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The basics of songwriting can be categorized into 4 sections. Song structure, chord progression, lyrics, and melody. This order is not a set in stone way of writing a song. For me, each song has come about in different ways, some processes more than others. Sometimes I get a melody stuck in my head. Sometimes I think of a lyric line that leads the way to becoming a whole song.
This is the third part to ‘Basics of Songwriting’.
Lyrics
There are many songwriters who can write great melodies and have the song structure and chord progression tie together beautifully, but their lyrics brings the song a few levels down. So remember that songs are not just musical notes, but are words that are sung.
Bad Lyrics
First, what is considered to be bad lyrics? Bad lyrics are a set of words and phrases that contain no variety and fail to stir up an emotion from the listener. Bad lyrics are also words and phrases that have been overly rehashed. Some of these turn into cliches. How do cliches occur? They are repeated over and over again and begins to have less and less power each time it gets repeated. Then when someone hears these cheesy lines, they internally cringe, sometimes even without realizing that they are cringing.
Why do you think people don’t listen to Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls anymore? I’m sure there are a few people who still listen to Backstreet Boys, but for the most part, people don’t listen to it not only because of the evolution of music but also because of the lyrics. Here’s an example by the Backstreet Boys from a song called ‘Everybody’.
Section from “Everybody”
Am I original?
Yeah Am I the only one?
Yeah Am I sexual?
Yeah Am I everything you need?
You better rock your body now
Please tell me you can see the cheese in the song. Yeah. Songs that use overdone and cheesy words and lines can be a huge turn off. It really depends on what you want to do with your song. If you want to create a song to make people laugh, you can fill it up with cheesy lines.
Creative Writing
What sets really good songs apart from just good songs is creativity whether it be melodically or lyrically. So be creative with your lyrics.
Think of new ways to say certain things whether it be specific words or phrase. For example, what could you say instead of “You are the love of my life”?
You are the ray of sunlight that cracked through the clouds
You are a daisy in a field of dandelions
What are words that can represent “time”?
Seasons
Hourglass
So there are many ways in which you can say certain words and phrases that feel overused.
An exercise you can do is find a song that you think is cheesy and rewrite the song. Find new ways of conveying the lyrics.
If you have a hard time doing the exercise, explore the five senses: sight hearing, touch, smell, and taste. For example, you can create vivid images that takes listeners through a story they can walk through, smell, and feel.
So let’s say the song is about love. If love was a smell, what would it smell like? What would it sound like? What would it physically look like? Have fun finding new ways of saying phrases that have been sung over and over and over again.
Rhyming
Another way of making creative lyrics is using literary devices to create a sense of rhythm. For a lot of songwriters there seems to be a lot of focus on rhyming words at the end of each line. There are ways in which you can twist the way you rhyme the ends of each line through using devices such as half rhymes, semi rhymes and imperfect rhymes. Although end rhyming does add a tremendous weight to lyrics, that is not the only way to making your lyrics flow. You can use assonance, alliteration and other rhyming devices that can occur throughout your lyrics or in other words, internal rhyming. Listen to rap and you can hear a lot of these other rhyming devices taking place. The clarity in rhyming schemes comes from the fact that the focus of rap is more on rhythm than melody.
Rhyming Schemes That Can Be Used For End Rhyming
Half Rhyme
Half rhymes are when two words have matching end consonant sounds. An example of this is ‘hand’ and ‘bend’.
Semi Rhyme
A semi rhyme is a rhyme with one of the words having an added syllable. Here’s an example: ‘ran’ and ‘banner’.
I actually use this regularly because it helps when I can’t find a perfect rhyme and also I find myself falling in love with the word that happens to fit in as a semi rhyme. This is one of the techniques I use with semi rhymes. I have the rhyming syllable fit in with the melody then add an extra note to the melody to have the extra syllable fit into the song.
Imperfect Rhyme
An imperfect rhyme is a rhyme with one word having the rhyming syllable stressed and the other word, unstressed. And example of this is ‘thing’ and ‘climbing’. You can hear the ‘ing’ for the word ‘thing’ is stressed and the ‘ing’ for ‘climbing’ is unstressed.
I use a similar technique like with the semi rhymes. But instead of matching up the rhyming syllables, I match up the stressed sections of the words. So if I was using the words ‘thing’ and ‘climbing’, I would have ‘thing’ and ‘climb’ fit into the end of my melody whether it be a melody that I have written before writing the lyrics or a melody that made to fit a set of lyrics already written. Then I add the ‘ing’ to ‘climbing’ and add an extra note that goes in a downward direction melodically.
Rhyming Schemes That Can Be Used For Internal Rhyming
Alliteration
Alliteration occurs when the initial consonant sounds are matched. For example, ‘Mother made my morning marvelous!’ Can you hear how using alliteration gives the line a sense of flow?
Assonance
Assonance is when words have matching vowel sounds. ‘Who shooed the moose?’ This gives the line a sense of togetherness.
Actions You Can Take To Improve Your Lyrics
Instead of knowing the ways you can improve and be creative with your lyrics, start doing something about it now. What are some things you can do today? Take a creative writing course and involve what you learn into your songwriting. Do a few creative writing exercises. You can easily find writing exercises online. Do it and have fun with it.