How to write a good song lyric

Be unique and universal

As songwriters, we revolve around a few topics that evoke our strongest emotions. We write about what engages us and our desire is for other people to recognize and be moved. The risk is that we just mimic what others have already managed to express and that when we write about the big topics, such as love, it mostly sounds like a cliché. The solution is to find a unique language that feels believable and an angle on the subject that is exciting - the more these two perspectives - the unique and the universal - are represented at the same time, the stronger and more urgent a song will be.

Maintain workflow

If you can't think of anything brilliant in the moment - put a parenthesis around the word or phrase and move on. You can come back to it later. Sometimes it is not helpful to exert yourself in a creative process, but rather it is better to sit back and trust the unconscious to work to find the missing piece of the puzzle.

Create unique metaphors 

Metaphors are one of the tools you can use to make your language more personal. They also allow for ambiguity and the complexity of life. Metaphors create images and make a text more vivid.A metaphor is created by pairing two unrelated words together to form something new. Conflict is fundamental to a metaphor. If I say "an army is a fighting army", that's just a description, but if I say "an army is a bloodthirsty wolf", I'm saying something that is factually untrue, and that creates a metaphor. The metaphor focuses on the wolf, which clearly provides images and emotions that describe the specific character and dangerousness of this army.

Playing with this puzzle of unrelated nouns from time to time can lead you to find new and exciting metaphors, which in themselves may give rise to new song ideas. Write a list of nouns, picking the ones that pop up spontaneously. Make sure you include both abstract and concrete nouns, as this usually makes it easier to create metaphors. For example, you can put the words fear and shadow together, you can use the metaphor in different forms, for example: "fear is a shadow", "shadow fear" or "shadow of fear".

You can also pair a noun with an adjective or a verb with an adverb. Make lists in the same way, choose nouns and adjectives at random, write them down in a list and try to pair them up, try the same with verbs and adverbs. Just make sure there is a contradiction between the words, otherwise it won't be an interesting metaphor. For example, "sing beautifully" is not a metaphor. But "singing blindly" is an interesting metaphor. Just like "woolly clouds" is just a common adjective paired with a noun, while "angular clouds" is a metaphor that conjures up images and sparks the imagination. You can also find a metaphor by asking two questions: What characterizes my idea and is there anything else that has the same character? Metaphors work by finding a third thing that the two things have in common.

Write as you speak

Start from your everyday language and the way you express yourself, it contributes to a personal tone. Sometimes it can be worthwhile to read the text aloud and just continue with the words that spontaneously appear if you are stuck. Include details, the specifics, the type of coffee the main character in the song drinks, the brand and color of the jacket, the names of the towns where your song takes place. Choose the concrete over the abstract, it makes your song clearer and easier for the listener to empathize with.

Repetition 

You can usefully repeat selected strong words and phrases to create recognition, patterns or underline something. This is especially true for the title, and it is a very useful tool and principle that you can almost always use. Pete Seeger's classic Where have all the flowers gone is a good example.

Development and dramaturgy

See your song as a mini-play or movie. A good opening - a climax - a climax and a resolution - a good ending. Think about arranging the elements of the song in a meaningful, logical sequence. If your song revolves around a specific idea, make sure there is some kind of development leading from something, through something, to something.

A strong start

Both the intro and the very first phrase are very important in a song. This is where it is decided whether the listener is drawn in and becomes interested in listening further. The beginning can clarify the narrator and it is usually there that you establish where it all takes place.

A good title

Finding a good title is often the last step in writing a song. A rule of thumb is that the title should summarize the content of the lyrics. It can also be a name or an expression found in the chorus. Try to find a title with a unique touch and avoid clichés. You might want to Google your song title to see how many other songs there are with the same title. If you get a huge number of hits, it might be time to change the title. Or change it slightly.

Simplicity

Stick to one idea/feeling and remove side events. A common mistake is to try to say too much in a song. The little time we have in a song only allows us to develop a story, highlight a topic.

Make every word count, avoid filler words. Do the review of your song at the end of the process, when you think you are basically done. It is best if you have let the song rest for at least a few days when you tackle this task. This will help you see more clearly what can be cut and what needs to be tightened. Make sure you don't use the same word more than once - unless it's a hook or a chorus of course, or a deliberate repetition. The best thing is to get feedback on your song. Choose someone you trust who has more knowledge and experience than you when it comes to songwriting.

Article author: Eva Hillered - www.evahillered.se