Writing Better Lyrics Read online

  WRITING

  BETTER

  LYRICS

  SECOND EDITION

  THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO * * * * * *

  POWERFUL SONGWRITING

  PAT PATTISON

  FOREWORD BY GILLIAN WELCH

  Writing Better Lyrics. © 2009 by Pat Pattison. Manufactured in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No other part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writer's Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. Second edition.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Pattison, Pat.

  Writing better lyrics / by Pat Pattison. — 2nd ed.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-1-58297-577-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)

  eISBN 13: 978-1-5996-3365-7

  1. Lyric writing (Popular music) I. Title.

  MT67.P383 2009

  782.42164′0268 — dc22

  2009019233

  Edited by Scott Francis

  Designed by Claudean Wheeler

  Production coordinated by Mark Griffin

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Pat Pattison is a professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches lyric writing and poetry. His books include The Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure, and The Essential Guide to Rhyming. In addition, Pat has developed three online lyric writing courses for Berklee's online school, and has written articles for a variety of industry publications. His internationally successful students include multiple Grammy winners John Mayer and Gillian Welch. Pat's website is: http://patpattison.com.

  THANKS

  To my students, especially those who have allowed me to include their work in this book. Their creativity and questions always challenge me, requiring me to look further to make sure I get it right.

  To my fellow faculty at Berklee College of Music for trying out these ideas and making them work; for their support, suggestions, and insights.

  To the writers and publishers who allowed me to include such excellent material, especially Gillian Welch, Beth Nielsen Chapman, and Janis Ian for their interest and encouragement.

  To Mike Reid for his enthusiasm, and for diving into Object Writing with such passion.

  To John Mayer, Gillian Welch, Melissa Ferrick, Greg Becker, Kami Lyle, Dave Rawlings, Andrea Stolpe, Scarlet Keys, Ben Romans, Jonelle Vette, Rob Giles, Emily Shackleton, Clare McLeod, and a host of other Berklee transplants to Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and internationally for showing how well all this stuff can work.

  To all the folks that keep showing up for my seminars, allowing me not only to travel the world, but to enlarge my vision in new and interesting ways.

  To my son Jason and my daughter Holly Ann. To Mia and Olivia.

  I especially want to thank Susan Benjamin for her encouragement, for editing the original articles, and for her comments, focus, and inspiration; in short, for making this book possible.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Foreword by Gillian Welch

  Introduction

  CHAPTER 1: Object Writing: The Art of the Diver

  CHAPTER 2: Rusty's Collar: A Lesson in Showing and Telling

  CHAPTER 3: Making Metaphors

  CHAPTER 4: Learning to Say No: Building Worksheets

  CHAPTER 5: Clichés: The Sleeping Puppy (A Case Study)

  CHAPTER 6: Productive Repetition

  CHAPTER 7: Verse Development and Power Positions

  CHAPTER 8: Travelogues: Verse Continuity

  CHAPTER 9: Stripping Your Repetition for Repainting

  CHAPTER 10: Perspectives

  CHAPTER 11: Point of View: Second Person and the Hangman

  CHAPTER 12: Point of View: Second Person as Narrative

  CHAPTER 13: Dialogue and Point of View

  CHAPTER 14: Meter: Something in Common

  CHAPTER 15: Spotlighting With Common Meter

  CHAPTER 16: Meter: Two by Two

  CHAPTER 17: Managing Couplets

  CHAPTER 18: Prosody: Structure as Film Score

  CHAPTER 19: Understanding Motion

  CHAPTER 20: Form Follows Function: Building the Perfect Beast

  CHAPTER 21: The Great Balancing Act: Courting Danger on the High Wire

  CHAPTER 22: Song Forms: (Im) Potent Packages

  CHAPTER 23: Song Forms: (Im) Potent Packages II

  CHAPTER 24: Process

  Appendix: Co-Writing: The “No”-Free Zone

  Permissions

  FOREWORD

  I will be brief and not delay with a long introduction, for there is too much good instruction ahead, and there are too many good songs to be written. I know of no other book like this one. One need only follow these tenets and discipline oneself to the task and the songs will come. It is a priceless map through the minefields of cliché, boredom, and laziness that often destroy even the best efforts. Sometimes, I think that Writing Better Lyrics is an unfair advantage, a secret weapon of sorts, and yet it is here for any and all who aspire to write and write better. I count myself lucky and proud to have studied with Mr. Pattison. I would not be the writer I am today without his teaching and his unique and comprehensive understanding of language, rhyme, rhythm, and structure. To this day, when I struggle with a lyric and find myself falling short, I am usually ignoring some very sound advice contained in these pages. And I read it again.

  Gillian Welch

  Nashville, Tennessee

  April 2009

  INTRODUCTION

  I'm very happy that songwriters have found Writing Better Lyrics helpful, and I'm grateful to be writing an introduction to a second edition. It's been a while since the first publication in 1995, and I've learned a lot since then, thanks to my students at Berklee College of Music and the many songwriters I've met and worked with both in my traveling seminars and my online courses. Each time I teach, I learn something new from them — a real blessing in my life to be on such a journey.

  This edition has added almost one hundred new pages and has INTRODUCTION expanded and revised some of the existing chapters.

  I've enlarged the opening chapter on object writing with new (and, I think, more helpful) examples. Over the years, this exercise has proved to be a mainstay for many successful songwriters, including Grammy winners John Mayer and Gillian Welch. The additional material in this chapter incorporates some new and interesting ways to approach object writing, making it an even more useful way to brainstorm, open your senses, and discover unique ideas for your songs.

  The chapters on verse development add examples and new material, introducing the concept of “boxes,” which students over the years have found helpful. I think you will, too.

  I've found an interesting and, I hope, helpful way of thinking about rhymes, treating them the way you treat chords
in a song. It provides a clearer view of rhyme's function and will help you choose rhyme types for a reason.

  The chapters on point of view also have a new look and suggest some interesting ways to approach the process of finding the right perspective for your song.

  I've added several new chapters that reflect work I've been doing since the first publication of Writing Better Lyrics. There's a chapter on the productive use of repetition, a chapter on showing and telling, and several “in the trenches” chapters on structure to help you make more informed decisions while in the heat of writing.

  There are two new chapters on handling couplets and common meter. Each will take you through a series of expansions and manipulations of these structures to show you some new options and possibilities, while still keeping to familiar territory.

  I've also added a chapter on prosody, the most fundamental principle of songwriting and, indeed, of art in general: the concept that all the elements of a song — chords, melody, rhythm, words, and lyric structure — should work together for a common purpose.

  The centerpiece of this new material is the chapter called “Understanding Motion,” which explores the intersections of rhythm, rhyme, and phrase length, and their use in creating prosody, which is support for the ideas and emotion of the lyric. Motion creates emotion; knowing how to make structures move allows you to support your ideas on a whole new level. The chapter can also be used as a reference guide to stable and unstable structures.

  I hope this edition will be helpful in making your lyrics work harder and better.

  Write fearlessly. Have fun.

  Pat Pattison, February 2009

  CHAPTER ONE

  OBJECT WRITING

  THE ART OF THE DIVER

  The native dives deep into the waters of his bay, holding his breath to reach the soft pink and blue glow below. Sleek through the water, churning up no cloud to disturb the bottom, he stretches and he opens the shell. Rising to the surface, he holds it aloft and shimmering in the sun: mother of all pearls, breathing light.

  Like this pearl, your best writing lies somewhere deep within. It glows in fresh, interesting colors no one ever imagined in exactly that way before. Your most important job as a writer is to master the art of diving to those deep places, for there and only there will you find your own unique writing voice.

  Remember this fundamental fact: You are absolutely unique. There never was, is not now, nor ever can be anyone exactly like you. The proof lies in the vaults of your senses, where you have been storing your sense memories all your life. They have come cascading in through your senses, randomly and mostly unnoticed, sinking to the bottom. Learn to dive for them. When you recover one, when you rise with it to the surface and hold it aloft, you will not only surprise your onlookers, you will surprise yourself.

  Much of lyric writing is technical. The stronger your skills are, the better you can express your creative ideas. You must spend time on the technical areas of lyric writing, like rhyme, rhythm, contrast, balance, and repetition. Here, I want to focus on the most important part of all creative writing, and therefore surely of lyric writing: the art of deep diving — finding your own unique voice and vision.

  OBJECT WRITING

  The best diving technique I know is object writing. It's direct and simple. You arbitrarily pick an object — a real object — and focus your senses on it. Treat the object as a diving board to launch you inward to the vaults of your senses.

  Although you understand your five senses, you could probably stand a few exercises to sharpen them, especially the four you don't normally use when you write. If I asked you to describe the room you're in, your answer would be primarily, if not completely, visual. Try spending a little time alone with each sense. What's there? How does the kitchen table smell? How would the rug feel if you rubbed your bare back on it? How big does the room sound? (What if it were twice as big? Half as big?) How would the table taste if you licked it? No, it's not silly. Remember this, it is important: The more senses you incorporate into your writing, the better it breathes and dances.

  You have two additional senses that may need a little explanation:

  Organic sense is your awareness of inner bodily functions, for example, heartbeat, pulse, muscle tension, stomachaches, cramps, and breathing. Athletes are most keenly focused on this sense, but you use it constantly, especially in responsive situations. I've been sitting here writing too long. I need a backrub.

  Kinesthetic sense is, roughly, your sense of relation to the world around you. When you get seasick or drunk, the world around you blurs — like blurred vision. When the train you're on is standing still and the one next to it moves, your kinesthetic sense goes crazy. Children spin, roll down hills, or ride on tilt-a-whirls to stimulate this sense. Dancers and divers develop it most fully — they look onto a stage or down to the water and see spatial possibilities for their bodies. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it.

  EXERCISE 1

  Pick an object at random and write about it. Dive into your sense memories and associations surrounding the object. Anything goes, as long as it is sense-bound. Write freely. No rhythm, no rhyme. No need for complete sentences. Use all seven senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, organic, and kinesthetic.

  Here's an example of the above exercise:

  Back Porch

  I must have been four. Memories from that time are a rare species — lobbing in like huge bumblebees on transparent wings, buzzing old Remington shavers torn free from those thick and brittle wires tangled in webs under our porch where I loved to crawl and hide; black snaking wires disappearing up through floors and humming into wall and socket. I still hear them.

  I hid under the back porch, smell of damp summer earth cool under my hands, ducking, scrunching my shoulders tight to avoid the rusty nails waiting patiently above for my back or skull to forget them. The tingling along my back and neck kept reminding me, don't stand up.

  Under the back porch, a place tinged with danger and smelling of earth, the air tastes faintly of mold and hollyhocks twining around the trellises that I see only the bottoms of, speckled gold by the shafts of sun slipping through high elm branches in the backyard, weaving shadows like Grandma's lace dresser doilies. When I squint, I can blur the sunlight into a bridge of green-gold. Crouching there fetal and content, I could feel Mom above me, could hear her high heels tap-tapping.

  No one else has ever associated exactly those experiences with “back porch,” yet anyone can understand them, relate to them. Because they are drawn from my senses, they will stimulate your senses. You will draw from your own sense reservoir, making my experiences yours. They take on a new look traveling from me into you. They get filtered through your senses and memories. They add to your uniqueness.

  Look at the sense information in “Back Porch”:

  Sight: huge bumblebees on transparent wings; thick and brittle wires tangled in webs; black snaking wires disappearing up through floors; rusty nails; hollyhocks twining around the trellises I see only the bottoms of; speckled gold by shafts of sun; high elm branches in the backyard; weaving shadows like Grandma's lace dresser doilies; when I squint, I can blur the sunlight into a bridge of green-gold

  Hearing: buzzing old Remington shavers; humming into wall and socket; I still hear them; could hear her high heels tap-tapping

  Smell: smell of damp summer earth; smelling of earth

  Taste: the air tastes faintly of mold and hollyhocks

  Touch: thick and brittle wires; damp summer earth cool under my hands; tingling along my back and neck

  Organic: crawl; crouching; ducking; scrunching shoulders tight; stand up quick; tingling along my back and neck; when I squint; crouching there fetal and content

  Kinesthetic: lobbing in; tingling along my back and neck kept reminding me; avoid rusty nails waiting patiently above for my back or skull to forget them; don't stand up; I could feel Mom above me

  TEN AND ONLY TEN MINUTES — A.M.

  Object wr
iting works best when you do it for ten minutes, first thing in the morning. Yes, I know — I'm brain-dead then, too. But you can always find ten minutes just by getting up a tad earlier, and the effort will pay huge dividends.

  Two beings inhabit your body: you, who stumbles groggily to the coffeepot to start another day, and the writer in you, who could remain blissfully asleep and unaware for days, months, even years as you go on about your business. If your writer is anything like mine, “lazy,” even “slug” is too kind. Always wake up your writer early, so you can spend the day together. It's amazing the fun the two of you can have watching the world go by. Your writer will be active beside you, sniffing and tasting, snooping for metaphors. It's like writing all day without moving your fingers.

  If, instead, you waited until evening to wake your writer up, you'd float through the day alone, missing the wonderful worlds your writer sees. Old lazybones, meanwhile, would get up late and retire early.

  Guarantee yourself ten minutes and only ten minutes. Set a timer, and stop the second it goes off. You're much more likely to sit down to a clearly limited commitment. But be sure you always stop at the buzzer. If you get on a roll some morning and let yourself write for thirty minutes, guess what you'll say the next morning: “Ugh, I don't have the energy to do it this morning (remembering how much energy you spent yesterday), and besides, I've already written my ten minutes for the next two days. I'll start again Thursday.”