Pop music singer-songwriter Amir Brandon joined us to talk about two of his upcoming songs, working with producer Thomas McKay, and the stories behind his songs.

We also talked about:

* Collaborating with other songwriters

* Battle Royale: grammar vs. lyric vs. meaning vs. melody

* How to write a really long chorus

* Chord choices and mixing up major, minor, and 7th chords

* Last week’s show on non-verbal hooks

* Doing cover songs on youTube

* The competitive nature between Eddie Murphy’s and Freddie Mercury’s music careers (aka Phil’s faux-pas)

* Narrative and longing through the seasons in Waiting for Summer

Download the lyrics for Amir’s songs Diamonds-Rain-Lyrics and Waiting-for-Summer-Lyrics.

Listen to the show