Exercise

Step 1: Underline or highlight all personal references in the song (I, my, you, your, etc.).

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Step 2: Identify which narrative mode you've written your song in. The 4 different point of views are:

1. Direct address: I sing to you (I love you)

2. Second person narrative: I sing about you (without mentioning I) (you love her)

3. First person narrative: I sing about him to the audience (I love him)

4. Third person narrative: I sing about them (she loves him)

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Step 3: Try rewriting your song from another point of view and compare the results.

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Theory

According to Pattison (2009, p. 145), at the end of the lyric-writing process, it could be helpful to rewrite your lyric from the three other possible points of view, in order to see how the lyric works in these three different narrative modes. This way, you can discover whether a different distance from the story, and the influence this has on the feeling of the song, might benefit the lyric (Barra, 2019).

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“[As] it’s impossible to make a rule about when to use each point of view, the only way to make sure your point of view is working the most effectively it can is to do a point of view check on every lyric you write. Check once during the process, and then also at the end of the process. Every lyric. You’ll find that a different point of view works better often enough to make checking every time worth it. It only takes a little practice and not much time, and sometimes it will turn a good lyric into a killer one” (Pattison, 2009, p. 127).

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Source

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