Kris Kristofferson (above) is one of the finest songwriters in music. He has a very special gift that he has crafted and fined tuned over many years. He is one of the ultimate storytellers, which is the essence of great songwriting. Storytelling.
You want your listener, your audience, to be able to close their eyes and have a 3-4 minute motion picture running through their head as they listen to your words. You want them to visualize every line, or every pair of lines. As a songwriter, you are painting a picture with your words.
Take these lines from "Me and Bobby Magee"...
" Windshield wipers slapping time,
I was holding Bobby's hand in mine,
We sang every song that driver knew"
I can close my eyes, and see this scene quite vividly. The windshield wipers going with rain hitting the windshield, the spray from the tires on a wet road, the rolling highway, three people in the cab of an eighteen wheeler, two holding hands and all three singing without a care in the world. Kris has created a visual with just three lines. In this scene I can place myself as the driver, or one of the passengers. I can adapt it to me as I become part of this picture. This is an excellent example of great storytelling.
Kris got his initial fame by writing. He had countless hits performed by other artists before he really began to take center stage in what would evolve into long illustrious career. "For the Good Times" by Ray Price, "Me and Bobby Magee" by Janis Joplin, and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" by Johnny Cash (pictured below with Kris) are just a few of his songs that become hits for others. Go check these songs out and you will see the vivid pictures he painted with his words. This is what I try to do when writing a song, and Kris is a great example to follow.
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