>> Doing okay, say that line to me.
>> You sing it once for me as you slip into the sea.
>> Again.
>> You sing it once for me as you slip into the sea.
>> Again.
>> You sing it once for me as you slip into the sea.
>> You're listening to what you're saying aren't you?
>> Yeah. >> You didn't turn off your toggle switch.
>> Okay, okay.
[LAUGH] You sing it once for me as you slip into the sea.
>> You sing it once for me as you slip into the sea.
>> You sing it once for me as you slip into the sea.
>> As you slip into the sea.
I have never in conversation said, Allie, would you go into the store for me?
Would you go into the store for me?
I've never said it, so would you go into the store for me?
That the word into, which was by the way,
the single most miss-set word in songwriting.
>> Mm-hm.
>> Because usually, it follows a strong stress.
And since we're usually working in four four time, he walked into the room.
But you've never said that in conversation.
Yeah, I saw him when he walked into the room.
because if you said it like that, people will look at you like you had three heads.
>> [LAUGH] >> So, he walked into the room,
he walked into the room.
So it's into, then so here, as she slips into the sea.
>> Into the sea.
>> Yeah, try it. >> Slips.
>> Yeah she slips, rest, into the sea.
[MUSIC]
>> Try again.
[MUSIC]
>> So sing it once for me.
[MUSIC]
>> [LAUGH] >> That's so much better.
>> You feel it, you feel it.
>> That's so much better.
>> Not only, here is the big deal, not only does that make it more transparent
for the listener, but it makes you able to get inside the song.
Because you literally cannot get inside the song,
when you're saying something that is unnatural for you to say.
What it does is, just as it distances the audience, in the same way
that it distances the audience, It also distances you from the song.
And because you aren't quite in the song, how can the audience be in the song?
And so that's one of those little moments where everybody's eyes just for
a second glass over.
And what happens when that happens, is that you lose that little hair of
momentum that should be going into the next line.
And you lose some of the power of the next line.
But now when you say as she slips into the sea.
Look, when take into, out of the sky,
pull it down behind the mountain again, then you get slips.
>> Mm.
>> Into the sea.
>> Mm-hm. >> Slips into the sea.
And you'll not only get the activity of slipping into the sea,
you'll also now hear the alliteration of slip and sea.
>> Mm-hm.
>> So you get all these benefits from preserving the natural
shape of the language.
I'll say that again, preserving the natural shape of the language.
So one of your primary jobs as a songwriter, to preserve the natural shape.
Everybody together.
>> Preserve the natural shape of the language.
>> One more time, with great enthusiasm.
>> [LAUGH] >> Preserve the natural shape of
the language.
>> There we go, all right.