What makes a great song??

[Mintox]

Ive been talking with a mate about this for a long time - what makes a great song?? length, words or the tune - maybe the artist?? i dont know - not talking about chart postions or whos number one coz their all pop acts with no skill - im talking about songs. people of the web guide me!!

[sft42]

i we knew the answer to that we would be on top of the pops instead of the no talent eijits they usually have. it's undefinable. A mixture of tempo feel a good hook lyrics timing of release (a good song in the 70's might do nothing now). I don't think the length of the song has too much to do with it. Bo Rap american Pie very long songs but still hold your interest all the way through and not the artist cause i've heard about 20 differnet versions of Yesterday and each one was special in it's own way. So a long answer to say I don't know

[WaldoMcFroog]

sft42 is quite right in my opinion - it's virtually impossible to say, but I can give you my notions of why modern pop music is so cack. It's so unambitious - those songs are deliberately crafted to be lowest common denominator. I saw a comedian at the Reading Festival a couple of years ago. He played one chord vamp and sang, recognisably in the correct key, about 8 Britney/ Backstreet/ N'Sync etc tracks in a row and they were all the same!!! You've got writing teams crafting songs that get passed around to all the acts - no wonder they're faceless! Some writers have commented that this is no different to what was going on before the Beatles, but I say 'So?' What makes that a good thing? There's a reason so much music harks back to the late 60's, early 70's - it's becuase those bands didn't write to rule; they were pushing boundries and each other - Sgt Peppers was a repost to Pet Sounds. There are bands in all genres seeking to make exciting and great music - not all of it to my personal taste - but far to many people want to be 'famous' and will find a way to achieve that rather than become famous because they're worthy of it. Who on god's clean earth could possibly find Gareth Gates or Posh Spice inspirational? (Okay, I know people do, it just upsets me!)

[jenstar]

It's a bit like asking what makes a great building - not only does it depend on what the purpose is, but one man's meat is another man's poison anyway. What makes a great disco song is not necessarily what makes a great rock ballad, protest song or rap. One thing I would say, however, is that the question of what is or isn't a great song should be kept separate from the issue of what is or isn't a great performance - a great song should transcend any one performance of it. This may be an unpopular view as many so-called "great songs" are associated with one performer, whose fans then scream blue murder whenever someone "dares" to cover it, but to my mind, that's just saying that the song isn't really that great after all. (Which doesn't mean that all performances of a great song are themselves necessarily great - actually, if a song still shines through a lousy performance, perhaps that's the best indication of a great song... perhaps. I dunno, I'm just making the suggestion!).

[andy hughes]

Music is entirely subjective and ever may it be so. There are people out there who really believe that Whitney Houston's vocal pyrotechnics on her 'version' of 'I Will Alwyas Love You' equates with passion and emotion - the more volume, the more suffering, but I digress. As far as I am concerned, a great song is one that pins down a place and time, so you always remember where you were, and what was going on, when the song plays. Music is a j-peg for life, songs are milestones, that's what makes them great.

[TheHitMaker]

There are a number of things that can help to make a song more memorable and perhaps more likeable. These include having a fairly basic repeating rhythm, with occasional variations, a melody that is almost predictable, but every so often takes you by surprise, lyrics that are from the heart, a chorus that is memorable and catchy, musicians and vocalist who are putting their soul into the recording, not just reading it straight from the page, production that is good, not formulaic. This is by no means an exhaustive list, there are plenty of great songs that use just a guitar, but the words take on special meaning (Bob Dylan for instance). Classical music tends to use repeating themes with variations in the melody, jazz uses improvisation, rock uses blinding guitar solos and the vocals as an instrument. Take your pick!

[mikewith]

To follow up on what andy hughes says... You listen to Dolly Parton's (original) version of 'I Will Always Love you' and you know it's a great song. Then you listen to Whitney's and think 'Sheesh, this is TERRIBLE'. But not a terrible song, just a terrible version. And in a way the fact that it's such a great song makes the terribleness even more apparant. Sorry this has absolutely no bearing on the oriiginal question!

[happyducky]

personally i have never thought is was lyrics. People usually ignore them, only people with true feeling ever listen to them, other people have to listen to a song a million times before they say, 'hey, whats that lyric about?' for me it's all in the instruments used and the basic tune. If the person has a fantastic voice, such as faith hill, whitney housten then that's a factor, but your usual, 'just ok' singers like ashanti etc couldn't send shivers down your spin with their voice. that makes a good song. one which rises the emotion it's trying to convey!