[0:00] do you ever listen to the lyrics of
[0:01] songs you love and just think how did
[0:03] they do that like you can't even imagine
[0:05] how the songwriter arrived at that turn
[0:08] of phrase It's so normal to feel like in
[0:10] our own lyrics that we're just flapping
[0:12] around in the shallow pool of mediocrity
[0:14] but in this video I'm gonna
[0:17] I mean I've simple and Powerful
[0:22] ever written one of the most important
[0:24] techniques is all about understanding
[0:25] that there are some lines of lyrics in
[0:28] your song structure that are way more
[0:30] important than other lines and these are
[0:31] called Power positions and in technique
[0:34] number five I'm going to explain to you
[0:36] what they are where they are and how to
[0:39] use them number one extending metaphors
[0:41] a metaphor is when we describe one thing
[0:44] through the lens of some other object
[0:46] and it's in that area of overlap where
[0:49] we actually get the metaphor so if I say
[0:52] anger is a storm it's the ways in which
[0:55] we connect those two images or ideas
[0:57] where the metaphor actually emerges but
[1:00] the real fun of metaphor and where your
[1:03] best lyrics are gonna come out is the
[1:05] ways in which you extend that initial
[1:08] metaphor so angry as a storm might be
[1:10] interesting in and of itself but it's
[1:12] going to be even more interesting if I
[1:15] spend 10 minutes developing that
[1:17] metaphor let me give you an example
[1:19] anger is a storm the clouds of your mind
[1:23] gather darkening your eyes your words
[1:26] are lightning striking out at the
[1:29] nearest touch Point your voice swells
[1:32] and Spills and I Harden like ice my dark
[1:35] glances rumble on the horizon of our
[1:38] days what you can see that I've done
[1:39] there is I've just spent five or ten
[1:41] minutes extending the metaphor by using
[1:44] words and images related to storm to
[1:48] describe and expand on the idea of anger
[1:51] here is a piece of lyric writing magic
[1:53] after you do this for five or ten
[1:56] minutes you just pick out the best bits
[1:58] and the thing with metaphor is it's easy
[2:00] to go too far so we don't want to use
[2:02] every single thing we've come up with we
[2:04] just want to pick the few lines or ideas
[2:07] that really stand out so here we could
[2:09] create something quite quickly like this
[2:11] the clouds of your mind gather again
[2:13] words start spilling out and I get stuck
[2:17] here in your rain hardening like ice in
[2:20] fact actually leaving out the end
[2:22] initial metaphor that started the whole
[2:24] thing can actually result in lines that
[2:26] are even better than if we had included
[2:28] that first metaphor anger is a storm one
[2:31] of the reasons for this is that it's
[2:33] actually a way to invite a listener in
[2:35] to the world of your song by allowing
[2:37] them to connect the dots for themselves
[2:40] and when people do that there's this
[2:42] crazy release of dopamine that happens
[2:44] and it actually creates a feeling of
[2:46] connection with a listener when they're
[2:49] allowed to actually figure things out
[2:50] for themselves one of my favorite
[2:52] examples of this comes from the Arnie
[2:54] DeFranco song school night she went over
[2:56] to his apartment clutching her decision
[2:58] and he said did you come here to tell me
[3:00] goodbye so she built a skyscraper of
[3:03] procrastination and then she leaned out
[3:06] the 25th floor window of her reply so
[3:08] here is the action step for you the
[3:10] songwriting exercise is to come up with
[3:13] five different interesting initial
[3:15] metaphors and you can use a random word
[3:18] generator like perchance.org and I've
[3:21] included a link to that in the notes
[3:22] below so come up with five interesting
[3:25] combinations like jealousy is a kitchen
[3:27] the conversation was a security
[3:29] checkpoint growing older is an elephant
[3:31] and for each one of these five
[3:33] interesting combinations spend five or
[3:35] ten minutes extending the metaphor
[3:38] making sure that you are using words
[3:40] phrases and images that are related to
[3:43] the metaphor image so if I'm using
[3:45] jealousy is a kitchen kitchen is the
[3:48] metaphor image I'm really talking about
[3:49] jealousy but I'm going to use language
[3:52] related to Kitchen to paint that picture
[3:54] another great way to practice this is of
[3:56] course to listen to some great songs
[3:57] that actually do this inside the lyrics
[3:59] of the songs and here are a few examples
[4:01] Golden by Jill Scott Circle games by
[4:03] Joni Mitchell she Burns by Foy Vance
[4:06] Take Me to Church by Hozier number two
[4:08] upgrading verbs certain words in the
[4:11] English language are way more powerful
[4:13] than other words and I'm not talking
[4:15] about like Expelliarmus I'm talking
[4:18] about the difference between verbs
[4:21] adjectives and adverbs there are so many
[4:24] wonderful writers who have given this
[4:26] advice to me and the world for example
[4:28] Jeff Tweedy in his lovely little book
[4:30] how to write one song says this about
[4:33] adverbs you don't need to say the dog
[4:34] barked loudly loudly is implied and
[4:37] adding it actually weakens the bark and
[4:40] of course the famous Stephen King quote
[4:42] the road to hell is paved with adverbs
[4:45] and I would like to add to that by
[4:46] saying the road to hell is also paved
[4:48] with adjectives adjectives and adverbs
[4:51] generally tend to do nothing but weaken
[4:53] your language and expression as opposed
[4:56] to verbs which are really the PowerHouse
[5:00] of the English language verbs obviously
[5:02] convey action but they do so much more
[5:04] they can convey image mood tone emotion
[5:08] and attitude let's look at an example
[5:10] here if I have a line of lyric like she
[5:12] walked into the room walked is my verb
[5:16] let's see what happens when I simply do
[5:19] the act of replacing that fairly generic
[5:22] verb with something slightly more
[5:25] interesting she slid into the room she
[5:29] slithered into the room she flowed into
[5:32] the room one thing to notice is that
[5:34] when we analyze the lyrics to songs and
[5:36] songwriters who are great lyric writers
[5:39] we tend to see the general absence of
[5:41] adjectives and adverbs let's check out
[5:43] the song motion sickness by Phoebe
[5:45] Bridges I hate you for what you did and
[5:47] I miss you like a little kid I faked it
[5:49] every time but that's all right I can
[5:51] hardly feel anything I hardly feel
[5:53] anything at all you gave me 1500 to see
[5:56] your hypnotherapist I only went one time
[5:59] you let it slide fell on hard times a
[6:01] year ago was hoping you would let it go
[6:03] and you did
[6:05] literally the only adjective in this
[6:07] entire lyric is the word hard and in
[6:10] this case hard is actually part of the
[6:12] expression hard times it wouldn't work
[6:14] to just say times so hard here is barely
[6:17] an adjective at all because it's part of
[6:19] an expression there are basically no
[6:21] adjectives and not a single adverb here
[6:24] is your songwriting call to action and
[6:26] this call to action has Two Steps step
[6:28] one is to go through the draft of any
[6:32] lyrics that you're writing to songs
[6:33] you're working on and literally just
[6:36] cross out any adjectives or adverbs that
[6:39] are inside the lyric there might be some
[6:42] adjectives that absolutely need to be
[6:44] there so for example in the Bruno major
[6:46] lyric nothing the very first line is
[6:49] tracksuits and red wine movies for two
[6:51] we need the word red there red is
[6:54] actually important red wine has a
[6:56] different connotation to white wine or
[6:58] even just wine it paints a picture of a
[7:01] certain type of person and a certain
[7:03] type of moment but we certainly don't
[7:05] need floral red wine step two is to go
[7:08] through a draft of your lyric and
[7:10] underline every single verb that you use
[7:13] throughout the course of your lyric and
[7:15] the task here is to pick one verb per
[7:18] section and upgrade that verb to
[7:21] something more interesting just a quick
[7:23] note here to say if you are finding this
[7:25] video useful or helpful at all please go
[7:27] ahead and click the little like button
[7:28] it really helps the magical YouTube
[7:30] algorithm Pixies deliver our content to
[7:33] other people who might be interested in
[7:35] the video and it really helps us and we
[7:36] really appreciate it number three use
[7:38] specific imagery that works hard when
[7:42] Bruno major sings tracksuits and red
[7:43] wine movies for two it puts a movie in
[7:46] your mind you get a clear sense of who
[7:49] the characters are what their
[7:51] relationship is how long they've been
[7:52] together what they're doing right now
[7:54] where they are and why they're there the
[7:57] movie starts playing in your mind and so
[7:58] you become invested in this song as
[8:01] Stephen King says good description
[8:03] usually consists of a few well-chosen
[8:05] details that will stand in for
[8:07] everything else and this is true for
[8:10] song as well and maybe even more true
[8:12] for song where we have very limited real
[8:14] estate in which to build mansions in the
[8:17] minds and hearts of our listeners
[8:20] there's a line from an Amanda Palmer
[8:22] song that I just love so much because it
[8:23] demonstrates this so beautifully the
[8:25] line is from her song The Bed song which
[8:27] is just a great and epic song to start
[8:29] with but this particular line kills me
[8:31] every time and it's this I find my
[8:34] glasses and you turn the light out I
[8:37] just love this line so much because it's
[8:39] very much like that Bruno major lyric in
[8:41] that it is this really specific snapshot
[8:44] of an image that actually shows us
[8:47] rather than telling us so much about the
[8:50] relationship here we know this is two
[8:52] people in bed together we know something
[8:54] about their age they've probably been
[8:57] together for a while and maybe even a
[8:58] long time in glasses kind of maybe even
[9:00] adds 10 or 20 years onto the vision of
[9:03] who these people are so we know that
[9:05] maybe a couple in their 30s 40s or 50s
[9:07] we also know that as one of the
[9:10] characters is leaning over to get her
[9:12] glasses to read that the other character
[9:15] is turning their light out so these two
[9:17] characters are not on the same page
[9:19] they're actually kind of living parallel
[9:21] lives even as they are existing or
[9:24] coexisting in their most intimate space
[9:26] their bed so there is something deeply
[9:29] wrong here and it's this image that
[9:32] shows it to us rather than telling it to
[9:33] us that makes it even more powerful for
[9:37] a detailed walkthrough on how to come up
[9:38] with great imagery check out this video
[9:41] on our Channel or if you want a more
[9:42] deep and structured demonstration with
[9:45] case studies examples and application
[9:46] you can check out our short course the
[9:48] link is in the video notes below here is
[9:51] your call to action with this lyric
[9:52] writing tip a great and very quick way
[9:55] to do this is to take a line of lyric
[9:57] that you identify as being more telling
[9:59] than showing or more General than
[10:02] specific and just spend five minutes
[10:04] trying to invert that line into some
[10:08] kind of specific image based snapshot
[10:11] that shows it rather than tells it so
[10:13] for example you could take a line like
[10:15] it was a beautiful normal Saturday
[10:17] afternoon and instead of telling that
[10:19] figure out at least 10 different ways
[10:22] that you could show us that through an
[10:24] image so for me it might be something
[10:25] like barbecue smoke curling up through
[10:28] the eucalyptus leaves or watching my dog
[10:30] chase rabbits in his sleep or eating
[10:32] samosas that my neighbor dropped at my
[10:34] door they're like little photographs
[10:36] little snapshots that are designed to
[10:39] show a picture a specific image that
[10:42] illustrates the concept rather than
[10:44] merely telling it in some general way
[10:46] like Saturday afternoon number four
[10:49] contrasts there is something incredibly
[10:52] compelling and very sticky when we
[10:55] actually combine two opposing ideas or
[10:58] images in the same line of lyric or at
[11:01] the very least close to each other in
[11:03] the lyrics so for example contrasting
[11:05] day night good bad hot cold questions
[11:09] answers there's something about
[11:10] opposites that is very very appealing
[11:13] the contrast usually serves to amplify
[11:16] in some way the idea by spotlighting it
[11:19] let's look at a Beautiful lyric that
[11:21] does this in such a spectacular way this
[11:23] is the song she Burns by Foy Vance I've
[11:26] frozen over my desires covered up in
[11:28] Virgin Snow but when I stand beside her
[11:31] she Burns yeah she burns like petrol
[11:34] soaked paper and fireworks it's that
[11:37] opposite contrast of cold and hot Frozen
[11:41] and burning that really amplifies the
[11:45] hook of this song which is she Burns
[11:48] number five power positions there are
[11:51] lines of lyric inside the structure of a
[11:53] song that because of their position in
[11:56] the structure will naturally draw more
[11:59] attention from a listener's ear and
[12:02] those lines are always the first line
[12:05] and the last line of any section it's a
[12:09] Well documented scientific phenomenon of
[12:12] human attention that we will always pay
[12:14] more attention to the first thing and
[12:16] the last thing of anything really but
[12:19] it's also true in songs the human ear is
[12:22] naturally
[12:23] spotlighting the first line and the last
[12:26] line it's not that the internal lines
[12:28] aren't important they are but they're
[12:32] just not as important in this video I
[12:34] want to focus on one really effective
[12:36] technique that I call the last line
[12:38] pivot we're going to use that last line
[12:41] to create surprise to see how this works
[12:44] let's listen to one of the best songs
[12:46] ever written I'm just going to go out
[12:47] and say it it's the song River by Joni
[12:50] Mitchell it's coming on Christmas
[12:52] they're cutting down trees they're
[12:54] putting up reindeer and singing songs of
[12:57] joy and peace oh I wish I had a river I
[13:01] could skate away on the surprising
[13:03] element of that last line comes because
[13:06] Joni has stacked images of Christmas and
[13:09] by stacking images of Christmas it
[13:12] creates a certain pattern we've got all
[13:15] this Christmas imagery and generally
[13:17] Christmas imagery has a positive
[13:19] connotation so she's stacking all this
[13:22] Christmas imagery but the last line is
[13:25] not positive at all it's not a positive
[13:27] feeling she's using that last line to
[13:30] create an element of surprise by saying
[13:32] I wish I could get away from it all so
[13:35] surprise can only happen when we create
[13:38] expectation and expectation only happens
[13:40] when we create pattern so the whole idea
[13:43] here is we can take this lyric as a
[13:45] model for our own we can stack images
[13:48] and then use that last line to break the
[13:51] expectation that has been created
[13:53] through the stacking of that imagery
[13:55] here is your call to action to put this
[13:58] technique into practice there are really
[14:00] two ways you can do this the first way
[14:02] is to start by stacking images that
[14:05] describe something it could describe an
[14:08] event it could describe a feeling it
[14:10] could describe an experience that you
[14:12] had and then use that last line to Pivot
[14:14] the other way to do this is to reverse
[14:16] engineer the section to actually start
[14:18] with your last line think about what
[14:20] your target is and then start with its
[14:23] opposite if you want more tips and
[14:24] tricks on writing better lyrics check
[14:26] out this video Happy writing guys see
[14:29] you next time