Pop Songs
$14Hooks, pre-choruses, the lift.
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Andante· walking pace · story first
Folk & Acoustic
Songs that tell one story with plain words and a chorus everyone can sing. Eight song shapes, twenty exercises and one of our own folk songs taken apart.
$14print · tablet · Google Docs
What makes it folk
- 1
Story first
Each verse moves the story one step. Someone, somewhere, something happens.
“My father kept a kettle on…” - 2
Plain words
No word you wouldn’t say at the kitchen table. The image does the work.
kettle, stove, light — not “ethereal” - 3
Room to breathe
A short chorus that comes back the same way. People sing it by the second time.
“leave the light, leave the light”
Eight song shapes · three of them
Story ballad
Same melody, new verse each time. The title closes every verse.
32 bars in all.
Verse–chorus
The classic. The chorus comes back the same way.
28 bars in all.
With a bridge
A new view before the last chorus.
32 bars in all.
+ five more in the collection: talking verse, waltz time (3/4), call and response, the long story, the round.
One song, taken apart
“Kettle on the Stove” is ours, written for this collection. Every line has a reason, and here it is.
| Syll. | Lyric | Rhyme |
|---|---|---|
| Verse 1 | ||
| 8 syllables | My father kept a kettle on | rhyme a |
| 8 syllables | the stove from March till late July, | rhyme b |
| 8 syllables | he said a house is never gone | rhyme a |
| 8 syllables | while something warm is standing by. | rhyme b |
| Chorus | ||
| 7 syllables | So leave the light, leave the light, | rhyme c |
| 8 syllables | somebody’s walking home tonight. | rhyme c |
- Person, object, placeThe first line does three jobs: a father, a kettle, a kitchen. The listener is already inside the house.
- “on” and “gone”A slant rhyme. Close enough, and more honest than a forced perfect one. Folk is full of them.
- Say it twiceThe chorus repeats its own phrase. By the second chorus, people sing along without trying.
- Turn it outwardThe last line leaves the house: someone on the road. The song gets bigger than the kitchen.
The tracklist
Side A · Shapes
- A1Story balladmap + 2 exercises
- A2Verse–chorusmap + 2 exercises
- A3With a bridgemap + 2 exercises
- A4Waltz time (3/4)map + 2 exercises
- A5–8Four more shapes (A5–A8)maps
Side B · Exercises
- B1Person, object, place5 exercises
- B2The one-line chorus5 exercises
- B3Slant rhyme drills5 exercises
- B4A verse that moves5 exercises
- B5Bonus: “Kettle on the Stove”, taken apart8 pages
The other records
Bars, flow, internal rhyme.
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Price: $59instead of $71 apart
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