How to Write a Song

While it’s true that the melody and the title are regarded as the most important parts of a song, don’t make the mistake of believing that the quality of the lyrics doesn’t really matter if your song has a strong melody and a catchy hook. 

Don’t ever settle for lyrics that you know are second-best. A song with a dynamic melody and trite lyrics is still unlikely to be successful. 

Of course, songs with weak lyrics occasionally do well in the charts, but their success is usually down to an outstanding production or because the artist concerned is already a big star with a loyal fan base. If you’re an aspiring new writer submitting a demo to a music publisher, A&R rep or a record producer, you’ll need more than just an excellent melody to stimulate their interest. 

You have to be able to offer them a complete work that combines a highly commercial melody with well-chosen words and descriptive phrases that make sense and actually say something. 

Music industry professionals expect to hear inventive lyrics that avoid clichés and convey an interesting story or message in an easily understandable way. They want words that support the title and the hook, and evoke an emotional response within the listener. 

As a music publisher, there is nothing more frustrating than taking the time to listen to a demo by a new writer only to find that a promising melody is weakened by lyrics that seem to have been thrown together with little thought. The irritation that this causes often results in even the most generous music pros hitting the ‘stop’ button after about 30 seconds! 

If you’re very lucky, they might see that you potentially have half a hit song and may ask you to re-write the lyrics and re-submit the revised song. At worst, they may assume that every song they receive from you in future will have equally poor lyrics … and they won’t even bother listening. 

Writing lyrics that don’t support the form of a song in the verse-chorus format is one of the most common songwriting errors. New writers often don’t realize that the verse and the chorus have different responsibilities and that the lyrics in each section need to reflect this. 

If you listen closely to the lyrics of today’s most successful songs, you will find that the verses mostly use descriptive words (telling a story, describing people and situations, or showing the singer’s state of mind), while the chorus lyrics mainly express emotions. They provide an emotional response to what has just been described in the verse. 

Look on the verse-chorus song structure as a road map, with the verse as a scenic highway and the chorus as the ‘big city-bright lights’ destination. 

Your main focus in the verse, therefore, should be to use descriptive words in a linear and conversational way to set the scene and then move the song’s story line for- ward. Balance your lyrics by saving strong emotions for the chorus. 

As you drive toward the chorus, you can introduce fresh information and images in each line to attract and hold the listener’s interest. First verses usually provide the broad strokes necessary to set the stage for the rest of the song, while the subsequent verses can be more specific. 

The chorus, meanwhile, is the section where the whole point of your song should become clear and memorable. You should be able to use simpler and more emotional words because the verse has already built a firm foundation and filled in all the details—allowing the chorus to focus on hammering home the title and the all- important hook. 

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Some writers construct songs based on short lines of lyrics, while others have longer lines with more beats. There is no fixed rule, although it’s usually much easier to write a good melody for a lyric that has shorter lines. 

But what you should never do is make the mistake of using a different line length in the corresponding line in each verse or chorus! 

To achieve the musical symmetry that is so important to listeners’ ears, it is essential to make sure that your lyrics are balanced and don’t have uneven line lengths or syllable counts. It’s the same as ensuring that all your verses have exactly the same number of bars and your pre-chorus and chorus are the same length every time. 

When you analyze the structure of your favorite writers’ songs, you will find they usually have the same number of syllables between corresponding lines. For example, if the first line of their first verse has eight syllables, then the first line of their second verse will also have eight syllables. 

Similarly, if a verse or a chorus consists of four lines, then every line should have the same number of syllables. If the amount differs, it may create a distracting imbalance for the listener. 

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Squeezing too many words into a lyric is one of the most common mistakes made by inexperienced songwriters—especially writers or lyricists who aren’t singers themselves. They don’t realize the importance of leaving pauses between the words so that the poor singer can grab a breath! 

If your lyric lines are too crowded, singers will be so busy trying to fit all the words in that they won’t have space to emphasize the key words—and won’t be able to interpret the song in their own distinctive way. 

Putting too many words into your song also makes it harder for listeners to take in the lyrics and understand what the song is about. It’s like someone talking so fast you can’t grasp what they’re saying. People have to be able to make out every word that you’ve worked so hard to craft—otherwise, what’s the point? 

As Paul Simon told American Songwriter magazine: “When you’re reading poetry, you read it at a much slower pace. So the lines can be much more dense, and have words which are not usually in a speaking vocabulary, and which carry multiple meanings. But in a song, it’s clocking along, and if you missed it, it’s gone. And if you miss enough of it, well, the song is gone …”.

To make it easier for listeners to remember your lyrics, it’s important to keep them simple and conversational. The great lyricist Hal David, for example, was a master at conveying what he wanted to say in the most concise way possible, despite the complexity of some of Burt Bacharach’s melodies. It’s part of the craft of successful songwriting. 

Even if you’re not a great vocalist, try singing the song yourself at the tempo it’s supposed to be played at. Or read the lyrics out loud rhythmically, keeping time as if you were singing them. If you can’t fit all the words in comfortably—with the key words accentuated—it’s likely that an experienced singer won’t be able to do it either. 

This will hamper your chances of getting other artists to record the song. And if you’re writing for your own band, even your own superb vocalist may find it hard to impress your fans! If your lyrics are a maze of words, it will be hard for any performance of them to be amazing. 

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Be careful not to bore listeners by simply pouring out fact after fact in your lyrics as you tell the song’s story. You have to choose words that paint a picture in their imagination so that you can reach them on an emotional level and make them feel what you’re feeling (or what the singer is feeling). 

This aspect of the craft of successful songwriting is a major challenge because you have to skilfully use powerful devices such as metaphor, simile, personification and rhyme within the constraints of a clearly defined song structure and rhythm. And you only have three minutes or so in which to get some vivid colors onto your lyrical canvas to captivate the listener. 

That’s why many top writers’ lyrical language is simpler and more down to earth— with short lyrical images and colorful descriptive phrases that are easily under- stood and can therefore immediately connect with the listener. Remember, as well as painting a picture for the listener you still need to get them to the all-important hook in the chorus within 45-60 seconds! 

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“I try to avoid certain images that I feel have been done to death, such as any reference to angels or hearts … and use of the word baby” —Aimee Mann 

When music publishers, A&R executives and producers listen to a demo of a new song, one of the most common reasons why they end up hitting the ‘stop’ button is because they find the song’s lyrics are too full of clichés. 

Remember, by the time these music industry pros get to hear your demo they’ve probably already listened to thousands of songs during their careers. So they liter- ally have heard it all before. They’ve had to endure all the old worn-out lines—all the overly familiar descriptions, tired phrases and metaphors, and predictable rhymes (such as “kiss you…miss you”) … and then some. 

Many of these lines were originally created by great lyricists, of course, but they’ve been reused and misused so many times over the years that they have now become boring clichés. If someone is going to sign your song, or cut it with their artist, they want to hear lyrics that are fresh and inventive—with some original rhymes or a new twist on an old theme. 

“Most lyricists rely too much on the standard rock clichés,” Aimee Mann once re- marked. “Good writers turn the clichés around.” 

One of the finest examples of this is Diane Warren’s song ‘Un-Break My Heart’ which was a huge hit for Toni Braxton in 1996. The phrase “break my heart” must have been used thousands of times since the dawn of the music industry. But Diane Warren turned the cliché on its head and created something brand new that really made the song stand out. 

“The title popped into my head,” she explained, “and I thought, ‘I don’t think I’ve heard that before, that’s kind of interesting’.” 

The take away from this is: if there’s a line you plan to use and you’ve already heard it in another song, push yourself to find a new way of saying it so that it will have greater impact and create a much stronger image in the listener’s head. And don’t be ashamed to turn to a dictionary or a thesaurus for help. 

When the great Steven Sondheim was once asked how he came up with his rhymes, he admitted: “I use a rhyming dictionary”. Other top writers also keep a dictionary of synonyms handy. 

Jimmy Webb, in his book Tune smith: Inside the Art of Songwriting, observed: “There is one thing that these gentlemen and ladies [great lyricists] have in common, what- ever their style. Virtually all of them keep a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus close by. No shame here. In fact it is not a very lucid act to attempt the writing of verse in any form without these unless one happens to be a Mensa.”

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“I was washing dishes at the Greyhound bus station at the time and I said, ‘A-wop-bom-a-loo-mop-a-lomp-bam-boom, take ‘em out!’” —Little Richard  

Although a song’s title is its strongest selling point and the best way to attract people’s attention, many inexperienced writers don’t realize that the lyrical content of their song’s opening line can play an equally important role in stimulating the listener’s interest and creating a lasting impact. 

When busy publishers, A&R executives or producers play your demo and hear your opening line for the first time, they’re already deciding whether or not to hit the ‘stop’ button. So you’ve got maybe 10 seconds in which to convince them to keep listening. 

While the title should tell people what your song is all about in just one word or a single phrase, the opening line of the first verse should be just as memorable and interesting (both musically and lyrically). Ideally, it should create a visual image that stimulates the listener’s imagination and paves the way for the story that follows. 

How many classic songs have stuck in your mind over the years because you remember the first line of the lyrics as well as the title line? 

It could be a catchy opening line like “Well, she was just seventeen – you know what I mean” (from ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ by The Beatles) … or an intriguing metaphor or personification like Paul Simon’s “Hello, Darkness, my old friend” (from Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’) … or sensory imagery such as “On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair” (from The Eagles’ ‘Hotel Cali- fornia’). 

A play on similar word sounds can also be effective, such as Little Richard’s classic “A-wop-bom-a-loo-mop-a-lomp-bam-boom” from ‘Tutti Frutti’ (described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the most inspired rock lyric ever recorded”).

Engaging first lines such as these instantly draw listeners into a song and hook their interest. 

Listen again to a few songs by your favorite writers and make a note of the opening line in each case. Analyze the structure of the line and the writer’s choice of words. See how it works like a mini hook and sets the stage for the rest of the song. Then apply what you learn to the first couple of lines of your own songs. 

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“I find second verses really hard. Third verses are sometimes like pulling teeth, but by then you’re in the home stretch, you just hit the wall and go through” —Janis Ian  

Be careful not to fall into the common trap of writing a great first line and then, without realizing it, simply restating that line in different ways throughout the rest of the song. 

Every word in every subsequent line should be carefully chosen to move the song forward, rather than merely creating nice word pictures that don’t actually lead any- where. 

Approach each new verse as if you were a screenwriter creating a sequence of movie scenes. Build on your central story line by focusing on a specific scenario in each verse so that it ties in with the previous ‘scene’ and the one that follows. Adding new and relevant information in each line of every verse in this way is essential to progressing the story. 

In other words, the second verse and third verse (if there is one) should not just say the same thing that you said in the first verse. They must tell the listener what happened next, or provide more information about the central characters in the song, or expand on your description of the singer’s state of mind. 

The best way to make sure the various sections fit together and give your lyrics a linear flow is to produce a ‘map’ of the song. 

Create a simple flowchart on a piece of paper by drawing a separate box for each different part of the song, with an arrow leading to the next section (e.g. Verse 1— Chorus—Verse 2—Chorus—Verse 3—Chorus—Bridge—Chorus). In each box, insert a phrase that summarizes the main point that you want to convey lyrically in that section. The lyrics should be the same in every chorus; so only the verses and the bridge will change as the story moves forward. 

If you find you’re struggling to come up with something new to say in the second and third verses, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Even top songwriters often find the lyrics for the second verse are the hardest to write. They call it “second verse hell”. 

However, experienced writers have a simple way of overcoming this block. If they’ve completed the lyrics for their first verse and chorus—and there seems to be nowhere else to go because everything they wanted to say has already been said—they simply make the first verse their second verse. This means they have to come up with another first verse! 

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“Rock isn’t art, it’s the way ordinary people talk” —Billy Idol  

A common mistake among many new writers is their use of over-elaborate imagery and ‘poetic’ lyrics in an attempt to show how clever and creative they can be. Far from being impressed, though, music publishers and A&R reps are more likely to see unnecessarily flowery language as a sign of inexperience. 

Trying too hard to be ‘different’ and artistic can often result in lyrics that simply sound pretentious and self-indulgent. If your lyrics don’t come across as genuine, listeners may find it hard to connect with your song. 

To be successful, a song must be able to reach out and touch listeners and make them feel something. This means your song needs to be about something that everyone is familiar with—and your lyrics should be honest, believable and heartfelt so that people can easily relate to them. 

One way to achieve this is to write as if you’re having a one-on-one conversation with the listener. It’s okay to separate contractions, or leave out unimportant words such as ‘that’, if it makes the line sound like it could be spoken naturally. 

“I try to write conversationally,” The Eagles’ Don Henley once said. “I try to write like people speak and put the emphasis on the right syllable.” 

This musical ‘conversation’ requires lyrics that, ideally, should be simple, straight- forward and contemporary. As Don Henley showed in many of his songs, you can still create powerful imagery through devices such as metaphor, simile and personification, but there should be no forced rhymes and no tangled and complex phrases or sentences that don’t make sense to the listener. 

As Emeli Sandé sees it: “You have to be honest and true about what you’re writing, and then that way it resonates with people.” 

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Without realising it, some developing songwriters fail to maintain the same viewpoint throughout their lyrics because they are not consistent in their use of pronouns such as I, Me, We, Us, He, She, Them, They and You. 

Switching pronouns in mid-song can make your lyrics unclear. And if the viewpoint of your song keeps changing in this way, there is a danger that listeners will end up getting confused—and may simply switch off. 

When you start working on a new song, it is important to decide upfront which viewpoint the singer is meant to take when performing the song. Will the singer being singing about himself or herself … or singing about someone else … or singing to someone else? The viewpoint you choose will determine which personal pronouns, subject pronouns, object pronouns, etc. should be used throughout the song. 

The most common mistake is when a writer takes a third person perspective in the first verse (i.e. singing about someone – He, She, Them, They – but not directly to them) and then, in the second verse, shifts either to a first person narrative (I, We, He, She, They, Us), or to a second person viewpoint (i.e. singing directly to a specific person).

If you take a third person perspective in the first verse (‘He did this’ or ‘She did that’), then all subsequent verses should also have a third person viewpoint. 

These days, most songs tend to be in the first person (I, Me, We, Us), with the singer talking to someone else (You) in a conversational style. A song becomes much more personal when ‘You’ and ‘I’ are used. 

Whichever viewpoint you use, however, it is essential to keep your pronouns consistent. Make sure each character in the song is represented by the same pronoun each time, both in the verses and the chorus. Listeners may get confused if, in the middle of the song, someone who was previously addressed as ‘She’ suddenly be- comes ‘You’, or if ‘He’ becomes ‘Me’. 

One exception, though, is the bridge. Some experienced songwriters often deliberately change the viewpoint in the bridge as a means of adding something fresh to the song. But be careful not to cause any confusion if you do shift the lyrical perspective in this way. 

Remember, simplicity and clarity are essential. Stick to a single viewpoint through- out the song, and always make it clear who is doing the talking or thinking. 

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