Exercise

Step 1: When you’ve finished writing the first draft of your song, mark all the abstract or vague words in your lyric that could be replaced with more concrete words. For example, instead of writing “things,” you could specify what those things actually are, such as “letters,” “photographs,” or “clothes.”

​

Step 2: You can then start brainstorming alternative, more concrete words for the abstract or vague word you have highlighted. “One great way to explore options is to open a thesaurus. It’s full of suggestions that can help you find exactly the right word for any situation. Make sure your dictionary is nearby, too - you’ll want to look up any options that you’re even slightly fuzzy about. Remember that the goal of a thesaurus is not to find the fanciest, longest, or quirkiest word for your lyric. This exercise is about finding the perfect word for what you’re describing” (The Lyric Writer’s Workroom, 2012).

 

Step 3: Using the new words and ideas you have found, experiment with writing a few new lines and incorporating them into your lyrics.

​

Theory

Power words are words that immediately create an image in your mind when you hear them: “A good definition of a ‘power word’ is a word that when written, read, spoken or heard immediately suggests something extraordinary. They are words that startle or inspire or make you vividly see something” (Stanswanson, 2023).

 

Power words are important because, as a songwriter, you want to engage the listener’s senses as much as possible. Another term for power words is concrete words, while the opposite of concrete words is abstract words. An abstract word “represents a concept that you will never physically see or touch. Nouns like love, courage, and eternity are abstract. Other [words] are concrete. These represent physical objects and other things that you can experience with the senses. Apples, mugs, and balloons are all concrete nouns. Increase the concentration of concrete nouns in your writing, and you’re already writing more descriptively” (The Lyric Writer’s Workroom, 2012).

​

The ultimate goal, then, is to replace as many abstract words as possible in your writing - perhaps especially in your first drafts - with concrete words. ​

​

Sources

• Stanswanson (2012) Power Words: How to Make Your Song Lyrics Stronger. Available at: https://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/31467/music/power_words_how_to_make_your_song_lyrics_stronger.html (Accessed: 5 March 2026).

• ​The Lyric Writer’s Workroom (2012) How to Write Vividly Descriptive Lyrics. Available at: https://lyricworkroom.com/how-to-write-vividly-descriptive-lyrics/ (Accessed: 5 March 2026).