by Mark Simos
CHAPTER 4
Lyrics
Lyrics—words in songs—have been written about (in words!) more than any other element of songwriting. Many lyric techniques and exercises have been adapted from creative writing fields, especially poetry and fiction, by teachers and authors including Sheila Davis, Pat Pattison, and others. A 360° approach to lyrics broadens this repertoire of techniques, with strategies that connect sound aspects of lyrics to rhythm, melody, and harmony.
We’ll begin by looking at sound aspects of lyrics. We’ll then explore strategies for setting from lyric material to rhythm, linking to the rhythmic facet explored in the last chapter. This will involve working from both sense and sound aspects of lyrics, initially to syllabic rhythm,6then to specific lyric rhythms. We’ll then explore sonic constituents of syllables, consonants and vowels, and their connection to both rhythm and melody. This will provide a basis for specific techniques and strategies for moving from content or sense to lyrics, and from lyric seed material by sound to sense. Building on these techniques, we will finally tackle perhaps the most demanding of these strategies: setting from rhythm to lyric by sound.
Sound Aspects of Lyrics
Working with lyrics by sound is a time-honored approach for songwriters in many genres and styles—from Woody Guthrie to Lil’ Wayne. The lyrics of many highly successful songs appear to fly in the face of general writing principles. Often the focus doesn’t seem to be on lyrics at all—certainly not on deep, poetic, metaphorical, or narrative lyrics. The craft of such lyrics often relies, however, more on sound and rhythm than conventional or poetic meaning. Sonic aspects of lyrics are also critical in new settings for music consumption and exploitation of song material—synchronization placements in film, television, advertising, Web media, video games, and apps.
Lyrics-by-sound techniques follow different linguistic and associative pathways than writing about themes or subjects already determined. Songwriters howl nonsense syllables at pianos at midnight, speak in tongues, stare out windows. Lyrics arrived at using these techniques are different in quality and subject matter. Yet becoming more skilled at working with sound aspects of lyrics will improve even lyrics driven by theme or subject. Lyrics that affect us deeply as listeners must sing and sound well, as well as speak honestly and truly.
Thought Phrase
Lyrics unfold at multiple hierarchical levels: line, sentence or phrase, word, syllable, and individual sonic elements (vowels and consonants). At the finest-grained hierarchical levels, we’re most clearly in the realm of sound aspects; at broader levels, we address aspects of sense or meaning. These levels interweave, though, in many ways.
In lyrics, “thought phrases” have their own boundaries and cadences. Many lyrics do not roll out in complete grammatical sentences; yet, there are still distinct, audible groupings of thoughts. Boundaries of lyric thought phrases often coincide with phrases in vocal melody, but also may move independently in at least two ways. Using terminology carried over from poetics:
A caesura is a pause in lyric flow in the middle of a line. A caesura generally reflects the sense or meaning boundary of the sentence or phrase.
A pause for thought—a thought for paws
My cat has got <> some wicked claws
Here, the first caesura, indicated with the dash, reflects a natural break in the thought phrase. The second, indicated by the <>, does not. Too long a musical pause on “got,” and the lyric setting will have “got” us into trouble.
An enjambment carries over a sense or thought phrase, across a line boundary to the next line.
If only this poor heart could find
A little bit of piece of mind
I fear that it may prove just too
Much work to keep loving you.
Here the first enjambment works because “find” dangles the listener enticingly, waiting for the completion of the thought. The second
is unfortunate, as the listener will likely hear the confusing “prove
just two.”
In poetry, these concepts are defined relative to the layout of poetic lines on the page, with only indirect reference to how the poem might be read aloud. In song lyrics, the relevant boundary of the lyric line is tied closely to the vocal melody. The lyric thought phrase can move independently to this vocal-melodic line, as demonstrated in figure 4.1.
FIG 4.1. Shift of Lyric Phrases Against Musical Phrases
The first (two-bar) line has short, rhythmically echoing phrases, using the songwriting equivalent of caesuras. The second line intensifies this with even shorter phrases that still stand as complete grammatical statements. The third and fourth lyric lines carry a continuing thought across the musical phrases—enjambment in a song context.
Word Boundaries
Subtler lyric rhythms and textures are created by word boundaries and
junctures—the juxtaposition of the vowel and consonant sounds ending one word or syllable and those that begin the next. We hear the contrasting effects of
passages with short, one-syllable words vs. multisyllable words. An extended pas-
sage of one-syllable words will punch harder than one with lots of multi-syllable words: “Hit me with the love I need/Satisfy and intercede.” These are not purely rhythmic effects; they lie at the boundary of sound and sense aspects of lyrics.
Syllabic Stress Patterns
Working with lyrics from sense (meaning), key units are thought phrases and lines to words. Working with lyrics as sound, syllables are the fundamental sonic and rhythmic units of lyric texture.
In English-language lyrics, we generally recognize three key levels of stress, which can be indicated with scansion marks borrowed from poetic analysis: primary stressed syllables (“/”); unstressed syllables (“ ‿ ”); and an intermediate level of stress called “secondary stress” (usually marked as “//”). Secondary stresses are necessary to deal with differential stresses in certain multisyllable words. For example, in “necessary” (/ ‿ // ‿ ), it’s necessary that “nec-” receive a stronger stress than “-sar-,” while both syllables are stressed more strongly than “-es-” or “-y.” In “necessarily,” on the other hand, “-sar-” must be stressed more strongly than “nec-”—yes, necessarily so.
We count line length as the number of primary stresses in the lyric line. For example, “Take me to the store” might be scanned as “/ ‿ / ‿ / ”; “I’m going to the market” as “ ‿ / ‿ / ‿ / ‿ ‿ ” Both lines have a length of three stresses: the specific syllabic rhythm of the second line differs by an upbeat syllable at the start and an unstressed syllable at the end.
The stress pattern for a given line can be determined at several levels:
Multisyllable words have stress patterns largely determined by language. In: “I’m considering going to the market,” the word “considering” must receive “ ‿ / ‿ //” as its stress pattern. Putting the primary stress on the last syllable “-ket” of market sounds wrong.
Single-syllable words receive stress within the line by meaning or emphasis. I could choose to weight “I’m going to the store” with a secondary stress on the relatively unimportant connective “to”:
“ ‿ / ‿ // ‿ /.” But if I was responding to the question, “Have you been at the store?” the word “to” could get extra emphasis. Secondary stress levels are needed for multisyllable words, but can also suggest nuances of emphasis, tone of voice, and emotional intensity.
It’s also possible, as a special effect, to deliberately mis-stress lyrics with so-called “wrenched stress” emphasis. We might set: “Baby come party with me” to the pulsing rhythm “/ ‿ / ‿ / ‿ /,” deliberately mis-setting “par-TY” to show how cool we are. Often, though, these are just mistakes resulting from sloppy word setting. 7
For our purposes, a lyric line can begin on a stressed syllable or with one or more unstressed syllables (upbeat or anacrusis syllables). Then follow stressed syllables, each followed by one (“/ ‿ ”), two (“/ �
�� ‿ ‿ ”), or more unstressed syllables, or at times directly by another stressed syllable (“/ /”). Unless you’re writing in a strict style matching specific syllabic rhythm in parallel lines, it’s line length (the number of primary stresses), not the literal number of syllables, that ties things together. “A far cry from where we stand” and “Teach me kindly, dear friend” both feel like four-stress lines, though the first line is seven syllables, the second six, and the rhythmic patterns are different.
Song lyrics can freely vary the interchange of strong and weak stresses, rather than holding to regular patterns with occasional syncopations. If a strong/weak (/ ‿ ) pattern predominates, the line pulls toward an overall duple pulse or feel; a “/ ‿ ‿ ” pattern pulls toward a triple pulse. Consecutive strong stresses or a “/ /” pattern can reinforce either a duple or triple feel. A “/ /” pattern coinciding with a natural break in the “thought line” or phrase may split the line into being heard as two separate lyric lines—especially if reinforced with extra musical space between the lyric syllables, or if the second syllable is aligned on the strong start of a musical phrase. In the examples below, speak the line and try to jot down the stress pattern you hear. Then compare with the stress marks indicated following the line. 8
Tell me what you think I said/ ‿ / ‿ / ‿ /(duple)
Telling me just what you’re
thinking I’m saying/ ‿ ‿ / ‿ ‿ / ‿ ‿ / ‿ (triple)
Tell me just what you think
I’m getting at/ ‿ / ‿ ‿ / ‿ / ‿ ‿ (mixed)
Tell me now. What am I saying?/ ‿ / / ‿ ‿ / ‿ (two 2-stress lines)
This discussion of duple and triple stresses in lyrics should bring back to mind the discussion of the duple-triple pulse continuum in the “Rhythm” chapter. However, it’s critical to note that even a predominant duple or triple feel in the lyric does not constrain the time signature, pulse, or groove chosen for the musical setting (or vice versa). Duple-pulse lyrics can be set to triple-time music, and vice versa. This flexibility is essential in mapping between syllabic rhythm of the lyric as text and final lyrical rhythm: setting the lyric to a specific rhythmic pattern, in the musical context of time signature and phrasing.
Mapping Lyrics to Syllabic Rhythm
The inherent subjectivity in stress interpretations of lyric lines is a source of anxiety for writers learning to work with syllabic stress. As you consider multiple stress readings (or “hearings”) for a line, you can worry you’re doing it “wrong,” or impatiently conclude that anything goes. But this seeming arbitrariness circumscribes a range of choices you make in setting the line. Of course, there will also be truly awkward, mis-stressed settings for a line.
Determining a lyric line’s syllabic stress is an interpretation. There may be multiple ways to stress a given line, each technically correct (i.e., no mis-stressed syllables with respect to natural stress patterns) yet shifting nuances of meaning and associated emotion. Deftly exploring the space of these choices is key to flexibility in your lyric writing. Sometimes, it helps to lightly pound your fist on the table, as if it’s a podium and you’re declaiming the line as part of an impassioned speech. If you find yourself pounding on every word, you’ll just annoy people. If you pound only at the end of the line, you lack the courage of your convictions!
We frequently generate lyrics by sense rather than sound and rhythm, such as in free writing in prose or spoken conversation. A lyric line conceived this way has its own rhythm, often prosaic or conversational in quality—a rhythm to which we tend to cling as we work with the line. If we’re setting between lyric and musical facets (moving in either direction), that syllabic rhythm has only a vague chance of aligning with musical rhythms we’re trying to match. A lyric line that flows well in its own syllabic rhythm may not match well to music with a different feel or phrasing. To challenge a first instinctive rhythmic setting for the line, a cornerstone lyric skill is hearing natural syllabic stress patterns and, more importantly, experimenting with alternate well-set variations of these patterns.
Syllabic Rhythm Example
Consider this fragment of a few contiguous lines from a song section, written lyric first:
This isn’t the way I was hoping things would turn out between us
History repeating itself
I start acting like somebody else
Here are alternate syllabic rhythm settings for just the first line.
FIG. 4.2. Three Stress Settings
Setting 1 is a single 7-stress line. Of the seven stresses, three have triplet-rhythm (/ ‿ ‿ ) stresses, three have duple-rhythm
(/ ‿ ) stresses, and one (“this”) has no unstressed syllable, neutral between a duple and triple feel.
In setting 2, the first syllable is treated as an upbeat or anacrusis syllable. The line is heard as a 6-stress line, again with a balanced triple/duple feel ( (T-T-D-T-D-D). Note the potential shift in meaning: we’ve stressed “out” rather than “turn”—or maybe it just turned out that way? (Or are we just stressing out?)
Setting 3 moves toward over-stressing. Relatively unimportant words (this, out) are stressed. In addition, pronouns (I, us) receive a full stress. This could be felt as a 9- or even 10-stress line—too heavy for the line (but maybe not the situation?).
Songwriters have a tendency to overstress pronouns in lyric lines. A setting that leaves these unstressed is often just as clear to the listener and sings better. Sometimes pronouns can be removed entirely, such as an initial “I” at the start of a line: “I hope you’ll come back” becomes “Hope you’ll come back.”9
So far, our example shows an initial iterative strategy, trying different syllablic rhythms for the lyric line. Syllabic rhythm is not yet in full musical time, i.e., within the metrical framework. Yet shifting stress emphasis changes sense aspects of the lyric, as well as rhythmic and other sonic aspects that will come into play in setting the lyric.
Let’s look at similar issues in setting the second half of the lyric verse:
History repeating itself
I start acting like somebody else
Both lines contain three-syllable words, two of which require secondary stresses. (“Repeating” doesn’t, with its primary stress in the middle, second syllable.) “History” is an example of a three-syllable word stress pattern (/ ‿ //) frequently mis-set in lyrics: words like “mystery,” “harmony,” etc. Often, these words end lines, and often our musical settings will end lines on full stresses. In strict terms, this often makes the final syllable of such words feel stronger than the first. The effect is not as striking as a mis-setting that inverts strong and weak stresses, but it adds a hint of affectedness. Such settings can be made more conversational by respecting the linguistically built-in secondary stress. In “somebody,” the secondary is placed directly after the primary stress; this is an example of a word often set with deliberate mis-stressing or “wrenched stress” (some-BOD-y) for stylistic or idiomatic effect.
Since multisyllable words (with or without secondaries) force stress patterns, choices for a syllabic rhythm setting for these lines are almost—but not completely—determined. Figure 4.3 shows one setting possibility.
FIG. 4.3. Setting 1
Strictly speaking, the single-syllable words (I, start, like, else) are the only “wiggle room” here. Secondary stresses provide pivot points for selecting heavier or lighter stress readings of the line. You can demote a secondary to an unstressed syllable without violating the word’s internal stress pattern. Or you can promote the secondary to a full stress, shifting its relationship to the surrounding context of the line—though in the final musical setting you should still take care not to set it in a stronger metric position than its primary-stress sibling syllable. Setting 1 makes heavy-set choices for each of the secondary stresses.
Alternatively we could set these as 3-stress lines, as in figure 4.4.
FIG. 4.4. Setting 2
In setting 2, we demote the secondary stresses to uns
tressed syllables. The couplet begins to have a triplet feel—with the exception of the “/ ‿ ‿ ‿ ” pattern at the beginning. (This is a “secondary-shy” pattern; if prevalent, it indicates an under-stressed line.)
Still a third reading uses secondary stresses integrally to create a more regular syllabic rhythm pattern, and as a basis for rhythmic matching across the lines:
FIG. 4.5. Setting 3
In setting 3, the two upbeat syllables in the second line are heard as a rhythmic variation in otherwise closely matched lines. “Like” is promoted to a secondary stress to match the last syllable of “history” in the preceding line. The secondary stress in “somebody” is demoted to an unstressed syllable to match the “-ing” in “repeating.” The resulting feel is transitional: either a heavy 3-stress, or a light 4-stress line length. In an alternate, weightier reading, we can align these as matching 4-stress lines:
FIG. 4.6. Setting 4
This matching is accomplished by promoting the secondary stress of “history” to a full stress—effectively changing the line length—while again demoting the secondary stress in “somebody.” Not only do perceived line lengths now match, but the variation in the duple (D)/triple (T) syllabic rhythm of the lines make a pleasing pattern:
A triplet pattern feels like a relative acceleration of a duple pattern, so this rhythmic pattern mostly matches, while the shift from duple to triple in the rhythm builds intensity.
Exercise 4.1. Develop Alternate Syllabic Rhythmic Settings for a Lyric Line
Start with a new lyric line. Avoid a line from a song you’ve written or someone else’s song. You want your thinking free of influences from settings you’ve already heard.