How to Song Write. | Turn a Poem Into A Song

Do you like to write poems? Would you like turn them into songs? If you don't know how to write songs, but you do write poems (they're not the same), here's the process I used when someone gave me a poem of theirs. It had some good points, but needed some work before it was usable. Here's how I did it.

First off it's of a very religious nature which I know is not everybody's cup of tea. Still, the process is the same no matter what style you listen to. My wife listens to a lot of contemporary christian music, but it's not the type of subject matter I typically listen to/write about, so I thought it would be a good exercise for me. So, I'll first post the poem and then take you through my thought processes, and how I turned it into a song.

Will you be my angel? When you cross to the other side.

When those pearly gates swing open wide, When Jesus' Glory shines upon your face

Will you be my angel, brother? When a shout welcomes you home

When Jesus heals your every hurtWhen you look down from the majestic throne.

Will you be my angel, next of kinWhen kisses cover your cheeks from your mother

When pride glows in your father's eyesWhen you are crushed in hugs and bathed in tears.

Will you be my angel, friend. Can you pray that my feet never stray from that rugged road?

Can you send the Father's care when slandering words I hear?

Can you wish the support of Jesus' arms to carry me in my weakest moment?

Will you be my angel, brother next of kin, friend and warrior?

Will you... for one brief moment let me in your heart?

Finding the Theme of the Poem.

Ok, the first thing I did is look for the overriding theme: the writer was asking for people that have died and gone to heaven to be guardian angels.

Can you pray that my feet never stray from that rugged road etc

.This person was a brother, friend, and next of kin to the writer. In each verse the writer is describing what will happen when the deceased gets to heaven

Cross to the other side, When a shout welcome you home, When pride glows in your fathers eyes, etc

An Important Part of Writing Songs: Develop the Chorus and Hook.

So, I wrote the song chorus first using the second to last stanza, which also breaks the form of the previous 3 stanzas. I took the first line and last line and made them rhyme like so:

Don't let my feet stray from the rugged road/Jesus will you carry me when I bend beneath the load

Then, I took the the unifying "family" theme from the first three stanzas, and the warrior theme from the last stanza and combined them to be the last 2 lines of the chorus. Put them with the first two and you get this:

Don't let my feet stray from the rugged road/Jesus will you carry me when I bend beneath the load/Will you be my angel, brother next of kin/Will you be my angel, warrior and friend

Decide on Rhyme Scheme | Not Every Song You Write Has to Rhyme. 

Now, I usually don't like to rhyme line 1 with line 2 (couplet) but, because the line breaks in the last two lines (angel, brother / angel, warrior) I went ahead and did it. My friend Paul (who also knows how to song write), who wrote the music for the chorus also put a natural break in the first two lines, so it doesn't sound too stilted. Ok, in my next part of how to write songs we'll look at how I approached the verses. 

Go to part two of How to Song Write. | Turn a Poem Into A Song