)