What makes a good lyric?

Buy Lyrics at Songbay

Buy Lyrics at Songbay?

‘What makes a good lyric’?

Do you want to buy lyrics? Do you want to sell lyrics? If so, ‘you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of them, all of the time’ – as the saying goes.  This applies when selling and buying lyrics at Songbay. What do you want your lyrics to do? Are you trying to appeal to everyone or a niche audience?

In answering the question-‘what makes a good lyric?’, you first have to consider- What’s your definition of good? Good within the musical genre, or good because it’s sold a million copies, or been streamed a zillion times?

There are many things you can consider when looking to buy or sell lyrics at Songbay, so let’s dive straight in…

The Lyric title matters,

If a title is immediately intriguing or controversial, or looks good on a t-shirt, that’s a good way to get people noticing. But ultimately it has to be how to get it stuck into the listeners’ heads – and that normally takes a complimentary degree of synergy with the song’s melody.

A good way to start is to think of which songs spring readily into your own consciousness. You know, when you’re walking somewhere and you find yourself singing a song under your breath.

It could be because a key phrase is repeated multiple times across an easy-to-sing-tune (like the irritating and irresistible ‘Baby Shark’ by Pinkfong – currently at 2 billion+ views on YouTube). Or more credibly by Blur with ‘Girls And Boys’. It could be because a word usage is innovative and leaps out at you (like Toni Braxton’s ‘Unbreak My Heart’, where a new word was invented).

In terms of arguably more ‘artistic’ lyrics, there are ‘list’ songs, where the idea and form of the lyric is repeated and then applied across an entire arrangement (like The Divine Comedy’s ‘Gin-Soaked Boy’) or lyrics that deliver a compelling story with strong characterisation from the vocalist/s, like the all-conquering ‘Fairytale of New York’ by Kirsty MacColl & The Pogues.

Unless some intentional irony is required, it makes sense to ensure the lyric content matches or works with the melody and harmony. Surprisingly, when reviewing lyrics for sale at Songbay, this is not always the case.

For the broadest possible appeal, it’s widely suggested that a lyric should have what’s known as ‘everyman’ appeal. In other words, to possess the ability to be related to by listeners from all walks of life. If a lyric appears to be about the intricacies involved in choosing the right brand of vintage champagne (with lots of specific brewing terminology), not many people are likely to be able to relate to it.,,,,(yes we’ve received such lyrics!). If, however, a lyric talks of selecting the kind of wines you like as a metaphor for finding the right life partner, then that’s a lot more relatable. If you want to buy lyrics at Songbay, you should relate to them personally – if you don’t, how do you expect someone else to?

Personification technique when writing lyrics

Personification is a technique for  giving human qualities to non human objects.

It’s smart to look at lyrics that you like, and having a think about why you like them. Sometimes lyrics are written from the perspective of inanimate objects, or animals, or aliens – these third parties are often personifications that are used to make a point about something else. A red race car is an obvious personification of desire, for example – and perhaps it had a crash that led to it discovering a new perspective…

Other Examples:
The  smiling moon, a jovial sun, a lonely road, the  sad ocean, etc

Where to buy lyrics? where lyrics have personality! Personification can help bring  a lyric to ‘life’!! 🙂

Similes – no not smiles 🙂  !

The use of adjectives and comparisons are often the meat to a very tasty lyric sandwich. Similes that are immediately relatable feel both poetic and conversational: ‘she was all heels and mojitos, he was as quiet as the grave’. Using language to help the listener paint images in their own minds can be great.

Immediacy helps, too. When writing the lyric ‘Mars & Venus’ (https://www.westonemusic.com/results/tracks/tid_92f820feece6d2c7), I tried to hook the listener on the first two lines with a narrative that they would want to hear the development of. Mars and Venus are personifications of War and Love/man and woman – and I describe the two protagonists of the lyric in these terms, and describe the differences and tensions (the space) between them.

Ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so’s a good lyric. There aren’t really any hard-and-fast rules, but the above will give you some good places to start.

Why not find and buy a great lyric today at Songbay  Sell lyrics/Buy Lyrics >>

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