Day 6 // Spell It Out

Aretha Franklin “Respect,” Todd Snider, “Beer Run,” and The Kinks’ “Lola”. What do each of these songs have in common with each other? Each song relies on spelling a key word or phrase in the chorus. Here’s a famous example from Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”:

"Our D-I-V-O-R-C-E becomes final today
Me and little J-O-E will be goin' away
I love you both and this will be pure H-E double L for me
Oh, I wish that we could stop this D-I-V-O-R-C-E."

Tammy uses spelling throughout her song “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” to drive her narrative. In the song, the parents spell out everything they don’t want their kid to hear “ he thinks C-U-S-T-O-D-Y spells fun or play.” It’s an excellent way to provide characterization for the scene, but it also helps the lyricists, Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, create rhymes. “Divorce” is a hard word to rhyme but the “E” sound in “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” lends itself to a wider universe of potential rhymes.

Today I want to challenge you to write a song that uses spelling in its chorus.

​Good luck!