[00:02] of lyrics inside your songs and actually any song that you listen to that listeners will naturally pay more attention to and as songwriters if we attention to and as songwriters if we know what these lines of lyrics are and
[00:17] how to use them we can drastically improve the quality of our lyric writing even in the next 10 minutes in this video I'm going to introduce you to a lyric writing concept that is truly trans formative and the best news about
[00:31] it is that once you've learned what it is and how to use it it makes writing great lyrics so much easier we'll start by looking at some lyrics straight away so that you can immediately see the power and impact of this one concept and
[00:47] then in the second half of the video I'm going to take you through two exercises to help you put the concept into practice straight away so that you can practice straight away so that you can start writing better lyrics right now
[01:03] same section side by side here with one key difference and all I want you to do as you're reading through the two different versions is check in with yourself and just ask yourself which one of these do I connect with more
[01:17] emotionally more strongly which one am I more invested in here we go you asked to walk me home but I had to carry you and you pushed me in past the porch light buzzing blue you asked to walk me home but I had to
[01:33] carry you and you pushed me in and now my feet can't touch the bottom of you this is actually the first verse to a Phoebe Bridges song moon song It's a
[01:45] Beautiful song and a Beautiful lyric and what I've done is I've gone in and tinkered with the last line a little bit I've still kept it relatively evocative it's something that any songwriter might actually put on the page but when we
[01:59] compare to the Phoebe Bridges lyric we can see that she totally understands this concept and the concept is called Power positions so what is a power
[02:11] Power positions so what is a power position a power position is a line of lyric that because of its place inside the structure of a section naturally draws more of the attention of a listener natural power positions are
[02:28] listener natural power positions are always the first line and importantly always the first line and importantly here the last line the last line of any section whether it's a verse a precourse or a chorus or any other type of section
[02:41] has a very specific role to play a very specific Spotlight and what that specific Spotlight and what that Spotlight is is it contains the most emotional weight it's a very emotional Spotlight a listener experiences the
[02:57] last line of any section as your concluding remark it's the line that concluding remark it's the line that feels like it tells us the purpose or the reason why we've just heard everything else in the section the cool
[03:12] thing about lastline power positions is that Spotlight exists whether we want it to or not so whatever we put in that line is going to feel like it's more emotional but our jobs as songwriters armed with this information is to to
[03:29] armed with this information is to to actually put an idea or a line into that Spotlight that truly deserves that level of Illumination so in this BB Bridges song she has put the line and now my feet can't touch the bottom of you that
[03:46] is an absolutely beautiful line in and of itself and that is why it's in the power position imagine if she had tried to start the section with that line it would be an interesting line but it would not have the same emotional impact
[04:02] that we feel because she has saved it for that big powerful Spotlight at the end of the section let's look at another example of power positions in action
[04:14] inside the incredibly beautiful song River by joury Mitchell as I'm showing you this example I'm actually going to show you my alternative version First where I've tinkered with that last line and then I'm going to show you what
[04:29] joury Mitchell actually does so you can really feel the impact of when a songwriter who understands power positions targets that power position with an incredibly powerful line containing emotional weight it's coming
[04:45] on Christmas they're cutting down trees they're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace oh I never get tired of the glittering
[04:57] tired of the glittering cheer it's coming on Christmas they're cutting down trees they're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace oh I wish I had a river I could
[05:10] skate away on hopefully you can really feel the now it's not that I've deliberately tried to write some terrible lyric there what I've done is I've actually continued the pattern that she set up so
[05:24] the pattern she set up is kind of painting the picture of a winter Christmas landscape so what I've done is kind of continued the thought and just said you know I never get tired of it which implies look
[05:37] how lovely and beautiful it is but that is not what Joanie Mitchell does in the is not what Joanie Mitchell does in the actual song the thought that she puts in her power position is one of wishing that she could escape from it all so
[05:50] there's an element of surprise in that line because the first lines sound like a lovely Christmas winter landscape but the actual emotional thought or feeling that she's trying to express is one of wishing that she could Escape all of
[06:06] that so placing that line in the last line power position amplifies the emotional impact of that emotional statement again remember the spotlight
[06:18] is there whether we want it to be or not so in my version of the song there's still a spotlight on the line that I wrote it still feels like that is the point of the section that everything was culminating to this emotional idea that
[06:33] I never get tired of it and the spotlight will actually amplify the emotion of that line so the spotlight is there but a songwriter like Janie there but a songwriter like Janie Mitchell knows how to use the spotlight
[06:47] to make sure that you're putting a line that really deserves the spotlight let's look at one more example now in a lyric that I mocked up for the purposes of demonstrating this to you so one of the reasons this is helpful is because we're
[07:00] going to start transitioning from merely observing it in action in in great songs that are already great songs and great lyrics and starting to transform the concept into something usable that we can put into action in our own lyric
[07:13] writing right now so here is a quick four-line section tulips are braided into her hair in the fading light of the day she's smiling wide on the outside
[07:26] day she's smiling wide on the outside barbecue smoke rising up in the air so again it's relatively evocative there's a scene there's imagery there's probably a little movie in your mind you might also be curious about this girl
[07:39] who has tulips braided into her hair but let's Now activate this concept of power positions and really think about that last line as a line that we can fill with some kind of emotional detail that is going to draw a listener into the
[07:56] story Into the world of the character and really make them more emotionally and really make them more emotionally connected to what's going on here tulips are braided into her hair in the fading light of the day she's smiling wide on
[08:09] light of the day she's smiling wide on the outside if anyone knew would they the outside if anyone knew would they care so here we have a question and the question raises a question right in the ear of a listener we now lean forward as
[08:23] listeners and go oh if anyone knew what there's something going on here so we've connected this idea of this kind of nice scene there's tulips in her hair there's the fading light she's smiling on the outside but there's something else going
[08:39] on so when we use that power position to introduce material like that suddenly it's not just a scene of barbecue and tulips and the nice Sunset something
[08:51] emotional is going on and as listeners were drawn in to the story at the end of the video I might also work that lyric into a Melody which I haven't done yet but I also want to demonstrate that it's not just words on the page that we can
[09:06] really set this to a melody and and bring it to Life as a song so you'll video to see that one in action one quick note here is that I've created a free pdf that you can download that is a revision checklist so the revision
[09:20] checklist includes power positions but also so much more so it's a revision checklist covering lyrics chords Melody and song form that you can work through to really take a song draft and really turn it into something excellent so if
[09:36] the link in the notes and you can download that for free right practical ways that we can take this knowledge that we now have about power
[09:53] positions and really start to turn it into great lyrics and great lyric writing and transform the quality of our lyrics straight away the first way that we can put this knowledge into action straight away is simply in the process
[10:08] of revision so we write a song we write our sections and then we bring out the revision tool of power positions and we look at a section through the lens of
[10:20] power positions and ask ourselves firstly is there already a line inside firstly is there already a line inside the section that actually deserves to be in the last line power position so let me tell you a quick story about this the
[10:35] time that I learned this lesson so profoundly that it stayed with me for the rest of my life so 20 years ago when I was a student at the Berkeley College I was a student at the Berkeley College of Music I went to a song feedback
[10:48] professors was there giving feedback very generously and I played this song for him the song Last Call and the final for him the song Last Call and the final verse of this song initially was this
[11:02] you're sitting inside an empty room An Empty Bottle lying on the floor you're starting to see it's the Whiskey Drinking you not you drinking it
[11:14] anymore when feedback rolled around this teacher said to me you know that line the whiskey is drinking you that's a good line and I thought I know I was so
[11:26] excited about it and then he asked me a follow-up question which was why isn't it in the power position and I said what's a power
[11:38] position and he explained to me power positions are lines that draw natural attention from a listener because they are either the first line or the last are either the first line or the last line and a line like that deserves to be
[11:52] line and a line like that deserves to be in the last line power position so we reworked the section together and it ended up like like this you're sitting inside an empty room An Empty Bottle lying there too you're seeing now it's
[12:05] lying there too you're seeing now it's not you drinking but the whiskey that's drinking you I hope that you can feel how that you I hope that you can feel how that one small revision makes about
[12:19] 500% worth of difference to that section it puts the line of most emotional it puts the line of most emotional weight and interest into the spotlight the second practical way that we can implement the knowledge of power
[12:36] position straight away is through a process called reverse engineering once we understand the concept of power positions which we now all do we can positions which we now all do we can start to identify certain lines of lyric
[12:52] that we write or collect that we're just writing in a notebook that don't have a writing in a notebook that don't have a specific home yet a song we can now identify whether that line might actually be the last line to a section
[13:07] instead of for example the first line to a section for example let's say I have written or collected from the outside world a line like this this body of mine
[13:20] has an end so this is pretty typical this is a line that I might just write down and it it feels like it it resonates it connects emotionally it's something that I could
[13:32] spin into a whole song but I don't know whether this idea is in the chorus or if it's something else but one thing I know for sure because I understand the
[13:44] concept of power positions which you do too now is that this line is going to be better served as an endline power position rather than the opening line of
[13:56] a song If I were to put that line as the first line it simply wouldn't mean anything emotional it might mean something cognitive it's understandable it's intelligible but it's not going to be emotional so the way to do this in a
[14:13] practical sense is simply in a note dock or however you write your lyrics rather than writing this line at the top of the page write it at the bottom of the page and then reverse engineer the section so the question now becomes not not what
[14:30] the question now becomes not not what comes next but instead what comes before so in having a quick think about a line like this my instinct is to do something like this my instinct is to do something like stack the lines before it with
[14:43] imagery that is contrasting very much like the joany Mitchell song we could approach it in a way where that last line actually pivots to something else so what I might do is look for imagery that implies things that last forever so
[14:58] that when I get to that power position it's really going to feel like it's introducing an emotional idea that is unexpected so here is my attempt at this and I fully encourage you to try the same and if you're brave enough to write
[15:14] a couple of lines ending with this power position feel free to post them in the comments the Stars will always burn holes in the night forests will fall and Grow Again the moon will always tug on the tides but this body of mine has an
[15:31] the tides but this body of mine has an end power positions is such a powerful Concept in lyric writing and it's one of those Concepts that if we understand how those Concepts that if we understand how much more impact those lines have what
[15:45] it means is that we should be spending a disproportionate amount of our attention as songwriters on making sure that the lines that end up there deserve to be lines that end up there deserve to be there and also helping us identify when
[15:59] we have lines of lyric randomly in a notebook which of those lines might notebook which of those lines might actually be fit for a power position and I'm often asked inside the feedback sessions and workshops that we run
[16:13] inside our membership Community if there are other specific tools that we can work through to revise a song to actually make the draft of a song
[16:25] systematically and methodically better and that absolutely is so again I've created a free downloadable revision checklist which you can grab right now by clicking the link in the show notes
[16:38] below and this video has all been about the last line power positions and if you're interested in understanding firstline power positions along with specific strategies and techniques for writing compelling first lines check out
[16:55] writing compelling first lines check out this video right here
[17:10] Two Lips Are bra into her hair in the fading light of the day hair in the fading light of the day she's smiling white on the she's smiling white on the outside if anybody knew what they care