The Top 5 songs about life and advice songwriters should study!
What advice were you given you can’t live without?
One of the fun things I discovered in my songwriting journey of the Songs of Psalms is that many of the Psalmwriters used their music to share their wisdom and advice.
Often times, their songs were used as an outlet for expressing their emotions and questions on life and struggles, as well as faith and victories. We also learned the Psalmwriters wrote songs where they shared advice.
For example, our most recent deep dive into Psalm 90 proved that Moses, the Psalmwriter, shared insights on how to stay on track with your life’s purpose.
He was compelled to write this Psalm because the people he led out of captivity ended up spending a lifetime wandering in a desert. They never made it into the Promised Land.
You can check out what we wrote on our blog about it here and also check out our Youtube page to hear our entire series on Psalm 90.
And so he wrote Psalm 90 for future generations to read and learn how not to get stuck wandering in life.
Where do you start?
What theme do you want to write about? What do you have to say about that theme? Is there anything new you can add to it?
HOW DO YOU WRITE AN ADVICE SONG?
As a new songwriter, you’re probably wondering what you should write about. Well, let’s just say you already know there are so many topics you can write about, but it’s probably a bit challenging to know where to start.
What theme do you want to write about? What do you have to say about that theme? Is there anything new you can add to it?
For example, take the theme of love! You might think, no one needs another love song! There’s a gazillion songs written in the world about love. But do you know what? No one’s ever written a song about love from your perspective!
That’s what makes love an ongoing theme that will never run dry for ideas. Each songwriter adds their own flavor and spice to it.
The same goes for any song topic! You may not know where to start but you can look within yourself and find what resonates with you then add your own flavor to create a new and different perspective.
Believe me, no one’s ever said it quite the way you would say it.
YOU TOO CAN GIVE ADVICE!
You may think you don’t have the experience or the knowledge to write songs that give advice but, trust me, you do! Trust yourself!
I do, however, think it’s important to learn from the best and to do so, you have to do your homework and research. Study other songs and see what kind of advice they give.
You might just learn something you hadn’t thought about! And when you learn, take a portion of what you learned and give your take on it!
We wrote this blog to give you some food for thought as well as to motivate you to write music that gives good advice.
There seems to be a lot of music that gives bad advice and honestly, it just doesn’t help us as humans. We are easily influenced whether for the good or for bad.
We need more music that inspires people to love life, appreciate it and live it to the fullest. You can do that, my friend!
Since I’ve been studying the Songs of Psalms, I thought I would explore modern songs that have been written with a message or advice. I was pleasantly surprised with my results.
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To get you started on your own life advice songs, we found music we think you should know about! These are some pretty great “advice-giving” songs you should listen to and study further!
These songs are not ranked in any particular order but we included them here for you to consider!
Study their lyrical content, melodic structure and lastly, their great words of advice!
1. I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack
Songwriters: Tia Sillers & Mark D. Sanders
This is my favorite song to share with my family and close friends! It has such beautiful and heartfelt lyrics about life. This advice song is in a class of its own. Truly remarkable! It reminds us to be fearless, strong, determined! I believe it is one of the greatest songs written from a selfless point of view. As the video captures the meaning so beautifully, this is the type of advice a selfless mother gives her children. What I also love about this song is its double chorus! They featured a group to sing that 2nd chorus and that was a genius tactic. Perhaps the writers loved both choruses and couldn’t decide which to keep so they kept both! Listen to it and you’ll see how the writers found a perfect way to include 2 advice messages within the chorus/hook! It’s sheer lyrical perfection!
2. Dream On by Aerosmith
Songwriter: Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler wrote this song in 1973! Look at the lasting power and effect it has had over a generation. Its simple yet powerful message continues to resound almost 50 years later! Steve has confessed he probably wasn’t in the best state of mind when he wrote it, but we would dare say, he was in a right state of mind to extract such a hopeful message for the masses. No matter how quickly life goes by and what comes your way, DREAM ON!
3. Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw
Songwriters: Craig Wiseman & Tim Nichols
I honestly need to spend more time listening to country music because country songs seem to be so connected to the heart of the human soul! These lyrics are masterfully written; the advice in this song comes from a person who realized he doesn’t have much time and before its too late, he decides to live life to the fullest! Oh what wisdom is found in these lyrics, if only, we take advantage of this advice and live purposefully before its too late! Check it out and let me know what you thought of this song!
4. Anyway by Martina McBride
Songwriters: Martina McBride, Brett Warren & Brad Warren
Another incredible song! What I love about these lyrics are that they are simple and truthful. It’s sort of like a conversation you’re having with a wise soul. The song offers such great advice. Line by line we are encouraged to keep pressing forward. Yes, life is hard at times, but no matter what, you keep going and keep believing and doing good “anyway.” I personally think the video was so well produced and the affirmations it shares are the cherry on top! We all need feel-good songs like this when we’re dealing with those difficult moments!
5. Have It All by Jason Mraz
Songwriters: Becky Gebhardt, Mai Bloomfield, Mona Tavakoli, Chaska Potter, Jacob Kasher, David Hodges & Jason Mraz
This is a fun uptempo and uplifting message! The lyrical structure is similar to the other songs included above. Selfless wishes for its listener. The writers cleverly give advice that feels good to the soul, right? Who doesn’t want to have all these good things happen to them? Even the meanest person in the world would undergo an attitude change if they took these words to heart!
I hope you enjoyed these songs if you weren’t as familiar with them. Learn from them and apply what you learn in your next songwriting session.
NOW WHAT?
The next time your stumped and are unsure what type of song you want to write, use these steps to get started:
Pick a Topic
Write out some of the things you’ve experienced with this topic
Look and study other songs written for the topic for inspiration
Go on and write your own version
Now remember, you cannot COPY other songs and write similar things they wrote! The beauty about your song is that it has to reflect you and your experience completely. Trust yourself to bring a fresh perspective!
Even if you’re young and feel like you may not have a lot of experience, it doesn’t matter. You can still bring your unique perspective to the song.
Treat the lyrics like a conversation (just like the songs we shared with you here)! As you saw, they were each written with such simple and understandable language as if the writer was speaking directly to us.
Let us know if you have a life advice song you absolutely love! Share it with us in the comments and if there’s anything you’d like us to write more about, feel free to reach out.
We’d love to hear from you!
Until then, keep being amazing!
MRJ