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Why Songs Stick in Your Head… and Articles Often Don’t
How to write articles like a songwriter and make your words more memorable
Decades ago, Saturday Night Live had a commercial-based sketch called “10 Beatles Classics You Kind of Know the Words to.” The commercial featured singers sort of mouthing the lesser known words of songs from one of the most famous bands in history, and then starting to sing enthusiastically when they got to more recognizable lyrics. It took a little doing, but I found the video.
If I were to ask you to share the top ten greatest takeaways you remember from Medium or Substack authors I doubt few of us could come up with all ten. But… if I ask you to recite the choruses of your top ten favorite songs, chances are you’d be able to do it, and dozens more.
While both writers use words, we remember songwriter’s lyrics over the literary work of most authors and writers.
The common strategy of the article-based writer is “tell them what you are about to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them.” We all learned this in high school or college. It might be memorable, but I hate writing that way. Anything that gets me to think of my early education causes me to bristle.
