Speechwriting — Dolly Style

From ABBA to ZZTop, your favorite songs can be an excellent springboard of information for your next presentation.

In a previous article, I mentioned meeting Dolly Parton and being inspired by her to give presentations on a variety of topics. Meeting Dolly is not the only way she haas inspired my presentations. You may or may not know that Dolly has written more than 3,000 songs over her career, starting when she was just a few years old. Many of her songs have been inspired by her real-life experiences, just as many of our presentations are inspired by real-life experiences (hmm, sounds like a great book title, My Life is Just Speech Material!).

Song Titles

Another great way to develop presentation topics is to look at song titles and see how you could use just the title to inspire your presentations. You can certainly follow the same process with lyrics or sets of lyrics of your favorite songs, as we will discuss later. For example, it often amazes me how some songwriters seem to be writing songs about MY life. Perhaps this has happened to you, but let’s start with just the titles.

I do not have to look at Dolly’s vast library of song titles to be able to choose a few that inspire presentations. Just a few of her most popular pieces can be effective. An example of this method of speech development would be:

Song Title: Working 9 to 5: Employment Options; Office Life vs. Stay-at-Home Options; and Great Jobs That Make You Want to Go to Work.

Song Title: I Will Always Love You: Living with the Loss of a Loved One; The Bod Between a Mother and Daughter; and The Impact of a Challenged Child on Your Life.

Song Title: Light of a Clear Blue Morning: Overcoming Obstacles; Nighttime Safety; and The Affect of Sunlight on Our Mood.

Song Title: The Grass is Blue: Nursery Rhymes; Nonsensical Statements; and What Colors Mean to People.

Song Title: Just Because I’m a Woman: The Glass Ceiling in Business; Women in the Workplace; and The High Cost of Beauty.

There you have it — 15 more presentation topics to consider. This list was generated from some of her most popular songs, and I could generate many more form other Dolly Parton songs that may not be in the mainstream, for example, Silver and Gold is a great title to give a presentation on: The Currency Market; Silver and Gold Jewelry, Which is Better Suited for Your Skin Tone; and What Does it Take to Get a Gold Record? (That’s a bonus three more topics for you).

These topics are generated without knowing the meaning or story behind the song. If you have this added information, you will surely have even more presentations from the song titles.

Dolly is just one of my favorite music artists. I am sure I could identify many more topics from her song titles, or titles of other singer/songwriters with whom I personally identify, or when I simply hear an interesting song title.

Who do you identify with when it comes to song titles? And what presentation topics could you generate from those titles?