Love of the Language
To write effective lyrics, you need to have a love of the language you’re writing in. You should enjoy word play and celebrate the little victories that come with writing a song. It’s due to a love of language that many of the poetic devices mentioned previously exist. Often it’s a turn of the phrase that connects with a listener.
Do you enjoy writing? Not just songwriting, but writing in general? How about reading? You can learn to appreciate great writers and in turn aspire to emulate them in numerous ways . One obvious way is listening to your favorite songwriters and thinking about what makes them great but for now just focus on their words.
Another way is to read some great authors. The more you appreciate great writing, the better lyrics you’ll write. If you’re watching a great movie think about the screenplay. Is the dialogue believable? Does it flow in a natural way? Can you for periods of time forget your watching a movie? “After the Gold Rush” by Neil Young was inspired by a film he saw.
There are resources all around you where you can learn, if you’re perceptive enough to see them. Take the world you see and try to capture a little corner of it in a song!
The Concept Song Lyrics
Concept Songs are those in which the song lyrics have an overall theme to it that’s very specific.
One type of a conceptual song is a List Song. What is a List Song? It’s when the lyrics in the song consist of a list as in Bob Dylan’s song “Everything is Broken. You can hear the song HERE.
Here’s the first verse…
Broken lines, broken strings
Broken threads, broken springs
Broken idols, broken heads
People sleeping in broken beds
Ain’t no use jiving, ain’t no use joking
Everything is broken
The song of mine that uses this List Song concept is “We Were Blind”. It’s more or less a list of things I would/should/could have said. Here are the first couple of verses…
Verse 1
I should never got that blue tattoo
It’s like a scar that was left by you
Maybe half of what you said was true
But in the end it didn’t matter
Verse 2
You should have never called me from Molene
Late at night on that Halloween
A fading voice from a faded dream
And one that’s torn and tattered
Each verse is based on a different regret
Concept songs are not limited to List Songs. They can include songs like George Harrison’s “Old Brown Shoe”. The lyrics in that song have a theme of opposites throughout the song. Let’s give it a listen HERE.
Here’s the first verse…
I want a love that’s right
But right is only half of what’s wrong
I want a short haired girl
Who sometimes wears it twice as long
Now I’m stepping out this old brown shoe
Baby, I’m in love with you
I’m so glad you came here, it won’t be the same now
I’m telling you
Can you spot the opposites?
There are an endless variety of Concept Songs so have fun with trying to write your own.
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Jim Bruno's Songwriting Class 