Last month I started reading a book on the history of Stax called Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records. It’s ridiculously detailed (the author interviewed nearly everyone that had anything to do with Stax) and provides a fascinating look back to a very different music industry.
One of the most interesting parts so far is reading about how Stax songwriters analyzed Motown songs and then used the formulas they discovered to churn out their own hits.
“David Porter figured out the lyric structure for ‘Don’t Look Back‘ and it applied to a number of Motown hits. He deduced that they all had an opening that laid out the scenario, followed that with a bit of action, and then some sort of denouncement. All were in first person, and none of them ended with complete resolution.” (page 91)
The first song that David Porter wrote using that formula (with Isaac Hayes as a writing partner) was ‘Hold on I’m Coming‘.
Whats your take on the Motown formula?