Popular song and narratology:

Exploring the relationship between narrative theory and song lyrics through creative

practice.

Andrew Ward

Master of Fine Arts

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Creative Industries Faculty

Queensland University of Technology

2019

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This page has been left blank for formatting purposes.

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Contents

Contents ......................................................................................................................... 3

Figures............................................................................................................................ 6

Statement of Originality ................................................................................................. 8

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 9

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 10

Key Terms .................................................................................................................... 11

Links to Music Developed as Research ....................................................................... 12

Album One: An Exploration of Popular Song Structures ........................................ 12

Album Two: An Exploration of Narrative in Popular Song .................................... 12

Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................ 13

Chapter 2: Contextual Review ..................................................................................... 25

From Sonata to Sinatra............................................................................................. 26

From Adolf to Adele ................................................................................................ 33

Radio: Time and Instructions ................................................................................... 37

The Problem With Instructions ................................................................................ 39

But It’s Only Pop Music .......................................................................................... 47

Choosing 300 Songs ................................................................................................ 49

Applying Murphy’s Typology ................................................................................. 52

Chapter 3: Literature Review ....................................................................................... 57

Understanding Narrative Discourse ......................................................................... 58

Narrative Research and Popular Song ..................................................................... 63

Genette’s Model and the Instructional Literature .................................................... 68

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Narrative Theory-Leading Vocabulary .................................................................... 74

Narrative Progression and Musical Form ................................................................ 75

Genette and Todorov as an Analytical Model ......................................................... 78

Narrative Analysis of 14 Songs ............................................................................... 80

Understanding the 300 Songs Data .......................................................................... 80

A Closer/Content Analysis Using Genette .............................................................. 82

Observations on Narrative Discourse Progressions in a Set of 14 Songs ................ 86

Applying a Narrative Progression Typology ........................................................... 91

Comparisons and Finding Patterns Using Todorov ................................................. 92

Chapter 4: Methodology and Methods ........................................................................ 98

Practice as Research ............................................................................................... 100

300 Songs: A Contextual Review .......................................................................... 101

A Summary of Methods ......................................................................................... 106

Chapter 5: Practice One—An Examination of Pop Song Structures ......................... 108

An Outline of Album One...................................................................................... 109

Album One: An Exploration of Structure .............................................................. 110

Musical Form and the Creative Work .................................................................... 113

Locating Tacit Knowledge of Narrative in Practice .............................................. 118

Chapter 6: Practice Two—An Examination of Narrative in Pop Song Lyrics .......... 120

An Outline of Album Two ..................................................................................... 121

Album Two: An Exploration of Narrative ............................................................. 121

Effects of Practice One .......................................................................................... 125

Narrative Operation in the Creative Work ............................................................. 128

Visualising Narrative Progression ......................................................................... 132

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Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusion ...................................................................... 137

A Narrative Analysis of Album One ..................................................................... 137

Album One and Narrative Equilibrium.................................................................. 140

A New Theorisation of Narrative in Popular Song Lyrics .................................... 142

Temporal Considerations and Musical Form ......................................................... 142

Positioning of the Narrator..................................................................................... 143

Narrative Equilibrium in Sectional Function ......................................................... 144

Sectional Narrative Functions in Pop Song Lyrics ................................................ 145

Scope for Future Research ..................................................................................... 148

References .................................................................................................................. 151

Appendix A ................................................................................................................ 166

Appendix B ................................................................................................................ 167

Appendix C ................................................................................................................ 168

Appendix D ................................................................................................................ 169

Appendix E ................................................................................................................ 170

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Figures

Figure 1. An example of pop song data collection. ..................................................... 53

Figure 2. Average percentage use of Murphy’s six forms. .......................................... 54

Figure 3. Average number of sections per song by territory. ...................................... 55

Figure 4. An example of analysis data collection using Murphy’s typology of form. 55

Figure 5. Biaxial grid of Randle and Evans’s (2013) categories. ................................ 66

Figure 6. Percentage of number one songs shared across territories. .......................... 82

Figure 7. An example of the data collection using Genette’s model for narrative

analysis. ................................................................................................................ 86

Figure 8. Total number of section types in the contextual review of 14 songs. .......... 90

Figure 9. An example of the data collation examining the progression of narrative

equilibrium using Todorov’s model..................................................................... 92

Figure 10. A visual representation of the progression of narrative equilibrium

according to the outline analytical model. ........................................................... 93

Figure 11. Number of sections using the four possible functions of narrative

equilibrium in the 14 songs analysed in the contextual review. .......................... 94

Figure 12. Number of each Murphian section used in the 10 songs created for Album

One. .................................................................................................................... 116

Figure 13. Number of each Murphian section used in the 10 songs created for Album

Two. ................................................................................................................... 126

Figure 14. Number of sections using the four possible functions of narrative

equilibrium in Album Two. ............................................................................... 134

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Figure 15. Number of sections using the four possible functions of narrative

equilibrium in Album One. ................................................................................ 141

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Statement of Original Authorship

This work has not been previously submitted to meet for an award at this or

any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the

document contains no material previously published or written by another person

except where due reference is made.

Signed: QUT Verified Signature

Name: Mr Andrew Benjamin Ward

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deepest and most profound thanks to both principal

supervisors involved in this project throughout my PhD candidature: Professor Dr

Phillip Graham, for his inspirational scholarly knowledge and influential foundation

work and Dr Gavin Carfoot, for his ongoing support and profound insight.

For the passionate and driving support of Associate Supervisor Dr Lee

McGowan, without whose guidance this project would have never been possible; I

offer my humble thanks.

I extend my ongoing gratitude to Dr Kiley Gaffney for her ear and wisdom as

support in times of academic need.

I would like to thank the technical services office in the music discipline, and

specifically Mr James See, at the Queensland University of Technology for their

exemplary advice and assistance at all times.

This research would not have been possible without the support of the

Australian Postgraduate Award Stipend Scholarship that was so generously provided

to me.

Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my brilliant and loving

wife, Tulsi, for her everlasting and unwavering support over the three-and-a-half

years this project has taken out of our lives together.

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Abstract

This project uses participatory action research methods to examine how narrative

affects, influences and informs the lyrics written for contemporary popular songs. I

argue for a new narrative-informed analytical typology in songwriting using elements

of Todorov (1969) and Genette’s (1981) typologies. This new typology acts as a lens

for the examination of song lyrics as a unique and distinct literary form. In the review

process I begin with an analysis of musical structures used to codify musical form

across a 300-song body of contemporary work. From this analysis, the review selects

14 works as case studies and performs a broad narrative reading using Genette’s

(1981) typology of narrative voice. The resulting data are used to construct a new

analytical typology informed by Todorov’s (1969) concept of narrative equilibrium.

Following this review process, a creative practice is employed to explore and

interrogate the findings of the review. My creative practice manifests in two distinct

artefacts. The first is an album of original music that is created prior to and during the

structural analysis. This is offered as a foundation work that explores and interrogates

the nature of musical form in popular songs. Using practice as research (Doğantan-

Dack, 2016), the findings from the first practical stage of research are used to inform

the theorisation for a second body of work. The resulting second album is presented

as a representation of the theory and findings in practice. The outcome of this process

is threefold: a creative body of work that represents a practical experimentation of

form and narrative in popular song, an exegesis providing a new theory of lyric

writing and a model that practitioners and researchers can use to guide the

development of narrative in their work.

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Key Terms

Existent: any character involved in a narrative (Pier, 2010)

Extradiegetic: a homodiegetic positioning of the narrator as not directly involved in

the story being told (Genette, 1981)

Extradiegetic level: information contained in narrative pertaining to the narrative

discourse as defined in narrative theory (Edgar-Hunt, Marland & Rawle, 2015)

Focalisation: a concept used to explore the level of knowledge relationships between

a story’s narrator and non-narrational existents (Genette, 1981)

Form: the established structures contained in a musical work (Jones, 2017)

Heterodiegetic: a story in which there is a third-person narrator (Genette, 1981)

Homodiegetic: a story in which there is a first-person narrator (Genette, 1981)

Intradiegetic: a homodiegetic positioning of the narrator as involved in the story being

told (Genette, 1981)

Intradiegetic level: the information contained in a narrative pertaining to the story-

based elements as defined in narrative theory (Edgar-Hunt et al., 2015)

Lyric: words contained in pop songs and no other form or use of the word (Pattison,

2009)

Pop song: a shortening of the term ‘popular song’, referring to a particular field of

musical practice (i.e., pop music) (Murphy, 2011).

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Links to Music Developed as Research

Album One: An Exploration of Popular Song Structures

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Andrew%20Ward%20PhD%20Recorded%2

0Material/Album%201%20-%20An%20Exploration%20of%20Structure

Album Two: An Exploration of Narrative in Popular Song

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Andrew%20Ward%20PhD%20Recorded%2

0Material/Album%202%20-%20An%20Exploration%20of%20Narrative

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Chapter 1: Introduction

The contemporary popular song is everywhere (Murphy, 2011), permeating

modern Western culture with stories that engage and entertain on a mass scale.

Despite this ubiquity, the narrative located in song lyrics is an area of research still to

be explored in detail in academic research. My participatory action research (Kemmis

& McTaggart, 1988) project is concerned with the nature of storytelling located in the

lyrics of popular songs. More specifically, it examines the function of narrative in

relation to the established musical structures located in contemporary popular songs

(Murphy, 2011). Within these established musical structures, lyrics play a key role in

establishing the narrative voice (Fludernik, 2009). Consequently, lyrics are

instrumental in the development and delivery of story within popular songs. Davis

(1989) states ‘No one can legislate creativity, or would want to’ and it with this

sentiment in mind that this research approaches the study of lyrical narrative in

popular song, not with the intention of finding a maxim to standardise creativity, but

instead a new lens through which songwriting can be viewed.

This project consists of two clearly defined parts: Part A is an investigation of

musical form and narrative behaviours therein and Part B is a collection of creative

works that responds to and tests the findings of Part A. My exegesis begins with an

introduction to the research problem (see Chapter 1) and then discusses the context in

which this research problem exists (see Chapter 2). Following this is a review of

academic work that addresses narrative and songwriting; this helps outline how the

research problem might be addressed (see Chapter 3). A methodological model of

approach for the research (see Chapter 4) follows before the creative works developed

as the main site of research are outlined (see Chapters 5 and 6). Finally, this

manuscript ends with a discussion of the findings and proposes possible future

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research (see Chapter 7). Importantly, the music created as part of my project is core

to the understanding of the research; therefore, links that provide context are included

at the beginning of this manuscript so that the reader might listen to the creative work

prior to and during reading.

The existing popular instructional literature on songwriting provides insight

into how a practitioner might develop this narrative (Pattison, 2009); however, there

is limited advice on how narrative is executed within the established musical

structures (Randle & Evans, 2013). Bennett (2011) notes that ‘the relationship

between songwriting practice and song product is an under-explored one in popular

musicology’. In academic research, considerable work theorises the nature of

narrative within popular songs (Negus, 2012; Nicholls, 2007); however, this thesis

argues that the existing research regarding the relationships between musical forms

commonly found in pop songs and the ways in which narrative is developed therein is

an area that remains under-researched (Randle & Evans, 2013). My research bridges

the gap between the instructional literature (Blume, 2011; Murphy, 2011; Davis,

1992) and the investigative and theoretical work of narrative theorists regarding

popular music (Negus, 2012a; Nicholls, 2007; Randle & Evans, 2013; Long &

Barber, 2014).

My practice as a commercial songwriter presents an opportunity to examine

the theoretical and practical considerations of developing narrative in popular song

lyrics. Both my songwriting practice located in industry, and the songs that make up

this research are developed with a broad appeal in mind. My professional remit as a

songwriter is established by my record label whom instruct me to write a hit song, or

songs that can be played on high rotation on commercial radio. Therefore, this

research project identifies the relationship between the established musical forms

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located in high charting commercial popular song and narrative theory to investigate

how narrative can affect, influence and inform the lyrics of popular songs with

specific intention of writing songs that fit a commercial aesthetic and production

approach.

This project responds to the question through a practice-as-research

(Doğantan-Dack, 2016) approach that is informed by narrative theory and musical

structure analysis, resulting in a new theorisation of narrative in popular song lyrics.

The project draws on action research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988) as an overarching

framework that exploits the practice of songwriting itself as the fundamental inquiry

lens. The result of this approach contributes creative work that presents a significant

part of the project and serves to contribute to and further inform the research. For the

purpose of investigation, this creative output comprises two albums of original music:

the first is a foundational work that informs the analytical process and the second is an

audio illustration of the effects of the analysis. Therefore, the creative works serve as

both the research site and research outcome. Album One is offered as an experiment

in the implementation of musical structures, as outlined by a contextual review.

Album Two serves as an interrogation and exploration of the findings that result from

a narrative analysis led by the literature review. These components are brought

together in an exegesis (30,000 words) that, for examination, is weighted 30%; the

creative work comprises the remaining 70%.

While this research project represents the development of a scholarly

understanding of song lyrics, the journey of the research starts much earlier when, as

a two-year-old child, I was taken by my parents to see the film Amadeus, which is a

semi-fictitious biography of Wolfgang Mozart (Forman, 1984). After leaving the

session I am told I said, ‘I want to be like him, I want to play music!’ The next week,

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I was attending violin lessons and my career focus has never shifted from the musical

realm. Therefore, one could say that it was the combination of written narrative in the

form of a movie script and Mozart’s music that started me down my current path.

Piano training followed violin lessons and opera; singing and theory studies came

some years later. This formal music study introduced to me the most ubiquitous of the

common practice period (Bazemore, 2006) or classical music structures: the sonata.

This musical structure or form enjoyed an era (Rosen, 1988) as a key compositional

device of musical work of the time (Bazemore, 2006). From classical string quartets

to romantic piano concerti to the modernist neoclassical symphonic works of

Stravinsky, the three-part convention of the sonata form influenced the structures of

musical composition (Irving, 2017). During this research, the similarity that this

musical form shares with the Aristotelian or romantic concepts of narrative

(Fludernik, 2009) implied a key underlying idea: that they share a fundamental three-

part structure that loosely follows the same dramatic principles of a beginning, middle

and end. While the lexicon changes between music and narrative, the fundamental

tenets remain consistent (McClatchie, 1997).

The invention and subsequent proliferation of recorded music in the early

twentieth century allowed for new structural influences to shape popular music

(Meadows, 2010). The resulting stylistic progression from rhythm and blues (R & B)

through vaudeville, jazz and rock-and-roll helped to popularise a new short form of

music that was accompanied by lyrics. This was the birth of the modern pop song and,

in the ensuing decades, its delivery format helped shape its structure in the

conventions that are the subject of this research (Cook & Krupar, 2010). Like many of

my musical peers, in my late teens, I lost interest in classical music and a career as a

concert violinist, instead choosing to focus my attention on popular music. My

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experience led me to singing in and writing songs for various local bands and it was

through this that I became entangled with songwriting and the problem that this

research explores.

While the interpretive paradigm of this research takes its understanding of

Western art music from a formal learning and music conservatoire education

tradition, my personal practice of narrative design and storytelling in songwriting was

informal and somewhat haphazard. This resulted in a personal lyric writing practice

that demonstrated limited knowledge of how stories were implemented in the pop

song form. After a contextual review of some instructional literature on the subject, I

came to the understanding that my interpretive paradigm was predicated on three

major tensions: 1) pop songs did not adhere to the simple three-part musical structure

of sonata form to which my classical ear was accustomed, 2) the construction of pop

song lyrics is often led by the musical structures, not narrative structures, and 3) from

these factors, the narratives contained in pop songs do not follow linear three-act

conventions. This set of issues was further compounded by the assertion regarding

narrative structure that was made by many authors of instructional literature: namely,

some authors ascribe that ‘a good song must have a beginning, middle and end’

(Blume, 2011, p. 89), while others take a less rigid and lyric based approach to

songwriting structure (Davis, 1992). Given this is the case, how does one present a

structured narrative in a musical form that does not consist three obvious and distinct

formal sections? At this juncture, it is important I acknowledge that when I use the

term ‘pop song’ I am referring to songs that charted on ‘pop’ charts from three major

English-speaking territories. Later in this thesis I will further explore the reasoning for

this terminology and the data set itself.

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A paradox begins to emerge in the following lines of thought. Some

instructional literature on songwriting (Blume, 2011; Murphy, 2011; Pattison, 2009)

prescribes the three-part narrative as a foundation element to narrative developing in

lyric writing; however, the same literature offers typologies of form that are not

constructed in three parts with Murphy’s (2011) typology being particularly

disconnected narrative understanding. The instructional author solution to this

contradiction is to engage in practice to explore the relationship between form and

storytelling. This practice-informed process is mirrored in academic research on the

subject of narrative and popular songs. Negus and Astor (2015) argue that the practice

of songwriting is essential to the study of narrative in popular song. Similar to the

popular literature, existing academic work argues for examination of narrative

through practice, but it does not bridge the gap between narrative theory and the song

forms commonly found in popular song.

Nicholls’s (2007) work approaches questions regarding the nature of narrative

in pop songs from a musicologist and narrative theorist’s perspective. His assertions

largely rely on the prosody between lyrics and melody as being central to popular

song examination. While this may be the case through a musicologist’s lens, it does

not answer the issues that a practitioner familiar with the musical conventions of the

pop song might experience when developing narrative within this form. Similarly,

explorations of song lyrics in a general or ethnographic sense (DeWall et al, 2011;

Tagg, 1982) offer little to no insight into the nature of narrative within these confines.

While this research does not seek to diminish the importance of prosody of lyrics and

music in popular songwriting, or in musicological research, it is an investigation into

lyrical text and the narrative discourse therein. Therefore, I acknowledge the

importance of prosody in text and music and argue that the nature of prosody in

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popular song does not yet allow for narratological discourse analysis in the model of

Genette (1981).

This research aligns itself with Randle and Evans’s (2013) understanding that

narrative in popular song lyrics is underrepresented in research and that significant

room exists for further examination. Their synthesis of semiotics (Barthes, 1974) and

narrative theory (Bal, 2009) proposes a codification of four types of song that are

outlined later in this research. While this analytical model offers further insight into

the relationships between musical forms and narrative, it remains a precursory inquiry

that provides no practice-based examination of the theory. Rather, it offers a

rudimentary framework from which this practice-as-research (Doğantan-Dack, 2016)

project can draw.

This research argues that both the instructional literature and academic

research are limited and that this limitation can be addressed by a more nuanced

reading that considers creative practice the site of meaning and knowledge creation

(Smith & Dean, 2009). Specifically, existing research efforts to examine narrative in

popular song lyrics argue for, but do not emphasise, an approach that uses creative

practice to interrogate each posited theory. Randle and Evans (2013) argue

songwriting is a creative practice, this research aligns itself with the position on

Negus and Astor (2011) that songwriting practice must be undertaken to properly

examine narrative within popular songs.

The uncertainty regarding the relationship between narrative and popular song

structure can be divided into two equally important sub-questions based on the initial

assertions outlined in this research. First, does popular songs really adhere to a linear

beginning/middle/end and if so does this indicate that there is a dissonance between

narrative and musical structures? Second, if there is a dissonance, how can a narrative

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operate within the most common pop song structures? In framing these questions it is

important to note that all songs, and indeed linear progression as a whole, can be

viewed as having a beginning, middle and end, however, for the purposes of this

research, ‘beginning/middle/end’ specifically refers to the ways in which the lyrical

narrative operates.

To help ascertain the nature of the relationship between narrative and pop

song structures, this research examines the common musical structures of the

contemporary pop song through a contextual review of popular song forms. The

review examines the structural music composition of 300 number one songs from the

most relevant English-speaking markets (ARIA, 2016). This analysis contributes new

data regarding contemporary musical forms and is used to guide the practice-based

components of this project. I argue that tension in knowledge is created by the

assertion that lyrics are led by musical structure (Randle & Evans, 2013) and the

assertion that song lyrics do not follow a linear three-part narrative convention

(Murphy, 2011). Initially this research seeks to clarify if songs located in recent ‘pop’

charts are led by musical form by undertaking a baseline analysis of 300 popular song

forms from that group. In seeking to further explore the tension posited above, this

research asks the question: how can narrative operate within the convention of pop

song structures? The research explores this question by using elements of Genette’s

(1981) narrative theory to examine narrative patterns that are contained in the

identified musical structures within the lyrics of 14 songs selected from the contextual

review. To further triangulate this data, the project argues for a new typology of

analysis that borrows from both Todorov’s (1971) work on narrative equilibrium and

his formulaic distillation of Genette’s focalisation (Pier, 2010).

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Two collections of creative work are presented as an illustration of how these

findings might be implemented and how they affect the creative practice of

songwriting. These collections are presented as two 10-track albums. The first

collection acts as an interrogation of structure, while the second explores narrative

operation based on new theorisation that was informed by the review process. Each of

these sound recordings has been developed to a point in which they are acceptable as

demonstration recordings (demos) for major record label artists and repertoire (A&R)

departmental reviews. The songs have then been submitted to the A&R department of

an industry partner (Sony Music Entertainment Australia) and were subjected to an

interrogation of their perceived commercial value. While the resulting feedback

represents a possible parameter for the efficacy of the practice-as-research (Doğantan-

Dack, 2016) outcome of this project, it is not used as a metric in this research. Instead,

industry feedback is included anecdotally in Chapters Five and Six in which a

reflective process is used to further outline the research findings.

These experimentations are not designed to deliver a definitive answer to the

research question, but to offer a point of theoretical and practical engagement with the

research problem (Randle & Evans, 2013). This engagement acts as a medium to

encourage future discourse on the subject and motivate further research in the field.

The proposed research methodology offers a model for broader examination through

practical research that can be used to produce creative artefacts for testing in both the

academic and commercial arenas. Consequently, this project helps address the issue

identified in both the instructional and academic literature by using the argument that

the nature of narrative in the lyrics of popular songs cannot truly be examined without

engaging in the practice of songwriting itself (Negus & Astor, 2015).

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This exegesis begins with a discussion of musical form in the historical

context. This brief review serves to highlight the development of popular musical

forms and how we have arrived at today’s pop song conventions. Following this

review, a discussion of musical form investigates the typologies that will be used for

the analysis of musical structures and will begin the exploration of the associated

lexicon. It serves to establish musical forms that are cemented in the development of

the contemporary pop song. Additionally, the review also highlights that while

narrative and song are intimately linked, significant instructional literature on

songwriting does not describe how its prescribed musical structures relate to narrative

development, while others (Davis, 1992) prescribe detail worthy of practice-as-

research testing. The research does this by borrowing lines of arguments from

academic studies on narrative and popular music and contextualising them within this

research project.

Chapter 2 frames a review of the instructional literature in songwriting that

establishes storytelling and narrative as being central to the form and lyrics of a

popular song. Using this frame, this chapter contextually reviews a collection of

popular song creative works that are curated to represent the charting number one

singles from three major territories. A collection of 300 songs from Australian, United

Kingdom (UK) and United States (US) markets is subject to a structural analysis

informed by the typologies located in the instructional literature. This review of the

surrounding creative work serves a dual purpose: 1) to identify the most common

musical forms located in pop songs and 2) to establish a structural framework that

allows for the application of a narratological lens. The contextual review also serves

to frame an analysis of the literature that informs the research methodology.

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Chapter 3 examines the broader field of narrative theory, beginning with a

brief discussion on narratological thought. The literature review then refines a

discussion regarding elements of Genette’s (1981) and Todorov’s (Genette, 1981)

typologies to establish a potential analytic for popular song. This research then takes

elements from Genette’s (1981) work and develops a functional analytic for the

examination of narrative in popular song lyrics, as well as proposes a further method

of investigation by introducing a typology based on Todorov’s (1971) understanding

of narrative equilibrium. Additionally, this review explores existing work that

involves popular music and narrative theory, as well as further discusses the gap in

knowledge between the existing research and instructional literature. After

establishing this gap, the methodological thinking that forms the foundation for this

research is outlined.

In Chapter 4, an initial examination of the methodology outlines Kemmis and

McTaggart’s (1988) participatory action research spiral as an appropriate

methodological framework. Using this framework as a guide, this chapter debates the

implications of certain research methodology involving practice (Candy & Edmonds,

2018; Smith & Dean, 2009) and outlines a hybrid comprising of various approaches.

Following this discussion, I deconstruct the research design’s constituent parts and

describe how both the analytical process and resulting data act as informers to a

creative practice site of interrogation. This combination of narratological and musical

approaches draws on our understanding of common musical conventions of form and

provides insight into how narrative can operate in common popular song structures.

After the approach is outlined, Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 document the

development of this research’s creative components. These chapters discuss the

creative process and provide insight into the outcomes resulting from this practice.

24

While the first set of creative works explores the findings about musical form, the

second explores narrative operation and development in musical structure. Using the

established vocabulary on narrative and songwriting theory, the research observes the

similarities and differences between the initial baseline collection of songs and the

creative works of this research that were informed by the narrative review process.

This chapter then examines the creative works through the same analytical method

that was used in the contextual and narrative research, discussing how these results

may be valuable to future creative processes.

Chapter 7 contains a summary of works, including a completion of analytical

work in which the artefacts resulting from the creative practice are subjected to the

typologies outlined in the review process. This chapter discusses the key findings and

research design as well as leads to a conversation on how this research could be

furthered in the future. The two albums exist both as an exemplar of the research in

practice and as the subject of its focus. These research outcomes provide a deeper

understanding of narrative in songwriting and offer an analytical framework for its

future exploration.

In summary, this chapter has outlined the interpretive paradigm and how the

research question has developed as part of a creative practice in songwriting. Further,

this chapter has guided the reader through the manuscript’s components and has

provided a precursory indication of the key theoretical discourse that guides the

project. In Chapter 2, the contextual review develops the context regarding the

research’s significance and how the practice of songwriting is situated in modern

popular song.

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Chapter 2: Contextual Review

To answer the question of how can/does narrative operate in the lyrics of

popular songs, I commence by examining the nature of different musical forms and

how they have developed throughout the history of Western music. Specifically, the

Western common-practice period tradition is first examined, tracing a path from the

development of written music to the sonata form through to the contemporary popular

songs of today. This examination establishes the significance of musical form in

popular song and identifies the historical influences that have contributed to these

traditions of form. It is important to note that this thesis does not follow conventions

of academic structures in that a contextual review is performed and accompanied by a

study of 300 songs and an accompanying creative work examining the resulting

findings. Following this chapter another review of academic literature is performed

with another analysis of a smaller 14-song data set followed by another set of creative

works testing the resulting findings. Outlining this approach at the beginning of the

contextual review provides some context for the research methodology that is

explored in greater detail in Chapter 4 of this thesis.

I begin by examining the development of the sonata form and identifying its

key similarities to three-act narrative structures (Reid, 2014). While Sonata form has

little to do historically with the development of the contemporary popular song, I use

this musical form as a discussion point to demonstrate historical musical forms that

use a three-part structure. Then, I examine how the emergence of American musical

traditions, European folks songs, and recorded music influenced musical form and

contributed to the contemporary popular song. Further discussions provide context for

how changes in technology and the delivery mediums of music in the twentieth

century continued to influence the development of strongly defined sections and

26

structures in musical form. The definitions and terminology of these aspects, as they

are defined in the instructional literature on songwriting and in related academic

research, are then reviewed.

After examining the importance of musical structures in the Western popular

song tradition, a detailed review of surrounding creative works is performed. This

review examines the nature of musical form in 300 popular songs from three major

English-speaking commercial markets. This review uses popular instructional

literature on songwriting to inform the terminology and typology that is used in this

analysis. Therefore, the contextual review provides data on popular song structure that

subsequently informs the creative practice presented later in the document. Both the

review of the instructional literature and the analysis of 300 popular songs provide a

detailed context for this research and suggest a methodological path for the continued

examination of narrative theory and popular song lyrics.

From Sonata to Sinatra

This section is a historical account and critical reading of key social and

cultural factors that influenced the development of the contemporary popular song,

beginning with an examination of the written musical form’s development in Western

art music. It was in the religious temples of the Eastern Roman Empire during the

ninth century AD that the first modern musical notation emerged (Loris, 2012). While

some accounts of Western music history have positioned the development of musical

notation in the Gregorian monastic traditions of northern Italy during the eleventh

century (Loris, 2012), the Byzantine Empire was the true origin of modern musical

notation and form (Loris, 2012). During this time, a rudimentary notation system

known as neumes was used to transcribe the melodies of religious texts (Helsen,

2015). Here, the structures of the written religious texts governed the musical

27

structures of these works. Even at this early point in Western music history, we see a

symbiosis between story and musical structure; these structures were the basis of

written musical form for another six centuries, until the beginning of the Western

European renaissance (Neume, 2002). This historical point is when this research’s

examination of the relationship between storytelling and modern song structures

commences.

During the rise of feudalism in Europe (Blum, 2017), the growth of court or

chamber music as a key source of entertainment for the aristocracy developed in

parallel (Baron, 2010). As empires expanded and exotic cultures came in and out of

fashion musical practices proliferated through travel, from wandering minstrel

traditions of central Europe, to various folk song traditions formed around oral modes

of communication (Loris, 2012). In the early Renaissance European courts a

collection of diverse musical forms known as the Suite (Loesch, 2004) grew in

popularity. The Suite’s main function was as a form of dance music that was not

based on lyrical inspiration, but rather on rhythmic devices (Kerman, 2005). The

different nation states and empires of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries developed

distinct dance rhythms and, due to the diplomatic relationships between these states,

these rhythms permeated the courts of Western Europe. By the baroque period (1600–

1750) and J. S. Bach’s experimentations in temperament, these influences had

established several commonly accepted musical structures that were based on

rhythmic devices (Baron, 2010). The two most common overarching forms were

binary (A/B) and ternary (A/B/A) (Adrian, 1990); the sonata form began to emerge

from the latter. It is important to note that the Suite operated as court music for the

elite members of a class based European society, and are not the focus of this

28

discussion due to their cultural representation but rather the readily available

documentation resulting from their associated status.

Although the sonata (A/B/A) was a common framework for compositions in

the baroque era, these works were written mostly for solo instruments. J. S. Bach was

a significant contributor to the form in this era, with his exploration of keys that were

most famously developed for the violin, cello and clavier (Leichtentritt, 1951).

Furthering the development of the form, the leaders of the Western classical period in

music truly forged a path for the sonata. Clamenti and Mozart used the popular form

to develop entire symphonic works, but it was Haydn who became known as the

father of the symphony and string quartet, which were the two mediums that

cemented sonata as the leading musical form (Jones, 2017). This form was adopted by

early romantic-era composers (e.g., Beethoven), who used it as the basic framework

for almost all first movements of symphonies, until the last great romantics of the

early twentieth century (Samson, 1991).

Within the confines of its basic three-part structure, the sonata form provided

the basis on which modernist works were built, such as the hour-long tenth symphony

of Shostakovich (Volkov, 2004). Given its longevity as the most common of Western

instrumental music structures (1700–1910), one could argue that the sonata

framework had a fundamental and structural function when it came to presenting

musical ideas to an audience (Schmidt-Beste, 2011). This fundamental function is

governed by the form itself and is broken into three main elements by most common-

practice period musicologists (Hill, 1987): the exposition, which is the initial delivery

of the primary themes and motives; the development, which involves the transforming

of the primary themes and motive to another musical perspective; and the

recapitulation, which is the delivery of the initial themes and motives that have been

29

influenced by the development section (Schmidt-Beste, 2011). This is where the

research draws its first significant comparisons between music and narrative. A clear

similarity exists between the sonata form and the three-act structure that is discussed

in narrative and screenwriting theory (Adams et al., 2005). This three-act structure

breaks storytelling into three similar sections that are outlined by Troitter (1998) as

follows: the first act is mainly used for exposition and establishes the main characters,

themes and the equilibrium of the story; the second act serves to introduce

confrontation or some kind of thematic disturbance to the equilibrium established in

the first act; and the third-act creates a climax and resolution to this disturbance,

establishing a new equilibrium that contains information acquired by the second act.

This elaboration of each act’s function within the three-act structure of

narrative mirrors that of the sonata form in music and indicates possible links between

how audiences of the time consumed both music and story. Similarly, narrative theory

has developed alongside twentieth century technology and screenwriting, while

popular music has equally been affected by the evolution of electronics and recording

technology. To reflect this evolution, many modern screenwriting theorists argue for a

more in-depth structural model (Campbell, 1988; Heyes, 2007) of narrative

development within cinema. While this research argues for Sonata as a demonstration

of the link between three-part narrative and musical forms, it does not assert that the

Sonata played a significant role in the development of contemporary popular song.

This research project argues for a new model of the theorisation of pop song lyrics.

The research first examines how popular musical forms turned away from the

Western classical music tradition to develop into today’s contemporary pop song; this

is to gain contextual insight into the similarities between narrative theory and musical

30

form. This chapter, therefore, further highlights the links between musical structure

and narrative function.

A key site of development in modern musical form originates in the Atlantic

Slave Trade that proliferated between the sixteenth and nineteenth Century (Thornton,

1998). With the over 12 million people stolen from the western coastal nations of

Africa, came a diverse set of languages, religious, and cultural practices including a

plethora of musical practice and tradition (Christopher, 2006). During this period of

American history significant effort on the part of slavers was placed on breaking

down these traditions in an attempt to control the slave population (Thornton, 1998),

however, while many elements of cultural identity were successfully destroyed the

commonality of musical practice allowed for the survival of functional music by way

of work and spiritual music (Hobson, 2013). The musicality of the West-African ear

and tuning system survived through this functional music and developed into a

diverse set of musical forms including field holler, honky tonk, and early blues

Hobson, 2013). Most notable of these forms was the call a response nature of field

holler, where the workers in the field would toil to the call of another slave often

given the elevated title of ‘caller’ (Anderson, 2008). This musical practice is arguably

the birthplace of the first truly American musical form, the 12-bar blues that uses an

AAB structure built on a set of harmonic practices (Bransford, 2004). While sharing

some similarities to the AABA form of some European folk song structures, the 12-

bar blues is built on a foundation of West African harmonic practice and the context

and function of its original use (Clarke, 1995).

In the late nineteenth Century the American Civil War arguably furthered the

emancipation of the West African slave labour force in the US, and brought with it

vast swathes of military equipment including military music instruments that would

31

build the foundation of early New Orleans Jazz (Anderson, 2008). The West African

harmonic and structural systems developed over centuries of slavery were overlaid on

European instruments that operated in a Classical European tuning system. This

established a key influential musical development of the twentieth century where a

whole new musical language was being developed and popularised (Hobson, 2013).

Many of the early iterations of this music used the popular 12-bar structure, but as the

influence of New Orleans’ diverse trade port culture influenced the music being made

in the city, folk song conventions of AABA began to emerge as a common structure

(Hobson, 203). This AABA structure became elongated where each section would

make up 8-bars, 32 bars in total, and eventually would become the standard song form

in American popular music for much of the first half of the Twentieth Century

(Appen, 2015).

In the early twentieth century, several technological developments altered how

music was communicated. The emergence of the phonograph boosted the existing

commercial music publishing marketplace and generated the lyric-centric songwriting

traditions of Tin Pan Alley (Shepherd, 2016). In the small rooms of West 28th Street,

between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan, New York, popular African-

American music traditions were translated from a ‘blacks only’ exotic form to a more

sanitised ‘commercially’ appropriate aesthetic (Charlton, 2011). Simultaneously,

vaudeville introduced this aesthetic to the wider white-American public, often in a

heavily satirised form akin to the blackfaced mistrals of the Al Jolson era (Musser,

2011). As such, the Tin Pan Alley and vaudeville traditions were responsible for the

spread of the form common to that of 12-bar blues and the AABA form. Appen &

Frei-Hauenschild (2015) views the influence of Tin Pan Alley as follows:

32

In the 1890’s, the typical verse/chorus form of the early Tin Pan Alley era

emerged as these formal components were expanded and subjected to musical

and lyrical variation. In this new form, a chorus consisted of a 16- or 32-

measure cycle based on an ABAC structure. Following World War I, the 32-

measure AABA form, in which the A-section now began or ended with a

refrain, prevailed as the standard. Employing various styles of harmonization

from the Tin Pan Alley bag of tricks for the A-sections became an important

method of differentiating these sections from one another. (Appen, p.7, 2015)

Appen’s (2015) work unpacks the nuanced step-by-step development of this

32-bar form and how it progresses into various forms that can be located in numerous

popular song forms today. Furthering the commercialisation of this Tin Pan Alley

influenced song structure, vaudeville stars like Fred Astaire and Al Jolson crossed

over from touring acts to the big screen and paved the way for the singing movie stars

of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, such as Crosby and Sinatra. While white songwriters

and personalities were behind the spread of the popular 32-bar informed AABA form,

this structural device had also proliferated in traditional jazz arrangements. Common

in traditional jazz, this 32-bar structure was repeated and used as a harmonic-based

structural framework that instrumentalists could improvise over. This form was

further developed in the modern jazz era as part of a countercultural offering from the

African-American community of New York (Jackson, 2001). However, while this

form was popular in many forms of music in the mid-twentieth century, another form

was developing in parallel.

The birth of rock-and-roll is often cited (e.g., Pegg, 2002) as being Chuck

Berry’s Maybellene (Berry, Fratto & Freed, 1955). This was America in the 1950s,

33

which had a growing youth culture that was energised by the employment

opportunities provided to them by a booming post-war economy; this became the new

market for commercial exploitation (Acknowledgement, 1983). Rock-and-Roll

became the soundtrack of this movement and established itself as the symbol for a

new rebellious generation (Friedlander, 1996). This is the site where modern music

traditions began to formalise their structural language beyond the simple terms used

in Tin Pan Alley and pushed towards the structures we recognise today (Appen, p.28,

2015). It is important to note that this summary of forms and structures is not intended

to represent a comprehensive history of Twentieth Century American music but

instead acts as a discussion of some key points of context that might help build

understanding for the research to come. To further the understanding of how modern

pop music structures came into existence, this research next examines the effect that a

collection of delivery mediums had on songwriting.

From Adolf to Adele

Although this section is focused on twentieth century developments in music,

it is not intended to be a complete account of music history. Instead, this section will

highlight some key social and cultural developments that influenced the emergence of

contemporary pop song forms (Murphy, 2011). In Europe in the 1930s, the political

uncertainty left by the First World War led to the rise of the Fascists and resulted in

the Nazi occupation of France (Sailsbury, 2015). Hitler had implemented a

widespread ban on cultural content from ‘exotic’ sources, including those of the

forces that were allied against him (Zalampas, 1990). During the early twentieth

century, Paris’s progressive and accepting society welcomed many African-American

citizens migrating there (Chamberlain, 2003). This led Paris to develop a jazz culture

similar to that of the great American centres and a particular love of the musical style

34

(Asukile, 2010). Since the occupying forces had placed a ban on jazz and most other

forms of popular live music, small groups of young French citizens gathered under

the cover of darkness in former music halls to listen to the latest recordings of their

favourite artists that had been smuggled into the country (Brewster & Broughton,

2006). These gatherings saw the birth of the disc jockey (DJ) and the term

discotheque, which means library of records (Hutton, 2007). This alternative way in

which groups of people consumed music spread to the US through the underground

dance halls of the working class and the progressive Manhattan house parties that

were the mainstay of New York’s artistic elite (Brewster & Broughton, 2006). In

these cultural spaces, the DJ would undertake a significant contributing role to the

development of contemporary pop song forms.

While the 32-bar AABA form exerted a significant influence on popular music

until the 1960s (Adelt, 2010), other musical forms were developing in the US’s

Midwestern states (Flory, 2013). During the first decade of the twentieth century,

industrialisation and a burgeoning manufacturing industry influenced the

development of some twentieth century musical traditions. The Ford Motor Company

based its manufacturing plant in Detroit, Michigan, and General Motors was soon to

follow. In the 1930s, Detroit was the fourth most populous city in the US, due to the

population boom that was prompted by the motor industry (Motown, 2013). During

this time, a large proportion of the African-American labour force from the south in

Mississippi traded their rural work for factory labour and migrated north to work

(Chamberlain, 2003). In addition to this internal migration, Latin-American

immigrants moved north to Detroit, creating a diverse cultural environment that was

ready to assert its own musical influence (Motown, 2013). This cultural environment

35

existed prior to the popularisation of the DJ, but the two cultural practices were soon

to meet and be instrumental in the development of disco music.

Detroit became synonymous with the motor industry and the city earned the

colloquial name ‘Motor Town’ (Flory, 2017). Using the shortened version Berry

Gordy founded Motown, a local record label embraced the music resulting from the

multicultural environment that was created by the new manufacturing sector

(Fitzgerald, 1995). While rock-and-roll had become the mainstay of middle-class

white-American youth, the Latin and African-American labour force of Detroit came

together to create new genres of music. R&B and soul music formed around the

combination of incredible vocal talent and a new style of songwriting (McCarthy,

2013). This style, while still informed by 32-bar AABA and ABAC (Appen, 2015),

had moved away towards a more A/B binary form similar to that of rock-and-roll and

drew inspiration from the harmonic traditions of traditional jazz and rhythmic nuances

of Latin-American-influenced percussion to develop a new creative practice

(Fitzgerald, 1995).

As Motown grew in popularity, another musical style was emerging in the

recordings of James Brown. Often referred to as the godfather of soul, Brown was the

leading progenitor of soul and funk music, which was a style that functioned

predominantly as a dance music form. Consequently, funk is typified by a danceable

tempo centred on short, repeated musical or lyrical phrases that are often only one bar

in length (Thompson, 2001). While still using the A/B and AABA structures of other

popular song genres, Funk’s shortened basic musical phrase iterations of horn stabs

and loopable drum beats contributed, in part, to the repetition that is popular in

today’s musical forms, in which loops and repeated rhythms are used as a

compositional device.

36

As the popularity of soul and funk swelled, disco dancehall culture became a

prominent feature of the American musical landscape. Disco clubs were designed

around the playing of records to mostly black and Latin-American audiences for

which a single DJ could play music all night with varied styles and instrumentation in

any discotheque (Brabazon, p. 116, 2012). At this time, several recording and

recorded technologies became more readily available to America’s burgeoning middle

class (Brabazon, 2012). The financial pressure placed on disco proprietors insisted

that the DJ play continuously, for fear of having patrons leave the dance floor and

their establishment. Therefore, DJs of the 1970s used magnetic tape machines to

create extended mixes of popular songs, often using tape loops to transition between

works (Brewster & Broughton, 2006). Sections known as breakbeats were taken from

recordings in which only drums were featured (Ewoodzie Jr., 2017). This looping of

beats and musical sections further contributed to the repetition found in contemporary

pop song forms. It must be noted that this research does not claim that repetition in

popular song is solely derived from these musical styles, but instead asserts that

turntablism and disco laid the foundation for Hip-Hop culture which goes on to be a

significant influence in Twenty-first Century popular song.

Facilitated by the short musical repetition provided in funk music, DJs used

multiple turntables to facilitate the continuous playing of music. This dual turntable

system provided the platform for beat mixing, which is a technique that involved

matching the tempo of two different recordings to play one song continuously into

another. Beat mixing was combined with the scratching technique of Jamaican dub

music to create the foundation for Hip-Hop to emerge as a genre out of New York in

the late 1970s (Brabazon, 2012).

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In the 1980s the emergence of several technologies may have influenced the

way in which songs were written. Protocols like the popular Music Instrument Digital

Interface (MIDI), the broader commercial development of the drum machine, and the

emergence of the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) expanded the possibilities of

how songs could be written and produced (Peres, et al. p.41, 2016). The ability to

achieve quicker compositional outcomes in a digital workflows using loops

(Anderton, p.50, 2011), and the influence of distribution mediums setting commercial

boundaries on popular song forms throughout the Twentieth Century (Murphy, 2011),

may have been contributing factors in a popular song structure that more lead by

musical considerations than lyrical and narrative influences.

This research posits that these commercial, technological, cultural and social

contexts played a significant role in the development of the structures of popular song

forms today and, unlike the sacred music discussed in the previous section, these

popular song forms emerged with lyrics that often could be more informed by

structure, rather than the inverse. With this in mind, my research analyses popular

song form to better understand and examine these musical structures and the

relationship between them and lyric writing. To achieve this, further discussion on the

influence of distribution mediums is needed to illustrate how modern pop song

structures came to be, with radio emerging as one of the defining influences of these

forms and the primary medium through which music was disseminated to audiences

in the twentieth and early twenty-first Century.

Radio: Time and Instructions

In his book Murphy’s Laws of songwriting, Murphy (2011) discusses how the

taste of the contemporary pop music audience was shaped through the broadcast

medium of radio. In particular, he emphasises that the musical structures of popular

38

song have been informed by the needs of commercial broadcast radio in the latter half

of the twentieth century (Murphy, 2011). Murphy’s work, like much of the

instructional literature, relies on an established vocabulary to discuss musical

structures. This vocabulary is informed by the sources discussed earlier in this review

and focuses on sectional definitions or titles (chorus/verse) and how they operate

within a structure as a whole. This sectional vocabulary is used to discuss how a

song’s structural design was led by an audience’s perceived needs, which are related

to the parameters set by commercial radio in the US (Murphy, 2011).

Murphy (2011) starts by arguing that a ‘hit’ song must arrive at ‘the chorus’

by the one-minute mark, as it is at this point that the listener will lose interest in the

song; therefore, ‘getting to the point’ (Murphy, 2011, pp. 84) within this temporal

limitation is crucial. Murphy further discusses his concept of the ‘two-minute wall’,

which is the point at which, if no new musical information is delivered, the listener

will stop engaging. He noted that commercial radio is about keeping listeners from

changing stations; therefore, radio stations play music that best keeps listeners

engaged. The most obvious evidence of this commercial influence on songwriting is

observed in the overall average length of a pop song. The length of a song was

originally dictated by the medium of its release, particularly in the days of

phonographs and vinyl records (Schmidt Horning, 2011); however, radio influenced

the contemporary length of songs by insisting that songs fit between predetermined

advertising slots (Wired, 2014).

Both Blume (2011) and Leiken (2008) agree with Murphy’s comments

regarding radio and time constraints. Blume (2011) noted that ‘you only have three to

three-and-a-half minutes and probably between twenty-four and thirty-six different

lines in which to tell your story’ (p. 42), while Leiken (2008) stated that popular songs

39

are time restricted, as they are ‘usually three to three and a half minutes long’ (p. 1).

Leiken (2008) also addresses how temporal limitations have affected the structural

frameworks of pop songs: ‘Contemporary hit songs have two distinct lyrical and

musical sections that are repeated at least once. They are the verse, called section A,

and the chorus, called section B’ (p. 3). This reflects Davis’ (1989) assertion that the

A/B or ‘verse/chorus’ is ‘the most popular song form since the sixties’ (p. 31). In a

further review of the instructional literature, many titles discuss the influence that

radio had on the development of contemporary songs’ temporal parameters. In How to

be a hit songwriter: Polish and marketing your lyric and music (Leiken, 2003), it is

noted that the key source of publicity and revenue as a songwriter comes from radio

play. This argument places radio at the heart of the commercial success of the

songwriter and emphasises the need to adhere to radio’s strict time parameters. Paul

Zollos’s (2003) Songwriters on songwriting proposes that perhaps these time

limitations lead to the changing form of the popular song. In both cases, the authors

indicate that music’s particular broadcast medium was a major contributing factor in

the development of the modern pop song.

The Problem With Instructions

The canon of instructional literature emphasises the idea that a song and

storytelling are intimately linked. While authors like Sheila Davis (1989, 1988) stand

out as taking considerable effort in describing the nature of story telling in popular

song form, most authors of instructional songwriting texts (Murphy, Blume, Leiken,

Webb) do not provide extended discussion regarding how songs structure affects the

telling of stories. In part two of her instructional work The Craft of Lyric Writing

Davis (1989) outlines her understanding of mastering of song forms. She discusses

concepts of narrative time (p. 111-117) in detail prescribing that “Drama is for now,

40

narrative is for then” (p. 111). Davis also discusses nature of storytelling in song

sections by stating that the verse “should not bore us” (p. 53) and that the verse exists

to develop tension to that we resolve in the chorus (p.53). While this is a valuable

insight into practices of lyric writing, Davis writes in later chapters how this can be

achieved through literary devices, Davis’ work predates the proliferation of newer

song forms like that outlined by of Murphy. Although is it possible to extract enough

storytelling direction from Davis’ work to produce a lyrical narrative, there are holes

in her instruction created by new song forms like that of the pre-chorus role in story

function.

While the lack of instruction regarding narrative–song relationship in other

prominent instructional texts (Murphy, 2011. Leiken, 2008. Blume, 2011) has

informed the current study’s context, for the purpose of this contextual review, the

key terminological cues are taken from the instructional literature when examining

overall musical structures and their individual components, such as verses and

choruses.

The term chorus dates back to ancient Greek theatre (Collins & O’Brien,

2011), but its use in the contemporary song world is significantly more modern.

Meanwhile, the Tin Pan Alley concepts of verse and refrain and 32-bar AABA

structures might have served well in the 1920s (Murphy, 2011); however, today’s pop

songs require a more in-depth lexicon to describe form as evidenced in Davis’ (1989)

work. Murphy (2011) proposes that popular songs mostly adhere to one of six basic

structures, which he calls his ‘six forms’ (p. 54). He outlines the first form as the most

prevalent in 1930s–1950s music and comprising what was referred to as a verse and a

chorus/refrain. The verse, unlike modern verses, was at a different tempo to the rest of

the song. This form was commonly used in early twentieth century popular music, but

41

it later became less popular, as it often did not adhere to the time constraints of radio

(Murphy, 2011). Consequently, the chorus and refrain section became more popular.

As Murphy (2011) recounts:

Back then the publisher was like a benevolent dictator, and writers would have

to keep office hours. They would sit in airless rooms with pianos, until they

came up with an outline for a song. This outline would generally be the chorus

or refrain part we know today. They would rush out of their cubicles and play

the chorus/refrain for their publisher. If the publisher thought it was a ‘good

idea’, the writer would be told to ‘finish it.’ ‘Finish it’ basically meant write

the verse. The verse would set up the song. (Chapter 13, Section 6)

The key features of this form are a single long verse used to setup a

chorus/refrain that is repeated, often with different lyrics. Murphy (2011) uses both

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (Marks, 1949) and I left my heart in San Francisco

(Cory & Cross, 1962) as examples of this form.

Murphy’s (2011) second form is common in rock-and-roll; he defines it as

‘basically verse, chorus, verse, chorus, instrumental, chorus, chorus out’ (p. 54). This

is the first time he discusses a repetitious structure, using (I can’t get no) Satisfaction

by the Rolling Stones (Jagger & Richards, 1965) and Maybellene by Chuck Berry et

al. (1955) as examples. This form mirrors Davis’ (1989) concepts of the A/B or

Verse/Chorus Model she describes as the backbone of popular songwriting in the

1980s. While Murphy (2011) refers to this form as an older style, it is the foundation

of his following two forms.

The third form is defined as ‘a more complicated second form’ comprising a

‘middle eight’ or ‘bridge’(Murphy, 2011, p. 54); he further noted that this new section

‘invites the listener to look a little harder at the story’ (p. 54). The entire form is listed

42

as verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle 8, chorus. The only significant difference in

this form being the introduction of the middle 8 which replaces a non-lyrical

instrumental sections with that of a sung lyrical section and therefore introduces more

lyrical text. This is the first time he mentions the correlation between song structure

and narrative development: ‘when you approach writing the middle eight or bridge,

think “but, what if?” ’(Murphy, 2011, p. 59). This is in keeping with what Davis

(1989) describes as a ‘bridge’ (p. 32).

In his fourth form Murphy adds yet another section, comprising of the ‘lift,

climb, pre-chorus or channel’, which is placed between the verse and chorus; the

purpose of this is to ‘create tension, resolve it’ and to ‘lift the listener into the chorus’

(Murphy, 2011, p. 63). Davis’ (1988, 1989) does not address this section yet Murphy

(2011) asserts this is the most common form in popular song according to his 2011

based anecdotal perspective.

Murphy (2011) describes his fifth form as the AABA discussed much earlier

by Davis (1989) as: ‘in traditional AABA, the A parts are verses and the B section is

the bridge. There is no sing along chorus’ (p. 64). This assertion is not in line with the

evidence of the 32-bar form discussed by Davis (1988, 1989) as she infers that the

title of songs in this form are part of a sing along chorus concept (1989, p. 32). In this

form, characterised by an increasing degree of narrative direction, Murphy (2011)

describes the first of the A sections is the ‘once upon a time’ verse, the second A

section is the ‘here and now’ verse and the final A section is the ‘when I’m old and

grey’ verse (Murphy, 2011, p. 68). This is not necessarily the case in the writings of

Davis as she describes this form as being melody led (p. 31). In this discussion,

Murphy provides further evidence that these musical structures may have individual

43

narrative development purposes, implying that the middle eight is an opportunity for

more storytelling.

The sixth form holds some similarity to rondo forms of the European common

practice period, while holding no direct causational link. In the Western art music

tradition, the rondo form contains a theme and variation in which the theme is played,

followed by a variation followed by a theme. This pattern is repeated until the end of

the work. Sixth form is similar to this, as it comprises ‘chorus, verse, chorus, musical

turnaround/instrumental, bridge/middle eight, chorus’ and ‘moves the listener into the

meat of the song very quickly’ (Murphy, 2011, p. 70). This form is commonly used in

hip-hop from the 2000s, such as in Eminem’s The monster (Mathers et al., 2011).

While Murphy (2011) is the author who most concisely describes a typology

of form, his assertions are often in conflict with other authors like Davis (1989). For

this reason my research tests Murphy’s (2011) typology of form as a method of

leading a structural analysis of narrative and popular song. Given the already

conflicted nature of Murphy’s (2011) typology it is important to identify the musical

and lyrical parameters that a more broad authorship define as descriptors for the

different song sections. In a review of many instructional works (Davis, 1988, 1989.

Leiken, 2003, 2007. Blume, 2011. Pattison, 2009. Webb, 1998), the description of the

sections Murphy (2011) identifies within his six form model, are commonly refered to

as being comprised of the following:

1. the verse, which is usually defined by conversational lyrics with little to no

repetition

2. the chorus, which is the ‘nut’ of the song that often relies on repetition

3. the pre-chorus, which is a section designed to musically lift the listener into

the chorus

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4. the middle eight, which is a lyrical section occurring before the last hearing of

the final section with new musical elements introduced

5. The instrumental, which is a non-lyrical section petitioned in a similar

chronology to the middle eight.

These five sections provide a guideline for analysing lyrical structure and a

model for analysis of the musical and narrative functions of song sections. What it

lacks is specific content regarding the design of narratives within these forms and

sections, despite having established that there is an intrinsic link between popular

song forms and story:

The verse is generally where you set up the premise of the song. It can be four,

six, eight lines or more. The lift or climb or channel or pre-chorus or any one

of a dozen names this particular section has (e.g., in Europe it is referred to as

a bridge) is two, four, six lines that precede the title or chorus of the song.

Generally, it changes rhyme scheme from the verse and creates tension by

implying or actually using the words ‘but,’ ‘maybe,’ ‘when,’ ‘because,’ etc.,

and then in most cases it lifts the listener melodically to the chorus or title.

The chorus which, incidentally, comes from the Greek ‘khoros’ which means

a group of singers, is essentially the destination to which you have been

leading the listener. (Murphy, 2011, Chapter 13, Section 2)

Blume (2011) takes a focused approach to outlining the narrative goals of each

of these different sections, explaining that ‘the primary function of the verse is to

provide the exposition—the information that will lead to the hook or title’ (p. 29). He

states that ‘it tells the story and sets the emotional tone. The verse lyric—its words—

contain the plot, the detail and the action’ (Blume, 2011, p. 4). While this appears to

be a clear direction, this small comment constitutes the entirety of Blume’s instruction

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about the role of narrative in a verse section. Further, there is no specific discussion

regarding the three-part narrative concepts of exposition that do not adhere to

Murphy’s structural constraints for the popular song. In Blume’s discussion of the

pre-chorus, he offers nothing on its narrative relevance or purpose. While Murphy

(2011) briefly explains that the purpose of the pre-chorus is to ‘lift the listener

melodically to the chorus’ (p. 45), this again does not clearly state any specific

narrative function for the section. Blume (2011) essentially expands on Murphy’s

concept when he writes about the function of the chorus: ‘Lyrically, the chorus’ job is

to summarise the idea and emotion of the song in a general way and hammer home its

title’ (p. 6). For Blume, the description of each section relative to narrative function is

limited to basic frameworks for the development of a story and there is no significant

detail on how a narrative is typically developed, constructed or communicated in a

popular song.

Jimmy Webb’s (1998) instructional work Tunesmith skips the relationship of

structural frameworks and narrative completely. Instead, ‘for the sake of argument’,

Webb (1998) creates categories that he believes apply to all popular song lyrics:

1. people, places or events in our memory that render us happy, sad or angry

(e.g., Last night when we were young by Harold Arlen & E. Y. Harburg)

2. people, places or events affecting us at the present time that render us

happy, sad or angry (e.g., You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’ by Spector, Weil

& Mann)

3. people, places or events likely to affect us in the future that render us

happy, sad or angry (e.g., Any day now by Burt Bacharach & Bob

Hilliard)

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4. satire, or sarcasm and humour of a personal or political nature that is

usually exercised at the expense of others, but sometimes aimed at

ourselves (e.g., A simple desultory philippic by Paul Simon)

5. songs emanating from fictional characters (untrustworthy narrators)

whose identities we assume to communicate, whether in a serious or

humorous way (e.g., Rednecks by Randy Newman)

6. recounting of events in story form, such as the true ballad (e.g., El paso by

Marty Robbins)

7. silly music, such as comedic or novelty numbers that teach dances (e.g.,

Ahab the Arab by Ray Stevens)

8. abstract surrealism (e.g., Strawberry fields by Lennon & McCartney)

9. allegorical tales (e.g., The day the music died by Don McLean) (p. 34).

While Webb’s (1998) model might borrow some inspiration for the imagining

of narrative content, it provides little insight into how narrative can operate within the

confines of the established musical structures of pop songs. This may be partly due to

a common discourse contained throughout the body of instructional literature that is

contained in this contextual review—in particular, that many authors provide rules of

the ‘craft’ (Blume, 2011; Murphy, 2011; Pattison, 2009), yet also indicate that the

creation of music in a formulaic manner is undesirable (Lieken, 2014; Murphy, 2011;

Webb, 1998). This results in Murphy’s, Blume’s and Webb’s work providing

obfuscating advice on how best to approach storytelling in a pop song structure. Davis

(1989) discusses the story telling nature of songs by providing evidence of operation

in existing popular songs and is more in-depth in her assertions regarding the ways in

which structure designs narrative in lyrics, however, her work does not include

descriptions of more modern song forms and as such is lacking in detail for a twenty-

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first century songwriting paradigm. To address the tensions created by the conflicting

instructional literature, my research takes an investigative approach based on practice

to develop an alternative set of guidelines on pop songwriting. In refining this

approach, the research asks the question: how can narrative operate within the

accepted models of form in popular songs?

But It’s Only Pop Music

In this section I argue further for framing Pop Songs as a distinct literary form

separate to that of prose or poetry. In support of this assertion Davis (1989) writes:

During the sixties we heard a lot about the “poetry” of rock. Writers like Joni

Mitchell, Peter Townshend, and especially Bob Dylan were dubbed as poets.

Critics delights in analysing the multilayered symbolism, the imagery, the

oblique metaphors prevalent in the lyrics of the post Tim Pan Alley school.

(Davis, 1989, p. 10)

While much detail has been directed at the meaning and discourse of the

stories located in pop songs (Griffiths, 2003. Machin, 2010. Turner, 2011) in the same

way as the works of Colleridge or Poe (Cowitt, 2016), little research has been done on

the function of more contemporar