Exercise

Step 1: Focus on the theme of your lyrics. "Focus your lyric idea as clearly as you can. (…) It’s up to you to find the angle, brainstorm the idea, and create the world the idea will live in. Since you always bring your unique perspective to each experience, you will have something interesting to offer. But you’ll have to look at enough ideas to find the best perspective. Object writing is the key to developing choices. You must dive into your vaults of sense material – those unique and secret places – to find out what images you’ve stored away, in the present example, around the ideas of homelessness" (Pattison, 2009, p. 34).

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Step 2: Generate words and phrases that describe your lyric. Use methods such as free writing, object writing, a thesaurus to find synonyms and antonyms, and other word and phrase generator tools. Collect the results in a list. "Writing rhymed lines means discovering lines that make sense and happen to rhyme. In practice, that means discovering lots of lines, words and phrases that say what they need to but don’t rhyme – or lots of lines, words and phrases that rhyme but don’t say it quite right – first. One of the best ways to go about this is what people call free writing or free association. It’s pretty much what it says on the tin: you write down as many words, phrases or lines that might work in your song as you can. Don’t judge. Don’t filter. Just get those words down" (Bell, 2017, pp. 110-111).

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Step 3: Choose the words and phrases that work best and describe your lyric most effectively, and trim them down to 10–15 options. "Now the fun begins. Start saying no to words in your list until you’ve trimmed it to about ten or twelve words with different vowel sounds in their stressed syllables. Put these survivors in the middle of a blank sheet paper, number them, and enclose them in a box for easy reference later on. Keep these guidelines in mind:

1. If you are working with a title, be sure to put its key vowel sounds in the list.

2. Most of your words should end in a stressed syllable, since they work best in rhyming position.

3. Put any interesting words that duplicate a vowel sound in parentheses. Your goal is to create a list of words to look up in your rhyming dictionary" (Pattison, 2009, pp. 35-36).

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Step 4: Find rhymes using a rhyming dictionary. Select only words from the rhyming dictionary that fit your idea. "Look up each word in your rhyming dictionary. ‘Be sure to extend your search to imperfect rhyme types, and to select only words that connect with your ideas. Above all, don’t bother with cliché rhymes or other typical rhymes. (…) Brainstorming with a rhyming dictionary prepares you to write a lyric. (…) With solid rhyming techniques that include family rhymes, additive and subtractive rhymes, assonance and even consonance rhymes (especially for l and r), using a rhyming dictionary van be as relaxed and easy as brainstorming with a friend" (Pattison, 2009, pp. 37-46).

 

Step 5: Write new lines using the words you found in the rhyming dictionary. Incorporate the lines that resonate most strongly with you into your lyric.

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Theory

"Writing a lyric is like getting a gig: if you’re grateful for any idea that comes along, you’re probably not getting the best stuff. (…) Look at it this way: The more often you can say no, the better your gigs get. That’s why I suggest that you learn to build a worksheet – as specialized tool for brainstorming that produces bathtubs full of ideas and, at the same time, tailors the ideas specifically for a lyric" (Pattison, 2009, p. 33). Additionally,  Pattison (2009, pp. 37-46) states: ​"A worksheet externalizes the inward process of lyric writing. It slows your writing process down so you can get to know it better, like slowing down when you play a new scale to help get it under your fingers. The more you do it, the faster and more efficient you’ll get. (…) Decide now that you will do a complete worksheet for each of your next ten lyrics, then stick to it. (…) You will have too much to say, too many choices, and too many rhymes. (…) Think of all the times you’ll get to say no. No more clichés. No more forced rhymes. No more helpless gratitude that some idea, any idea at all, came along".​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

Sources

• Bell, E. (2017) The Art of Songwriting: How to Create, Think and Live Like a Songwriter. New York: The Song Foundry.

• Pattison, P. (2009) Writing Better Lyrics: The Essential Guide to Powerful Songwriting. 2nd edn. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books.