Furniture
In songwriting there is a term we refer to called “furniture”. It’s a simple concept and can help anchor your song in the real world. When you look at lyrics, especially in your own songs, are they only taking place in your mind? Is it all about emotion? Well to take your lyrics out of this cerebral and into the real world try using “furniture”.
Okay, enough already! I’m ready to use “furniture”. What is it? “Furniture” is when a lyricist puts real world imagery in a song. Some examples of this would be the name of a city, a certain dress your lover wore, a brand name, type of car, anything that’s other than emotional and cerebral. Something that takes the listener out of your head and into the tangible world we live in.
Vocabulary
How important is a big vocabulary in songwriting? My feeling is that a big vocabulary in some cases can be a detriment. One needs to be careful to stay focused on who your audience is. Are you going lose them with a five dollar word? Remember, our goal as songwriters is not to impress our audience with our abilities but to communicate with them. If we lose sight of that, we lose them.
That said, a good vocabulary can help a lot with rhyming. And one really needs to have a love of the language to really write great lyrics.
Page 3/12
Jim Bruno's Songwriting Class 