Bruce Springsteen

Making Imagery an Important Part of Your Lyric

Like so many things in the creative arts, imagery is difficult to define with any kind of precision. Of course you could say that imagery in songwriting is, simply, anything that creates images in the mind of the listener. But to me, there’s more to it, because practically anything you write will create images. In […]

Don McLean - American Pie

Helping Your Audience Connect to a Complicated Story Song

When you write lyrics, you obviously want your audience to connect to those lyrics and feel something. That would seem to imply that the meaning of your lyric has to be at least clear enough that your listeners understand what’s being sung about. But that’s not necessarily the case. There are plenty of good examples […]

Songwriting - List

Being Creative With Word Lists, For Better Lyrics

Most songwriters know the benefits that come with creating a word list when writing song lyrics. And though there are several ways this can be done, most lyricists will create a simple list of words that pertain to the song’s topic. The benefit of doing this is that you establish a vocabulary that makes searching […]

Writing song lyrics

Avoid These Dangerous Lyrical Clichés

A cliché is an overused expression. We use them most frequently in casual conversation, and it’s why they might appear too often in your songs: the best lyrics tend to be the ones that sound like casual conversation. In songwriting, a cliché sounds lazy. It sounds as though you might have come up with something […]

Songwriter writing lyrics

Creating Rhymes In Your Word Lists

Words and music need to act as partners in a song, but how do you make sure your melody is helping your lyric? That’s what Chapter 5 of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” deals with. Get that eBook as part of the 10-eBook Bundle, or purchase it separately. One of the reasons that creating word […]

Writing word lists for song lyrics

Creating Word Lists: It Can Give You More Than Lyric Ideas

If you find that writing lyrics takes you a long time, creating word lists can be a big help. By building lists of words, you’re creating a vocabulary that speeds up the process of trying to find the right words: they’re probably all there in front of you, somewhere in your list. Word lists can […]