How to Write Song Lyrics
By Molly-Ann Leikin
SONGWRITING COACH & MARKETEER
A lyric is what we sing. It is the words to a song.
In contemporary song lyrics, we sing what we feel, preferably, in a way that hasn’t been said before. When writing a song lyric, your first instinct might be to use some words you’ve heard over and over in other songs, thinking that’s what a lyricist does.
Not.
Your job as you write song lyrics is to tell us something new – something only you can tell us because nobody but you is you.
You have a fingerprint that’s unique and different from that of anybody else on the planet. So write your fingerprint.
Most song lyrics are love songs. The words are some version of I miss you, I wish, I wish you hadn’t left, I’m desperate for you to come back, stay away forever, I’ve filed a restraining order, or maybe just come by on Wednesdays.
Of course, if you want to write about windy wildflowers tumbling down a spring mountainside, write that one. But maybe you could make the lyric to that song a love song, too, by adding that you are hoping to bring your sweetheart to this beautiful place, or remember when you were there together.
Some people who want to know how to write song lyrics repeat tired phrases they’ve heard in other songs, thinking that’s what they are supposed to do. NOT. They don’t know yet that their job, like yours, is to tell us something new. So if you are writing that you need somebody, I hope you’ll avoid a cliché like “I need you like roses need rain.” When I hear a cliché like that, I quickly fast forward to the next song on YouTube, and music publishers, plus record label personnel, delete your cliché’d work altogether.
Remember: tell us something new.
Every day, several times a day, I ask my private lyric-writing clients, as well as all determined new lyricists, to ask themselves three tough questions about their lyrics:
Have I heard this before?
If so, could I make it a little different?
If not, could I write something else.
I realize how hard those answers are. But as professional songwriters, it’s better to catch the weaknesses in our lyrics before we send them out into the world, than get feedback from people who could open doors for us, saying the lyrics to your songs are mediocre at best.
When my clients as me how to write song lyrics, I ask them to write their fingerprint – saying what only they can say because nobody but them has their unique fingerprint.
Every day I hear from songwriters who want to know how to write song lyrics, that they feel their words – no matter how brilliant - are insignificant – that nobody pays attention to what they say. But I look at it this way: were it not for the lyrics you write, nobody would ever need a singer. Ever. All those talented vocalists would be instantly replaced by trombones.
Who wants that?
I urge my private students to write whatever is in their hearts. I tell each of them to get it all out, onto a piece of paper. It’s like purging their hearts and brains of everything they are feeling. While doing this purge, there are no wrong answers. Everything is perfect.
Honest.
Will you try it for me?
Before I ever start writing a song lyric, I make a fast list of everything I want to say on the subject of my song. Again, there are no wrong answers. If my song lyric is about oranges, I may scribble down all the different varieties – naval, California, Florida, Israel. Maybe you bought your orange at a supermarket, a farmer’s market, picked one off a neighbor’s tree when the neighbor wasn’t looking. Maybe your orange really wants to be a tangerine. Or a kumquat. Or a lemon. Or even an apple. Maybe a truck.
See? Using your imagination, anything and everything is possible.
Then, using some or all of the information from your purge list, write the story of the lyric. For review, a story, like a lyric, has a beginning, a middle and an end. It answers the five W’s plus how: who, where, what, when, why, how. When you have answered all six questions, then you have a story to tell. If you only have four answers, your story will suffer.
The same is true with a news item, an episode of TV, a story in a newspaper, or a movie. If you want to check, to see if I’m telling tall tales, keep track next time you watch a film.
I’m going to tell you two stories:
a. A boy had a dog, the dog ran away, a boy had a dog, the dog ran away, a boy had a dog, the dog ran away. (This answers two questions: who, what. Not much of a story.)
b. A boy had a dog, the dog ran away, the boy was terrified, he called the pound, he called the police, he hung signs on every tree and telephone pole in the neighborhood. He rode up and down, up and down every street in the neighborhood, calling the dog’s name, day after day after day. Finally, he gave up, knowing he’d never see his pet again, flung himself on his bed, cried himself to sleep – and woke up with the dog licking his face. This story answered all six questions. See how much more interesting it is?
That’s the kind of story to write – not about a boy and his missing dog, of course, but with lots of details. Then the audience can hear your lyric, but see it, too. That appeals to two senses, and has greater impact.
I hope you’ve learned how to write song lyrics. Part two is coming soon.
© 2022 Molly Leikin
Songmd.com