5 Simple Songwriting Exercises to Transform Your Lyrics

[00:00] do you ever listen to the lyrics of

[00:01] songs you love and just think how did

[00:03] they do that like you can't even imagine

[00:05] how the songwriter arrived at that turn

[00:08] of phrase It's so normal to feel like in

[00:10] our own lyrics that we're just flapping

[00:12] around in the shallow pool of mediocrity

[00:14] but in this video I'm gonna

[00:17] I mean I've simple and Powerful

[00:22] ever written one of the most important

[00:24] techniques is all about understanding

[00:25] that there are some lines of lyrics in

[00:28] your song structure that are way more

[00:30] important than other lines and these are

[00:31] called Power positions and in technique

[00:34] number five I'm going to explain to you

[00:36] what they are where they are and how to

[00:39] use them number one extending metaphors

[00:41] a metaphor is when we describe one thing

[00:44] through the lens of some other object

[00:46] and it's in that area of overlap where

[00:49] we actually get the metaphor so if I say

[00:52] anger is a storm it's the ways in which

[00:55] we connect those two images or ideas

[00:57] where the metaphor actually emerges but

[01:00] the real fun of metaphor and where your

[01:03] best lyrics are gonna come out is the

[01:05] ways in which you extend that initial

[01:08] metaphor so angry as a storm might be

[01:10] interesting in and of itself but it's

[01:12] going to be even more interesting if I

[01:15] spend 10 minutes developing that

[01:17] metaphor let me give you an example

[01:19] anger is a storm the clouds of your mind

[01:23] gather darkening your eyes your words

[01:26] are lightning striking out at the

[01:29] nearest touch Point your voice swells

[01:32] and Spills and I Harden like ice my dark

[01:35] glances rumble on the horizon of our

[01:38] days what you can see that I've done

[01:39] there is I've just spent five or ten

[01:41] minutes extending the metaphor by using

[01:44] words and images related to storm to

[01:48] describe and expand on the idea of anger

[01:51] here is a piece of lyric writing magic

[01:53] after you do this for five or ten

[01:56] minutes you just pick out the best bits

[01:58] and the thing with metaphor is it's easy

[02:00] to go too far so we don't want to use

[02:02] every single thing we've come up with we

[02:04] just want to pick the few lines or ideas

[02:07] that really stand out so here we could

[02:09] create something quite quickly like this

[02:11] the clouds of your mind gather again

[02:13] words start spilling out and I get stuck

[02:17] here in your rain hardening like ice in

[02:20] fact actually leaving out the end

[02:22] initial metaphor that started the whole

[02:24] thing can actually result in lines that

[02:26] are even better than if we had included

[02:28] that first metaphor anger is a storm one

[02:31] of the reasons for this is that it's

[02:33] actually a way to invite a listener in

[02:35] to the world of your song by allowing

[02:37] them to connect the dots for themselves

[02:40] and when people do that there's this

[02:42] crazy release of dopamine that happens

[02:44] and it actually creates a feeling of

[02:46] connection with a listener when they're

[02:49] allowed to actually figure things out

[02:50] for themselves one of my favorite

[02:52] examples of this comes from the Arnie

[02:54] DeFranco song school night she went over

[02:56] to his apartment clutching her decision

[02:58] and he said did you come here to tell me

[03:00] goodbye so she built a skyscraper of

[03:03] procrastination and then she leaned out

[03:06] the 25th floor window of her reply so

[03:08] here is the action step for you the

[03:10] songwriting exercise is to come up with

[03:13] five different interesting initial

[03:15] metaphors and you can use a random word

[03:18] generator like perchance.org and I've

[03:21] included a link to that in the notes

[03:22] below so come up with five interesting

[03:25] combinations like jealousy is a kitchen

[03:27] the conversation was a security

[03:29] checkpoint growing older is an elephant

[03:31] and for each one of these five

[03:33] interesting combinations spend five or

[03:35] ten minutes extending the metaphor

[03:38] making sure that you are using words

[03:40] phrases and images that are related to

[03:43] the metaphor image so if I'm using

[03:45] jealousy is a kitchen kitchen is the

[03:48] metaphor image I'm really talking about

[03:49] jealousy but I'm going to use language

[03:52] related to Kitchen to paint that picture

[03:54] another great way to practice this is of

[03:56] course to listen to some great songs

[03:57] that actually do this inside the lyrics

[03:59] of the songs and here are a few examples

[04:01] Golden by Jill Scott Circle games by

[04:03] Joni Mitchell she Burns by Foy Vance

[04:06] Take Me to Church by Hozier number two

[04:08] upgrading verbs certain words in the

[04:11] English language are way more powerful

[04:13] than other words and I'm not talking

[04:15] about like Expelliarmus I'm talking

[04:18] about the difference between verbs

[04:21] adjectives and adverbs there are so many

[04:24] wonderful writers who have given this

[04:26] advice to me and the world for example

[04:28] Jeff Tweedy in his lovely little book

[04:30] how to write one song says this about

[04:33] adverbs you don't need to say the dog

[04:34] barked loudly loudly is implied and

[04:37] adding it actually weakens the bark and

[04:40] of course the famous Stephen King quote

[04:42] the road to hell is paved with adverbs

[04:45] and I would like to add to that by

[04:46] saying the road to hell is also paved

[04:48] with adjectives adjectives and adverbs

[04:51] generally tend to do nothing but weaken

[04:53] your language and expression as opposed

[04:56] to verbs which are really the PowerHouse

[05:00] of the English language verbs obviously

[05:02] convey action but they do so much more

[05:04] they can convey image mood tone emotion

[05:08] and attitude let's look at an example

[05:10] here if I have a line of lyric like she

[05:12] walked into the room walked is my verb

[05:16] let's see what happens when I simply do

[05:19] the act of replacing that fairly generic

[05:22] verb with something slightly more

[05:25] interesting she slid into the room she

[05:29] slithered into the room she flowed into

[05:32] the room one thing to notice is that

[05:34] when we analyze the lyrics to songs and

[05:36] songwriters who are great lyric writers

[05:39] we tend to see the general absence of

[05:41] adjectives and adverbs let's check out

[05:43] the song motion sickness by Phoebe

[05:45] Bridges I hate you for what you did and

[05:47] I miss you like a little kid I faked it

[05:49] every time but that's all right I can

[05:51] hardly feel anything I hardly feel

[05:53] anything at all you gave me 1500 to see

[05:56] your hypnotherapist I only went one time

[05:59] you let it slide fell on hard times a

[06:01] year ago was hoping you would let it go

[06:03] and you did

[06:05] literally the only adjective in this

[06:07] entire lyric is the word hard and in

[06:10] this case hard is actually part of the

[06:12] expression hard times it wouldn't work

[06:14] to just say times so hard here is barely

[06:17] an adjective at all because it's part of

[06:19] an expression there are basically no

[06:21] adjectives and not a single adverb here

[06:24] is your songwriting call to action and

[06:26] this call to action has Two Steps step

[06:28] one is to go through the draft of any

[06:32] lyrics that you're writing to songs

[06:33] you're working on and literally just

[06:36] cross out any adjectives or adverbs that

[06:39] are inside the lyric there might be some

[06:42] adjectives that absolutely need to be

[06:44] there so for example in the Bruno major

[06:46] lyric nothing the very first line is

[06:49] tracksuits and red wine movies for two

[06:51] we need the word red there red is

[06:54] actually important red wine has a

[06:56] different connotation to white wine or

[06:58] even just wine it paints a picture of a

[07:01] certain type of person and a certain

[07:03] type of moment but we certainly don't

[07:05] need floral red wine step two is to go

[07:08] through a draft of your lyric and

[07:10] underline every single verb that you use

[07:13] throughout the course of your lyric and

[07:15] the task here is to pick one verb per

[07:18] section and upgrade that verb to

[07:21] something more interesting just a quick

[07:23] note here to say if you are finding this

[07:25] video useful or helpful at all please go

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[07:33] other people who might be interested in

[07:35] the video and it really helps us and we

[07:36] really appreciate it number three use

[07:38] specific imagery that works hard when

[07:42] Bruno major sings tracksuits and red

[07:43] wine movies for two it puts a movie in

[07:46] your mind you get a clear sense of who

[07:49] the characters are what their

[07:51] relationship is how long they've been

[07:52] together what they're doing right now

[07:54] where they are and why they're there the

[07:57] movie starts playing in your mind and so

[07:58] you become invested in this song as

[08:01] Stephen King says good description

[08:03] usually consists of a few well-chosen

[08:05] details that will stand in for

[08:07] everything else and this is true for

[08:10] song as well and maybe even more true

[08:12] for song where we have very limited real

[08:14] estate in which to build mansions in the

[08:17] minds and hearts of our listeners

[08:20] there's a line from an Amanda Palmer

[08:22] song that I just love so much because it

[08:23] demonstrates this so beautifully the

[08:25] line is from her song The Bed song which

[08:27] is just a great and epic song to start

[08:29] with but this particular line kills me

[08:31] every time and it's this I find my

[08:34] glasses and you turn the light out I

[08:37] just love this line so much because it's

[08:39] very much like that Bruno major lyric in

[08:41] that it is this really specific snapshot

[08:44] of an image that actually shows us

[08:47] rather than telling us so much about the

[08:50] relationship here we know this is two

[08:52] people in bed together we know something

[08:54] about their age they've probably been

[08:57] together for a while and maybe even a

[08:58] long time in glasses kind of maybe even

[09:00] adds 10 or 20 years onto the vision of

[09:03] who these people are so we know that

[09:05] maybe a couple in their 30s 40s or 50s

[09:07] we also know that as one of the

[09:10] characters is leaning over to get her

[09:12] glasses to read that the other character

[09:15] is turning their light out so these two

[09:17] characters are not on the same page

[09:19] they're actually kind of living parallel

[09:21] lives even as they are existing or

[09:24] coexisting in their most intimate space

[09:26] their bed so there is something deeply

[09:29] wrong here and it's this image that

[09:32] shows it to us rather than telling it to

[09:33] us that makes it even more powerful for

[09:37] a detailed walkthrough on how to come up

[09:38] with great imagery check out this video

[09:41] on our Channel or if you want a more

[09:42] deep and structured demonstration with

[09:45] case studies examples and application

[09:46] you can check out our short course the

[09:48] link is in the video notes below here is

[09:51] your call to action with this lyric

[09:52] writing tip a great and very quick way

[09:55] to do this is to take a line of lyric

[09:57] that you identify as being more telling

[09:59] 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