How To Write Better Lyrics

The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot. –Salvador Dali

If you’re responsible for every aspect of the recording process, lyrics might be something of an afterthought. Even if you aren't, lyrics can still pose a challenge for even the most singularly-focused and dedicated of scribes. In this post, I’ll share some reliable methods for achieving compelling lyrics that won't sound clichéd or thrown together. I.

IF IT SOUNDS LIKE WRITING, REWRITE IT American novelist Elmore Leonard said his most important tip for writers was, “If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.” Some of us expect lyrics and poetry to sound a certain way. This likely starts when we're young and introduced to poetry for the first time. This can have a lasting impression, resulting in the expectation that a poem or lyric must contain allusions to the night sky, other tropes, or feature elevated language––or, alternatively, the latest slang (see the most used words in popular music here).

It's been said that U2's producer once gave Bono a list of words he could only use once (I imagine it included words like "angel," "night," "sky," etc.). The point is, if it sounds like writing, you might be relying on clichés. If so, it's time to start rewriting! II.

SAMPLING Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to the endless night

–The Doors ("End of the Night" - 1967)

Some are born to sweet delight Some are born to endless night. –William Blake ("Auguries of Innocence" - 1863)

Bob Dylan is notorious for borrowing from others. "It Ain't Me Babe," for instance, begins with a line from the folk song "Go ’Way From My Window" by John Jacob Niles. Other, similar appropriations by Dylan have led to allegations of plagiarism (more about that here). But, if done tastefully, or in homage, sampling from others can introduce an exciting turn or prove inspiring, whether it's a pair of words or an entire line. In my song "Ephemera," I sampled the phrase "No more let life..." from Percy Shelley's "Adonais," which reads, "No more let life divide what death can join together" (my lyric is "No more let life this boy divide."). Even Shakespeare was known to sample other authors and playwrights. Don't believe me? Read more here. (TIP: To play it safe, only do this with works in the public domain; i.e., those without a copyright. More on that here.) III.

MINE FOR CHIMES Chime /CHīm/: a melodious ringing sound. –Oxford Languages

In graduate school, I had a writing instructor who characterized the relationship between certain words as having a chiming effect. If you have a word you want to use, but are unable to complete the line, try searching for that word in a digital anthology (I often turn to Shakespeare or Shelley for this purpose). See how the word chimes with other words, or if it's used in a different context you might apply. Similar to "sampling" other authors, you might discover another word that complements it, which you can then integrate into your song. IV.

SAY IT PLAIN Brevity is the soul of wit. –Shakespeare

Sometimes, it's better to say something as simply as possible. Consider John Lennon's "Imagine." This approach is useful for distilling your thoughts and establishing what you're trying to say (or discovering you don't actually know what you're trying to say.) It's important to avoid clichés and common expressions when taking this approach, as everything is already so scaled back. Be as original as you are sparing and direct. Otherwise, you could just rely on a series of commonly-paired words and expressions. V.

THE CUT UP METHOD Can the other digital now age up? –Excerpt generated from the text below

American author William Burroughs popularized a Dadaist writing technique now known as the Cut Up Method. It involves taking words and phrases from other texts and reorganizing them. Artists like David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, and Thom Yorke have all acknowledged using this technique (watch Bowie demonstrate it here). In the digital age, you can now copy and paste into automatic cut-up generators, such as the Cut Up Machine hosted by Language is a Virus here. VI.

INVERSIONS Inversion, also called anastrophe, in literary style and rhetoric, the syntactic reversal of the normal order of the words and phrases in a sentence.

–Encyclopaedia Britannica

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure dome decree –Samuel Taylor Coleridge (“Kubla Khan”)

If the above definition and example are confusing, let's rearrange the Coleridge excerpt with a more logical and coherent syntax, or sequence:

In Xanadu, Kubla Khan did

Decree a stately pleasure dome.

Inversions like the one in Coleridge's original text can serve a variety of purposes. They can a) make the language appear more elevated (i.e., fancy), b) create some mystery regarding the meaning, as the text becomes more ambiguous and harder to immediately grasp, and c) create the potential for a different rhyme in the corresponding line. For example, the word "Khan" rhymes with "ran" and "man" in Coleridge's poem. Had he used a more intuitive syntax ending with "did," he would have been limited to words like "hid," "kid," "bid," etc. VII.

WHOLE CLOTH COVERS Cervantes' text and Menard's are verbally identical, but the second is almost infinitely richer. –Jorge Luis Borges.

If you're familiar with the Byrd's song "Turn! Turn! Turn!", you might know that the lyrics were taken directly from "The Book of Ecclesiastes." In my song "Come Away, Come Away, Death," I took a "song" from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and turned it into a reggae number (listen here). In both cases, the original texts are in the public domain, so anyone is free to use them as they like (and not pay out a portion of their earnings to the original copyright holder). But there are also instances of artists taking a cover and transforming the music and lyrics sufficiently to characterize it as an original (Oasis' "Live Forever" emerged out of Noel Gallagher's fiddling with the Stones' "Shine a Light"). Just be sure to make substantive changes, or you could end up with a lawsuit (as George Harrison did with "My Sweet Lord," and his bandmate John Lennon did with "Come Together").

CONCLUSION Thanks for reading this post on improving your lyrics. I've used all of the techniques included here with great success; so, hopefully, you've found something useful here as well. To receive similar content in the future, visit www.dbspl.studio/ebook.