---
title: '5 Simple Songwriting Exercises to Transform Your Lyrics'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=uLpE6jESeMc'
video_id: 'uLpE6jESeMc'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 870
---

# 5 Simple Songwriting Exercises to Transform Your Lyrics

> Source: [5 Simple Songwriting Exercises to Transform Your Lyrics](https://youtube.com/watch?v=uLpE6jESeMc)

## Summary

This video presents five simple but powerful songwriting exercises designed to transform your lyrics. The techniques cover extending metaphors, upgrading verbs, using specific imagery, employing contrasts, and leveraging power positions within song structure. Each exercise includes a clear explanation, examples from well-known songs, and a practical call to action for the viewer.

### Key Points

- **Extending Metaphors** [00:41] — A metaphor is describing one thing through another. Extending it by spending 5-10 minutes developing related words and images yields better lyrics. Example: 'anger is a storm' extended with 'clouds of your mind,' 'words are lightning,' etc.
- **Upgrading Verbs** [04:08] — Verbs are the powerhouse of language. Replace weak verbs like 'walked' with more evocative ones like 'slid' or 'slithered.' Adjectives and adverbs generally weaken expression. Example: Phoebe Bridges' 'Motion Sickness' has almost no adjectives or adverbs.
- **Specific Imagery** [07:38] — Use specific, concrete images that show rather than tell. A few well-chosen details create a movie in the listener's mind. Example: 'tracksuits and red wine, movies for two' instantly paints a picture of the characters and their relationship.
- **Contrasts** [10:49] — Combining opposing ideas (hot/cold, day/night) creates compelling tension. Example: Foy Vance's 'She Burns' contrasts 'frozen over my desires' with 'she burns like petrol soaked paper.'
- **Power Positions** [11:50] — The first and last lines of any section naturally draw the most attention. Use the 'last line pivot' to create surprise by stacking images that set an expectation, then breaking it. Example: Joni Mitchell's 'River' stacks Christmas imagery, then pivots with 'I wish I had a river I could skate away on.'

## Transcript

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