Average Words Per Song and the 80/20 Rule

In preparation for a song-a-week project several years back, I wanted some numbers to give me an idea of how much writing I would need to do.

Using the 80/20 rule — only 20 percent of my writing will make the cut while 80 percent will go into the waste basket — here is what I came up with:

• Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen averages 281 words per song.
• Nothing Like The Sun by Sting averages 206.
• The Beatles' Abbey Road averages 102 and Let It Be averages 139.

This means that if a song has between 100-300 words, I'll need to write 500-1500 words. Not a very difficult task when you look at it that way.

This gave me a really good rough idea of how much writing I would need to do.

But the Lyric Triad changes all that. It gives you a bullseye to write for and flips the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of your writing will make the cut while 20 percent will go into the waste basket.

Find out more about the Lyric Triad.

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