How Do I Write a Love Song?
Songs about love are just that… about love! The lyrical content will be loving, emotional, and happy. It could also be possibly fearful, worried, nervous, or playful. The list goes on and on about possible emotions associated with love. The words are put together in such a way where it lets the listener hear how the lyricist loves the person (or thing). Love songs can make you feel love and amplify that loving feeling for someone in your life if you can relate to the lyrics. A LOT of love songs are relatable. On some fundamental level we, as humans, experience love in the same way. No what matter race, religion, location, heritage, or language – we all feel love at some point in our lives by someone. That’s why love is by far the most popular topic to write about. We can all relate, we can all experience what the lyrics are trying to convey in the song. It’s universal and it’s awesome.
Let’s go over a few songs of love. Here we’ll go over one famous one and one produced from YourSongmaker.com
Best of My Love by The Emotions
Best of My Love was released in 1977 – it’s on their fourth album entitled “Rejoice” produced by Al McKay (Earth, Wind, and Fire), Maurice White, and Clarence McDonald. It topped the charts as a full-fledged disco hit all over the world at that time.
If we look at the lyrics, the theme is undeniably love and how the lyrics describe love for this person. Let’s take a look at some parts of verse and chorus and break it down a bit.
Let’s check out a few lines of a verse
Doesn't take much to make me happy
And make me smile with glee
Never never will I feel discouraged
Cause our love's no mystery
Demonstrating love and affection
That you give so openly yeah
I like the way you make me feel about you baby
Want the whole wide world to see
The vocalist sings about her love being “no mystery”, and how the person she’s describing “demonstrates love and affection openly”. In fact, she loves this person so much that she wants the “whole wide world to see” it. THAT’S LOVE! That is how we experience love. We want to shout it from the mountain top because it’s the best feeling ever!
Let’s look at the chorus and pre-chorus
Thus far in our blogs we’ve addressed the chorus and verses only. I’d like to take this opportunity to let you know about the “pre-chorus”. Without getting too deep, you can think of the pre-chorus as the “hors d’oeuvre” of the main course. It goes with the meal, but it’s different. It’s a build up to the main course. It’s a good way to think about the chorus and pre-chorus. The pre-chorus is a stepping stone to the chorus when you don’t want to jump right in to it. It’s a gradual climb (sometimes fast, sometimes slow) to what you will hear with the emotional chorus.
Pre-Chorus
And oh yea (my love, my love)
Oh yea (my love, my love)
Chorus
Oh, you got the best of my love
Whoa whoa, you got the best of my love
Whoa whoa, you got the best of my love
Whoa whoa, you got the best of my love
In this example, it’s the intensity of the pre-chorus, the build, and funk break down of the music with the background singers singing exuberantly “my love, my love” that builds into the awesome chorus. You can feel that the vocalist really wants to give this person “the best of her love”. It’s such a great dance tune and all-around solid piece. This was destined to be a hit song from the start.
Let’s go over one of the songs YourSongmaker.com composed from the lyrics of one of our clients in love.
I Need You Next to Me
Lyrics by Chris W.
Composed & Produced by YourSongmaker
Click here to read the all the lyrics and hear the song, I Need You Next to Me.
Let’s look at some of the 1st verse
From our first date when you wouldn’t stay confined
You have always wandered through my mind
A whole new world, you showed to me at last
And freed me from a bubbled past
I thought I would impress you, and make you my “Panorama” queen
But I was wrong, onward to the lost bar “Tangerine”
And when Seal sang “I Have Been Waiting for You”
Your heart was the only one mine wanted to pursue
This is an example of a lyricist writing verses from a very personal angle. The only person who would understand a lot of the lyrics in the verse is the person he’s in love with. It works well if you’re looking to write something different and personal to someone you love, but not necessarily making it relatable to others.
Let’s look at the chorus
I never thought I would love again and, you know that I was right
I only learned what love was when you came into my life
You sparked an emotion I hadn’t felt before
From then on, I was certain it was you I would adore
I only learned what love was when you came into my life
In the chorus, the lyricist is letting his loved one know he had to feel some pain before falling in love again. How in love is the lyricist when he writes “I only learned what love was when you came into my life”? The lyricist answers that question in the song with “from now until eternity”. The chorus is more generic and has the potential to jive with someone who is feeling that same intensity of love. The lyricist describes what they do and what they like to do together in the rap part that you can hear if you go to our featured songs and listen. It’s cool.