What Makes Songs Popular
by Oscar Hammerstein II

Knowing full well that the Broadway composer Oscar Hammerstein II (1895 – 1960) was no slacker when it came to writing toe-tapping tunes with snappy lyrics, hundreds of people would write to him daily seeking tips as to how they could do the same (indeed, the search logs at Google indicate that this question is asked 369,000 times each month). Being fed-up with these never-ending solicitations – Hammerstein penned this article, What Makes Songs Popular: in four pages he spewed-forth all that he knew about writing music and lyrics:

“A tune pleases or it doesn’t… Originality of composition is an attractive but not an essential asset. A broad, sweeping line of melody easy to sing and listen to, is the objective of a popular composer…”