How To Write A Song You Just Can’t Get Out Of Your Head

Why is “Friday,” the Rebecca Black sensation, and some might say the worst song they have ever heard, so damn catchy?  Try as you might to say you hate the song, its sucks, she has no talent, and more, the song sticks in your ear long after you stop listening to it.  Why?

Patrice Wilson, the entrepreneurial musician who wrote and produced Black’s record and created the video that quickly went viral, has been called both “genius” and “exploiter.” The tune is based upon unequivocal songwriting savvy: He tapped a song structure that’s embedded in our minds, one that’s been the foundation of dozens, even hundreds of hit records over the last half a century.

“Friday,” is “Heart and Soul” revisited. It uses that fundamental four-chord progression almost anyone who’s ever touched a piano keyboard has learned. It’s the basis of the most-played pop radio hit of all time, the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” and so many others.  It uses the I vi IV V progression sometimes call the 50′s or Doo Wop progression that is the basis of hit after hit.  Songs like  the Penguins‘ “Earth Angel” (1954), verse and chorus to Ritchie Valens’ “Donna” (1958) (two beats per chord), Gene Chandler’s “Duke of Earl” (1962) (four beats per chord). Other examples include Sam Cooke’s “Lovable” and other doo-wop material of the era. More recent examples include “D’yer Mak’er” by Led Zeppelin (verse), “Baby, I’m an Anarchist!” by Against Me!, “She Has a Girlfriend Now” by Reel Big Fish, and “Every Breath You Take” by The Police. Other examples include the verse to “Stay”, “If I Had a Hammer”, “Keep on Dancing”, chorus to “Eve of Destruction”, “Real Love”, (all two beats per chord) the verse to “Poor Little Fool”, “Teenager in Love”, “Wonderful World”, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”, bridge to “I Can’t Explain”, verse to “Love Hurts”, “Do That to Me One More Time”, chorus to “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us”, “Last Kiss”, “This Magic Moment”, (all four beats per chord) verse and chorus to “Runaround Sue”, verse to “Please, Mr. Postman”, “Let’s Twist Again”, chorus to “Monster Mash”, verse to “Just One Look”, Ringo Starr’s “Octopus’s Garden”, (all eight beats per chord) main verse “Stand By Me”, and chorus to “It’s Cold Outside” (eight and four beats per chord).

The second movement of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms includes the variant I-vi-IV-ii-V-I.

In the musical Grease, the progression is invoked for the purpose of self-parody in the song “Those Magic Changes.” The chorus includes a backup vocal line with lyrics “C-C-C-C-C-C / A-A-A-A-minor / F-F-F-F-F-F / G-G-G-G-seven / [repeat]“.

Ok song writers, you have been given the secret, now go out and write the next hit!

Good luck … TM

Todd Murphy is a Music and Entertainment Lawyer based in Jersey City, NJ.  He represents musical artists in all genres such as rock, dance, electronic, pop, hip-hop, punk, new wave, jazz and classical. Click here for Artist Inquiries.