---
title: 'What Master Songwriters Know About Lyric Writing That You Don’t (But Probably Should)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=kflO3YkWO2w'
video_id: 'kflO3YkWO2w'
date: 2026-07-31
duration_sec: 866
---

# What Master Songwriters Know About Lyric Writing That You Don’t (But Probably Should)

> Source: [What Master Songwriters Know About Lyric Writing That You Don’t (But Probably Should)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=kflO3YkWO2w)

## Summary

In this video, a songwriting educator breaks down how master lyricists like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Bruce Springsteen use rhyme scheme as a structural tool, not just decoration. It explains how patterns create listener expectations and how breaking those patterns makes lyrics more powerful, using detailed examples from well-known songs.

### Key Points

- **The Hidden Secret: Content and Structure** [00:03] — Great lyricists like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Bruce Springsteen understand that lyric writing is equally about content and structure — what you say and how you say it. Most songwriters focus only on the words themselves.
- **Annotating Rhyme Schemes** [00:53] — The video demonstrates annotating rhyme scheme using letters: lines that rhyme get the same letter. A standard ABAB pattern is one of the most common rhyme schemes in popular music.
- **James Taylor's Deliberate Break** [01:18] — What appears to be a standard ABAB verse in 'Sweet Baby James' is actually a purposeful deviation. James Taylor intentionally breaks conventional rhyme patterns, one reason he's considered a master lyricist.
- **Why We Rhyme** [01:46] — Most songwriters rhyme initially for two reasons: copying what they hear in other songs and because it sounds good and is pleasing to the ear. But these reasons miss rhyme's full potential.
- **Pattern Creates Expectation** [03:02] — Given the rhymes 'floor, stairs, door,' the ear expects 'chairs' because repetition establishes a pattern. Pattern creates expectation, and the master songwriter uses that expectation deliberately.
- **Jason Isbell's 'Elephant': Delayed Resolution** [04:58] — Rather than resolving a standard four-line pattern, Isbell extends the scheme: lines leave the open rhyme dangling until line six, making the eventual resolution more profound.
- **Death Cab for Cutie: Eight-Line Arc** [06:12] — 'I Will Follow You into the Dark' uses a true eight-line rhyme scheme with a dangling open rhyme from line four, resolved only at line eight, maximizing tension.
- **Joni Mitchell's 'Blue': Unexpected Resolution** [07:54] — In 'Blue,' Mitchell sets up a pattern the ear expects to resolve one way, then resolves it differently, making the final line 'gather more light' and capturing the listener's attention.
- **Springsteen's 'Highway 29': Breaking the Refrain** [09:07] — Springsteen repeatedly sets up and resolves the refrain 'Highway 29' across the verses. In the final verse, he substitutes 'Then I was flying' for the expected refrain line, creating a dramatic cinematic moment.
- **The Takeaway: Deliberately Break Conventions** [13:09] — Overusing standard couplets and ABAB quatrains makes songs sound like 99% of everything else. Master lyricists use rhyme schemes to create tension, surprise, and emotional resolution.

### Conclusion

Rhyme is not merely a sonic ornament — it is the core mechanism for building pattern, expectation, and emotional payoff in lyrics. The key to master-level writing is to consciously design rhyme schemes that delay resolution, surprise the listener, and break free from clichéd patterns.

## Transcript

Joanie Mitchell, James Taylor, and Bruce Springsteen knew and know something about writing great lyrics that 99% of songwriters completely miss. This particular thing is not about what we say in our lyrics, but rather how we say
it. Because master lyric writers understand an important truth about the art form of lyric writing, which is that it is equally about content and structure. With all of that said, this particular lyricw writing insight is
accessible to anyone once you know what it is and how to use it. So, let's dive in. I want to start by showing you a famous lyric to a classic James Taylor song, Sweet Baby James. Let's break down the
Sweet Baby James. Let's break down the rhyme scheme of this first verse. The way we annotate rhyme scheme is using letters of the alphabet to annotate lines that rhyme with other lines. So in this particular case, what we see is
this particular case, what we see is this is an AB standard rhyme scheme, probably one of the most common. In fact, you've most likely heard it in thousands of other
songs, and I imagine that you even recognize it in your own songs and songwriting. Except, I have a secret. This is not actually how James Taylor wrote it. Here is what the lyric actually is. James Taylor knew exactly
what he was doing. This is no accident. It was a purposeful use of rhyme scheme that breaks the standard and conventional rhyme schemes that 99% of
songwriters default to. And it is one of the reasons that he's considered one of the great lyric writers of the last 100 years. To understand how and why great songwriters break standard patterns of rhyme scheme, it's really important for
us as songwriters to understand why we rhyme in songs at all. What purpose and rhyme in songs at all. What purpose and function does rhyme serve in song? Most songwriters use rhyme in songwriting, at least at the beginning,
for two simple reasons. The first is we are simply replicating what we hear in other songs. When we are learning the art form, we emulate the songs that we love. And song as an art form uses rhyme, so we do too. The second reason
is that once we start doing it, it sounds good. It's fun to do. and it's pleasing to the ear, so we continue doing it. These are good and valid reasons to use rhyme, but they're actually not the point of rhyme and
actually miss the opportunities available to us if we understand what available to us if we understand what rhyme can do in its full potential. Just rhyme can do in its full potential. Just like the master songwriters,
primary functions of rhyme scheme because it will very quickly unlock what rhyme scheme is really there to do and how master songwriters use it. If I give how master songwriters use it. If I give you the following rhymes, floor, stairs,
door, what does your ear naturally expect to hear next? We naturally expect to hear the word chairs or at least something that rhymes with stairs. Why is that? It might feel like I'm a mind readader. How did she know that I was
thinking chairs? Well, I know because we've very quickly established a pattern we've very quickly established a pattern through repetition. And pattern creates expectation. If we fleshed this out into an actual four-line lyric, we could
resolve it in the expected way. And that is what 99% of songwriters do. But it is not what master songwriters do, at least not all of the time. What master lyric
not all of the time. What master lyric writers do, and you can too, is use the writers do, and you can too, is use the expectation that is created through expectation that is created through pattern and repetition to actually do
different things. Not always resolve it in the expected way, but use the in the expected way, but use the expectation to create surprise or use expectation to create surprise or use rhyme scheme to create longer arcs of
tension and release beyond what is available. If all you ever do is the default rhyming couplet or abab quattrains that the vast majority of songwriters just continually default to without ever breaking the pattern. But
it's true to say that we need to see what else is available in order to learn how master lyric writers really think about rhyme scheme and use rhyme scheme about rhyme scheme and use rhyme scheme in these different ways.
Let's take this lyric to the song Elephant by Jason Isbel, one of the great contemporary songwriters and lyric writers of our generation. If Jason Isbel had defaulted to one of the standard rhyme scheme patterns, we might
get something like this. She said, "Andy, you're better than your past, and tonight you're taking me home, winked at me, and drained her glass, but I knew she planned to sleep alone." But that is not what Jason Isbel does in this lyric.
Instead, Jason Isbel understands that rhyme scheme has the potential to create tension. And if we actually draw out the tension, the resolution of that tension
is going to feel so much more satisfying. So instead of a standard four-line pattern, we get the next two lines, neither of which resolve the rhyme scheme, but they do create the pattern. And now our ears are so primed
for the resolving line, which we finally get in line six. When the last line finally does resolve that dangling open rhyme from line three, the resolution is
actually so much more profound and impactful because he has used pattern to make us wait. Just for good measure, let's see this in action in another astoundingly excellent song, the song I will follow you into the dark by Death
Cab for Cutie. In this example, the pattern is even longer. What we see here is that this is a true eight line rhyme scheme. Rather than being a series of couplets or a quattrain that resolves at line four, we're left with a dangling
line four, we're left with a dangling open rhyme sound on line four. And we open rhyme sound on line four. And we don't reach resolution until line 8. and it's waiting for that resolution that makes this whole thing have so much more
tension such that the resolution at the end lands with greater impact. One of the major issues with staying in the comfort zone of always riding in rhyming couplets or abab quat trains is that they are both very balanced which is to
they are both very balanced which is to say they are very even. They repeat as expected and the result is when we get to the end of a rhyming couplet or an to the end of a rhyming couplet or an abab train. They feel very comfortable,
abab train. They feel very comfortable, very stable and very neatly resolved. Master songwriters know that great lyrics do not need to resolve in a lyrics do not need to resolve in a balanced and stable way. In fact, we can
balanced and stable way. In fact, we can use pattern to create an expectation of how something is going to resolve and then deliberately use that expectation to resolve it in a different way entirely. One of my favorite songs of
all time is the song Blue by Joanie Mitchell. And there's so much we could unpack in this particular song, but let's just look at this kind of mini bridge that sits inside the first verse. So, what expectation does this pattern
create? From a pattern perspective, we're probably expecting something like we're probably expecting something like this. Sinking, thinking waves, ass this. Sinking, thinking waves, ass grass, days. But no, instead we get this
beautiful lyric. Instead of resolving the pattern in the expected way set up by the pattern itself, she resolves it differently. And in resolving it differently, the line at the end actually gathers more light. Our
attention is peaked in an interesting and unexpected way because our pattern brain was expecting one thing but we got something else. But you cannot create that effect without understanding that rhyme scheme's primary oral function is
rhyme scheme's primary oral function is the creation of pattern. A related but slightly different example of how a master lyric writer uses pattern and repetition to create expectation and then uses that to deliver something else
creating all this interesting spotlighting effect is the song Highway 29 by Bruce Springsteen. So let's look at the verses of this song. This is a song with no chorus. Instead, it has a refrain line. And that refrain line at
the end of the verses is always highway 29. One of the other really important things that Bruce Springsteen does with rhyme scheme is he sets up the rhyme of 29 a couple of lines before. And we see that happen in the first two verses.
It's such a repeating pattern of rhyme scheme, this setting up of the rhyme and then resolving it with the refrain line that when we get to the last verse of the song, let's see it in action. The scene of this last verse is where we see
these two people, these outlaws, having just robbed a bank and they're careening away in their car. And we get these lyrics. All I could see was snow, sky, and pines. I closed my eyes and I was running. Yeah, I was running down
running. Yeah, I was running down Highway 29. Except that's not what Bruce Springsteen actually does in the last verse. Those are not the lyrics to the last line. Instead, what Bruce Springsteen does is he uses the
expectation that he has created by resolving it in that way in all the resolving it in that way in all the other verses to give us something else. All I could see was snow, sky, and pines. I closed my eyes and I was
running. Yeah, I was running. Then I was flying. Springsteen deliberately uses the expectation that he has created through the pattern of repeating that
rhyme setup and then the refrain line highway 29 to create a moment for us as listeners at the end. He's giving us something other than what we expect to
hear. And instead of that expected refrain line, we get this other line which shows us these characters flying through the windshield. And it's almost like a movie scene that stops as the glass shatters and the bodies are
glass shatters and the bodies are flying. And there's so much drama and momentum in that moment. Not just in the image, but also in the way that he has delivered that line. You cannot achieve something surprising and unexpected like
this and all the emotion that is amplified because of that without creating the expectation. And you can't create the expectation without using pattern. And rhyme schemes are one of the most powerful ways that we create
pattern in the ear of a listener. And knowing that about rhyme schemes is the key to unlocking their power. Writing great lyrics is of course more than just
clever rhyming. But lyrics themselves are by definition not just what we have are by definition not just what we have to say, but also how we say it. How we say it, yes, has a lot to do with melody, which is a subject for another
day. And also there's lots of other hows of lyric writing beyond just rhyme. But, of lyric writing beyond just rhyme. But, and this is a big butt, it is one of the most important features of lyrics, both for songwriters and for listeners. Rhyme
for songwriters and for listeners. Rhyme is how a listener feels ideas is how a listener feels ideas connecting, how they feel, ideas resolving or not resolving, and how we
resolving or not resolving, and how we can create these moments of surprise and can create these moments of surprise and moments of emotion. Rhyme is so key to setting up pattern. And we do ourselves and our songs and our listeners a
disservice when we overuse standard conventional and dare I say cliched rhyme schemes, especially when there's so much more available and it's
not that hard to achieve when you can actually see it happening in other great actually see it happening in other great songs. But we do need to deliberately reach for those other patterns and actually actively practice breaking out
of those standard conventional rhyme schemes that keep our songs sounding like 99% of other songs out there. To help you practice, I've created a free PDF that you can download from the video notes right now. It's a step-by-step
exercise that takes about 20 minutes to complete. It's designed to start with a standard rhyming couplet, but then rework it, develop it, and expand it into these different rhyme scheme to really show you how quickly you can
break out of the mold and start writing things that are surprising to you and want to keep diving even deeper into rhyme scheme, make sure to check out to the video notes to get the link to
want to get songwriting tips and insights straight to your inbox. Happy insights straight to your inbox. Happy songwriting, guys. See you next time.