How to write the perfect lyric?
What is a lyric?
In order to write a perfect lyric, It’s important to realise what a lyric is , or rather what it is not. A lyric is NOT a song.
Often people use the word ‘lyric’ and ‘song’ interchangeably. This is not accurate.
A lyric is NOT a song, in the same way a poem is not a lyric, nor a song, (just to cloud the issue further, people also confuse poems with lyrics and songs) but we’ll stick with lyrics for now!
A lyric is one part of a song. It ONLY becomes a song once music has been added to it. When this happens, it takes on a new life. The lyric becomes three dimensional: it is woven into a melody, harmony and rhythm. It then becomes something greater than itself – it becomes alive!
This process is often overlooked by inexperienced lyricists who, having created some lines of words, think they have also created a song. Not so.
When creating a lyric, it is vital to have an awareness of how the lyric is going to work in a song and what its role should be. This awareness, or lack of, is a common issue we encounter when reviewing lyrics for sale at SongBay
When writing a lyric, at the outset, the lyricist must direct some thought towards the following:
- Scansion- This is absolutely vital. This is a technical term used to describe the natural rhythm/groove/speed emanating from the words. A correctly structured lyric will produce a smooth reoccurring metric unit of words, that will flow smoothly and naturally from one phrase to another.
- The Song itself- How are the words going to work/interact with other instruments, singers, melodies, and harmonies? Are the words appropriate for the genre? It’s also a good idea to have an awareness of the type of melody or rhythm that might work with the words.
When these things are in place at the composing stage, the task of writing music for the lyric is much clearer, the finished song is much stronger.
By contrast, poems are standalone works that are not usually created to be joined with music, so not all of the above points are required at the divising stage.
How to write a bad lyric?!
Often we receive lyrics where none of these things have been considered – we receive lyrics with an uneven number of words from one section/line to the next, with uneven syllable and phrase lengths, sometimes without definable song sections (verses, choruses, bridges etc). Sometimes we receive lyrics without repeating choruses or hooks, or with over complex/ultra long choruses; It’s impossible to make a catchy hook from a long chorus! In such examples, what we actually have are sections of text, more akin to essays than a lyrics.
The Four Golden rules for lyric writing:
1. Keep things EVEN!
80% percent of mainstream commercial pop music is written with four beats to each bar (4/4) time; meaning the music is divisible by 4. This needs to be considered when writing pop lyrics. If you write lyric sections (verses, chorus, bridges, etc) that are grouped into 4 or 8 lines, they will work very well. If you write sections with odd line lengths, for example, 3, 5 or 7 lines, they will NOT fit at all well rhythmically.
Exactly the same rule applies to the amount of words or syllables required per subdivision ( bar or measure ). If the music is in 4/4/ time, i.e., 4 beats to a bar, then 4 or 8 or even 2 syllables to a bar, will work perfectly well.
In another example, lets suppose you are writing a lyric for a slow Gospel song (such songs are often written in a 6 beats to a bar (measure), the lyric needs to be written with this sub division in mind. So in this example, 6 syllables per bar (measure) would work perfectly. You could also double or half the syllables in some bars, (3 or 12 ), and this too would work equally well.
2. Don’t write too much!
The average three and half minute modern commercial song contains around 200 words. This doesn’t sound like that many, but there’s a very good reason for this- The words have to be framed musically. For example, musical space needs to be left for a musical introduction (averaging 10-15 seconds in length). Musical space (‘interlude’) also needs to be left between verses and choruses (averaging 5-10 seconds each), and similarly for any middle, bridge, or solo sections. These little musical interludes are vital to successful song structuring and have to be considered into the overall running time of a lyric.
Example lyric lengths:
- ‘Born to Run’ by Bruce Springsteen has 281 words.
- ‘Nothing Like The Sun’ by Sting 206 words
- The Beatles ‘Let It Be’ 139 words.
Sometimes users send us lyrics that are over 400 words in length, expecting them to work with a modern pop or country song. To put this into context, an average academic essay is around 400-600 words, so instead of a lyric, we are receiving an essay. If the lyricists is wanting a fairly slow song in additional to lots of words, we can easily be looking a song length of around seven minutes, plus!!
To give an indication of this in practice. Lets take an average verse, and multiply it by 4, at a medium tempo of 100-120 beats per minute, with the appropriate ‘musical framing’ in place (mentioned previously), i.e., intros, choruses, musical interludes, etc, we will easily have a running time of 6 mins and above. More than 4 verses, and an extra contrasting bridge will be required to add musical contrast, this also adds length- we then start getting into the 7 mins pus territory. If the song also happens to be a ballad, we then start heading towards the 8 min plus mark!
3. Don’t write long choruses!
A chorus should be the memorable, it is the catchy refrain or hook-the main focus point of the song. This is the section that listeners remember, the bit we need them to hear over and over in their head!
If the chorus is too long, the listeners won’t remember it! If the chorus rambles on and on, so does the rest of the song!
4. Don’t write choruses with different words!
This is related to the previous point. The whole purpose of a chorus is to make our listener remember our song. Its fine to change the odd word, but If you write choruses that are completely different from each other, as clever as that may seem, you are simply asking the listener to forget your chorus- not good!
How to write a good lyric?
Writing lyrics – the best free lesson we can give you!
When writing lyrics, it’s really good practice to work with a metronome or click track from the outset. This will help you to achieve a rhythmic flow to your lyric. Try speaking your words to the constant click of a metronome. Ask yourself: do these words flow naturally of the tongue? Can you imagine them as part of a verse or chorus? Are there better word choices? Do some of the words seem to stick out unnaturally or appear much longer than others? Do they actually rhyme? Do not think that rhyming is cliché – 95% of pop songs rhyme.
Another golden rule, keep things simple (often the more straightforward the text, the greater the meaning for the listener) especially after the melodies and rich harmonies (chord progressions) have been added.
Once you are fairly happy with your lyric, it’s really good practice to record yourself (or someone else) narrating your words – just a simple voice memo will suffice. Take a really good listen, a critical listen over a period of a few days. Memorise your words, listen out for the natural pitch variations of your words (some will be higher in pitch than others) – from this you can often hear the emergence of a groove or even a melody.
If you follow these steps when composing your lyric, you will be well on the way to creating a fantastic lyric to work in a song.
If you need help turning your lyrics into a complete song, with instruments, vocals and top production, please see our – Lyric to Song service >>
To summarise
It’s important to remember what a lyric is and what it is not,
When writing a lyric, use the techniques we have talked about here. You will then have a very clear idea of the direction of travel of your lyric and be well on your way to turning it into a fantastic song! **
If you would like us to add music to one of your lyrics, please use our lyric-to-song service at Songbay.
