However, I give these examples not with a view to the encouragement of either regularity or irregularity.  My purpose is to show you what combinations are possible, and to say, as the jockey whispers in the eager ear of the racehorse he has held back so long, “Go to it!” Break every rule you want to—­only break a record.  As Mr. Berlin said, “I’ve broken every rule of versification and of music, and the result has often been an original twist.  In popular songs a comparative ignorance of music is an advantage.  Further, since my vocabulary is somewhat limited through lack of education, it follows that my lyrics are simple.”

This is only Berlin’s modest way of saying that not one in ten successful song-writers know anything about the art of music, and that very few are well enough educated to err on the side of involved language and write other than simple lyrics.  He drew the application as to himself alone, although his native genius makes it less true of him than of many another less gifted.  The big point of this observation lies in his emphasis on the fact that

7.  Simple Lyrics and Simple Music Are Necessary

Perhaps in Mr. Berlin’s statement rests the explanation of the curious fact that nearly all the successful popular song-writers are men who had few educational advantages in youth.  Most of them are self-made men who owe their knowledge of English and the art of writing to their own efforts.  Conversely, it may also explain why many well-educated persons strive for success in song-writing in vain.  They seem to find it difficult to acquire the chief lyric virtue—­simplicity.

Not only must the words of a popular song be “easy,” but the idea of the lyric must be simple.  You cannot express a complex idea in the popular song-form, which is made up of phrases that sometimes seem short and abrupt.  And, even if you could overcome this technical difficulty, you would not find an audience that could grasp your complex idea.  Remember that a majority of the purchasers of popular songs buy them at the five- and ten-cent store.  To sell songs to this audience, you must make your music easy to sing, your words easy to say and your idea simple and plain.

8.  Rhythm the Secret of Successful Songs

Being barred from other than the simplest of ways, by his own limitations, his introducers and his market, the song-writer has to depend upon a purely inherent quality in his song for appeal.  This appeal is complex in its way, being composed of the lure of music, rhyme and emotion, but when analyzed all the parts are found to have one element in common.  This element to which all parts contribute is rhythm.