Phil,
The thing about the Internet is that all the information you ever want is right at your fingertips. It is what I call doing "song study.' I tell all of you to do this all the time so you understand how this happens. You start with WIKAPEDIA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drink_a_Beer
Then you go deeper:
http://www.examiner.com/article/luke-bryan-s-song-drink-a-beer-the-story-behind-it-revealed
All of this is out there. But the main reason that this song and all other songs make it where others don't?
THEY CONNECT WITH THE ARTIST.
You can't explain that. This subject matter fit exactly what he was looking for and exactly REAL LIFE that Luke went through in his life. How many times have I ever said WRITE REALITY.
Now when you are writing your song, did you wrire about a real situation that happened to you or someone you know?
Again, if you are missing that element in your writing, you are leaving out the most important componant. Nashville written songs are ALWAYS:
REALITY BASED.
CONVERSATIONAL IN TONE.
GREAT MELODIC HOOK.
Too many newer and amateur writers write songs that SOUND LIKE SONGS. They sound like what is already out there without the passion, the details, the real elements that make a song feel real. It's like having a cooking recipie. If you have the ingrediants,. but no idea of the preportions, the order, how to add them, and what to leave out. You might have something that has the same ingredients but taste like crap.
Songs like HOUSE THAT BUILT ME, I DRIVE YOUR TRUCK, I DRINK A BEER,are emotional songs that hit the singers. They hit like that every time they are performed or played in a recording for anyone. They connect.
I will be willing to tell you that there are only a VERY VERY few that have these reactions. There may be thousands that have the same story line but are just not as well written. They might have the same words but not the same impact. and of course, once again, with the writers, Jim Beavers and Chris Stapleton, you have guys who are well known. They came into town right about the same time as Luke Bryan and are part of the new current crop of writers who are in all the hot meetings, write for the right publishers, go to the writer;s retreats, do the major songwriting shows and are involved in this entire "newest country" scene that has been here for about the last 5 years. So they are all friends and their songs get heard. They all met each other probabaly 5-6 years ago, started writing and playing open mics, the writers nights, were doing rounds together, were playing on benefits, were hanging out at bars and going to industry events together.
That is how this works all the time, every time. You need to be building your relationships now that are going to be coming together five years from now. I will write a few examples of what I have seen and still see happening and see if it makes this come together. But basically whenever you hear these types of songs and wonder "what made that one stand up so much?" Think of this:
#1. VERY WELL WRITTEN.
You don't hear many of these that are DOGS. The songs paint their story, tell it well, give it a twist you never thought of.
#2. RELATABILITY.
The subject matter relates to the artist in their life. Usually it is exactly the senario they have lived, often recently.
#3. RUNS IN THE RIGHT CIRCLES.
The song gets played by many people in high placed circles.Their publishers or song pluggers or themselves are in social settings, live shows, benefits, charity events, and can say "YOU GOTTA HEAR THIS!" and other people, knowing their reputation want to hear it because they know these are not people who BLOW SMOKE.
#4. TIMING.
These, and all songs, match what a singer needs at that time. They might have had a string of hits on one subject, ala, Kenny Chesney and the entire "Beach, no shoes,no shirt no problem, sand, tequila, margarittas, Jimmy Buffet, and that is all going on while Kenny was living in the Islands, getting over his poorly thought out marraige to Hollywood actress Rene Zellwinger. He got through that, and started with more mature subject matter, Boys of Fall, Don't Blink.
Miranda Lambert has a career based on wild eyed attitude women. She wanted a song to "soften her tone", although, at the time,she was not looking for that. Her sales numbers had stalled out and she was getting branded as another angry chick singer, and all the pitches were about that. House that built Me, took her breath away. It reasonated because it was EXACTLY what she had grown through growing up. Yet was written when she was about 5 years old. While she was GOING through it. It wasn't written "for Miranda." It was a great song standing on it's own feet always. I heard it nine years ago at the FRANK BROWN festival, and it stopped the room dead when it was played by Allen Shamblin. I was amazed it took so long to actually get out there. But that is the music business.
Right place, song, right time.
#5. "A LOT OF PEOPLE LOVED IT.
In every career there are dozens of people who have to sign off on songs. The artist might love it but the manager doesn't think it is right, the record company have arguments going on in their offices, some that want to do the same thing they have done that works, NO ONE WANTS TO TAKE A CHANCE BECAUSE THAT CAN MEAN THEIR JOBS.
Radio might not like it. "I'M MOVING ON" by Rascall Flatts, was passed on by every label, radio hated it, the band was even unsure of it. It became the biggest song of the year.
The Gambler failed ten times before it found its way to Kenny Rogers. Audiences even hated that one.
#6. FATE (or luck)
You ever think about accidents? If two cars come together and bang it out, what if one of those people had left their house a split second later? What if one of them had been looking where they were going instead of dealing with the kid in the back seat? What happened at that exact moment?
THAT IS WHY THEY CALL THEM ACCIDENTS.
Hit records are like that. They are mostly accidents.They have all the right elements which make them loved, people behind them pushing them out there and the bottom line they get HEARD and LOVED by the MASSES.
That is what makes a hit song. You cannot manufacture that, you can't create that. It has to happen or doesn't. But you do everything you can before there.
Write songs that are REAL.
Write songs ABOUT SOMETHING.
Avoid cliche's and average rhymes and story lines.
Write a lot of songs to get the technique down.
Be aware all the time of things going on around you to write about.
Write each line, each note with care and love.
Write with other people to multiply your chances.
Write with artists to increase the chances of hitting your target.
Do song study on other hit songs.
DON'T SUCK.
MAB