OK, you’ve poured your heart into writing a song – crafting the melody, shaping the lyrics, and finding its unique voice. But does it truly shine?

That’s where the magic of polishing comes in.

What is Polishing Your Song?

I recently talked about embracing the messy first draft (click here) which is close to the start of the process of writing a song. Well, this is at the other end of the writing process – just before you record your work tape, your final track. It’s a songwriter version of Colombo’s “just one more thing” (click that here). And these last minute often turn up making changes that make all the difference.

Polishing is all about turning an almost finished song, transforming transform a good song into an exceptional and captivating masterpiece. Here are a few reasons why you should polish your song after having already written a finished draft:

• To see if it can connect with a broader audience, by ensuring clarity, emotional depth, and memorability.

• To stay in the writing room until a draft is completed AND polished, regardless of the obstacles, builds resilience.

• To use generic verbs that leave the audience disconnected and make the song forgettable.

In other words, given enough time and energy in your song, rewriting allows a great song to become a classic.

Songwriters often use rewriting as a vital part of the process of writing. All great writers rewrite until it’s a 100% great song.

All great writers rewrite until it’s a 100% great song.

So, how do you polish your song into a killer song? Here are seven ways to polish your song after writing the final draft all over again.

Seven Ways to Polish a Song

When we are in polishing mode, this entails switching from the right, creative part of your brain towards (but not entirely) the left, logical part of your brain. Here are a few ways to polish your songs:

1. Refining the Lyrics

2. Enhancing the Melody

3. Honing the Song Structure

4. Perfecting the Arrangement

5. Adding Finishing Touches

6. Taking a Step Back, and finally

7. Seeking Feedback

Let’s take each of these one by one.

1. Refining the Lyrics

Your lyrics are the heart and soul of your song – they tell your story, convey emotions, and connect with listeners. Polishing your lyrics ensures that every word resonates.

• Clarity and Conciseness: Ensure your lyrics are easy to understand and avoid unnecessary jargon or overly complex wording.

• Emotional Impact: Use vivid imagery and evocative language to evoke the desired emotions in your listeners.

• Memorability: Craft a strong hook that captures attention and stays with the listener long after the song ends.

2. Enhancing the Melody

A captivating melody is the backbone of a great song, drawing listeners in and keeping them engaged.

• Experimentation and Variation: Explore different melodic ideas and variations to find the most compelling and memorable phrasing.

• Flow and Support: Ensure your melody flows naturally and complements the lyrical content, enhancing the overall emotional impact.

• Dynamics and Interest: Consider adding elements like a pre-chorus or bridge to create dynamic shifts and maintain listener engagement.

3. Honing the Song Structure

The structure of your song is crucial for guiding the listener's journey and creating a satisfying musical experience.

• Standard Structures: Familiarize yourself with standard song structures like verse-chorus, verse-chorus-bridge, and others to establish a solid framework.

• Strategic Section Placement: Carefully arrange the sections of your song (verse, chorus, bridge, etc.) to create a sense of buildup, release, and emotional impact.

• Hooks and Repetition: Strategically place your hook (click more here) within the structure for maximum impact and use repetition to reinforce key themes and melodies.

4. Perfecting the Arrangement

The arrangement of your song encompasses the instrumentation, sonic textures, and overall production.

• Complementary Instrumentation: Choose instruments that complement each other and enhance the mood and style of your song.

• Dynamic Variation: Introduce dynamic shifts in volume and intensity to create interest and prevent monotony.

• Sonic Textures: Experiment with different sonic textures and effects to add depth and richness to your song.

5. Adding Finishing Touches

Those seemingly small details can make a world of difference, elevating your song from good to exceptional.

• Vocal Harmonies: Introduce vocal harmonies to add warmth, depth, and create a more polished feel.

• Unique Instrumentation: Incorporate subtle instrumental elements or sound effects to enhance the mood and atmosphere of specific sections.

• Production Techniques: Utilize mixing and mastering techniques to create a balanced and professional sound.

6. Taking a Step Back

After investing time and effort in polishing your song, it's vital to step back and listen with fresh ears.

• Detach and Listen Objectively: Create some distance from the song and listen as if you're hearing it for the first time.

• Identify Areas for Improvement: Pay attention to any parts that feel repetitive, awkward, or lack the intended impact.

• Make Necessary Adjustments: Use your fresh perspective to guide any final revisions or tweaks.

7. Seeking Feedback

Finally, feedback from others can provide invaluable insights and help you identify blind spots you may have missed.

• Trusted Sources: Share your polished song with fellow songwriters, musicians, or trusted listeners who can provide constructive criticism.

• Openness and Objectivity: Be open to their feedback, even if it differs from your initial vision, and use it to refine your work further.

• Iterative Refinement: Implement the feedback, make adjustments, and seek further feedback if needed to ensure your song reaches its full potential.

In Summary

Polishing your song is an art in itself – a journey of refining, enhancing, and perfecting until it truly shines. By dedicating time to this crucial stage, you ensure your song reaches its full potential and captivates listeners.

Questions

Here are a few questions to ponder:

1. What aspect of song polishing do you find most challenging?

2. What techniques do you use to refine your lyrics and make them more impactful?

3. Who do you trust to give honest and constructive feedback on your music?

Hope this helps!

Simon.

www.simonhawkins.com

Ready to unlock the full potential of your songwriting using TWO TOOLS? Drawing from my book Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, with seven universal song maps to get started, integrating with a second tool will take your writing to another level. Discover the game-changing technique of pyramiding, a powerful method to elevate your lyrics and bring your music to new heights!

Pyramiding is all about crafting an immersive and captivating experience for listeners. In my friend Andrea Stolpe’s1 brilliant book Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling, she delves deeper into this transformative approach.

Picture a pyramid, where the base represents your song's foundation—a single idea or emotion. As your lyrics progress, the pyramid expands, amplifying energy and intricacy. The result? A mesmerizing journey through sound and story that will keep your audience hooked from start to finish.

Let me explain this a little more:

• What is Pyramiding?

• Creating Contrast with Pyramiding

• Pyramiding and Plot Progressions

• Integrating Pyramiding with Song Maps

Read on!

What is Pyramiding?

Andrea uses the visual of a Christmas tree, often symbolically drawn as three stacked pyramids. Imagining each tier as a song section, the top tier as a verse, the middle as a pre-chorus, and the bottom as a chorus, you can see how the song's scope broadens as each section progresses. The last line of each section is broader than the first line, and the title, sometimes at the very bottom of the tree, is the widest.

Pyramiding happens on two levels, large-scale and small-scale:

• Large-scale pyramiding refers to the overall song structure and how information unfolds as the song progresses through the verses, pre-choruses, and choruses. This approach creates a sense of momentum and direction, making the song move forward. It keeps the listener engaged as the story unfolds, providing a sense of anticipation and satisfaction when the song reaches its climax or hook.

• Small-scale pyramiding happens within individual sections like verses,

  pre-choruses, and bridges, starting with a simple statement and adding

  more detail and emotional depth as the section continues. This creates a

  sense of progression even within a single section, making it feel dynamic and interesting.

Pyramiding is a useful tool for songwriters because it creates a natural flow of information and energy, making the song easy to follow and enjoy. It keeps listeners engaged by strategically building and releasing tension. And this is exactly what I also talk about in my book, Song Maps.

This structure also enhances the emotional impact of a song by delivering the most impactful lines or moments precisely when the listener is primed for them.

Creating Contrast with Pyramiding

Pyramiding can create contrast between different sections, ensuring each part of the song has a distinct purpose and stands out. You might have a verse that is narrow and focused while the chorus expands on the idea with more instrumentation and energy.

By strategically contrasting sections, you can create a more dynamic and exciting listening experience. The shifts in energy and focus keep the listener engaged and help to highlight the emotional core of the song.

Pyramiding and Plot Progression

A plot progression, i.e. a Song Map, is the roadmap of your song’s story or map – it dictates how the events unfold and the emotional journey your listener takes. Pyramiding can help craft compelling plot progressions, ensuring your song has a clear beginning, middle, and end.

You can use pyramiding to reveal information, gradually creating intrigue and suspense and leading the listener towards the song's climax or resolution just at the right moment.

So, pyramiding does three essential things in our songwriting:

• Creating a natural flow in the song

• Building tension and release (see the first universal song map Tension/Release in my book for more), and

• Enhance the emotional impact when primed.

So, if you’re writing the songwriting system I introduced in my Song Maps book, integrating this with Andrea’s Pyramiding technique, you have a superpower way of writing your songs. Let me say more about what I mean…

Integrating Pyramiding with Song Maps

Pyramiding and song maps work together beautifully to create powerful and engaging songs.

A Powerful Combination for Crafting Engaging Songs

Here's how to use it:

1. Song Maps as Blueprints: Song Maps, like those described in my book, act as blueprints for a song's lyrical journey. They provide a framework for the overall structure and plot progression.

2. Pyramiding Enhances the Framework: Within that framework, pyramiding can be used to shape the information flow and energy within each section. This ensures that even within the structured path laid out by a song map, there is a sense of momentum and progression.

Example: Timezones Map and Pyramiding: Imagine using the "Timezones" Song Map from my book:

This map guides the songwriter in telling a story that unfolds across different time zones. Pyramiding can enhance this structure:

• Verse 1 (Timezone 1): Start with a narrow focus on a specific detail or emotion from that period. As the verse progresses, gradually expand the scope, adding more details and emotional depth.

• Chorus: The chorus, representing the overarching theme or message, becomes the broadest point in the pyramid for this section of the song.

• Verse 2 (Timezone 2): Employ the same pyramiding technique, starting narrow and gradually widening the scope of information and intensity.

• Bridge: This section often provides a moment of reflection, a shift in perspective, or even develops the payoff from the plot. Pyramiding can be used here to start with a narrow focus and then broaden the idea, leading to a powerful return to the chorus.

Here are two other things –

Pyramiding Adds Nuance: By using pyramiding within each section of a song map, you can avoid a static or repetitive feel. The information and energy continuously evolve, making the song dynamic and captivating.

Combined Effect: Combining song maps and pyramiding creates a synergistic effect. The map provides the overall structure and direction, ensuring a coherent narrative, while pyramiding ensures each section within that structure is compelling and engaging.

In essence, song maps and pyramiding are complementary techniques. Song maps provide the scaffolding, and pyramiding fills the details with dynamic and purposeful information flow.

Conclusion

Pyramiding is a technique every songwriter can use to elevate their craft. When you combine it with any of the seven universal Song Maps as well, you have a superpower. It’s more than just a structural tool; it's a way to control the listener's experience, guide their emotions, and ensure your song leaves a lasting impact.

To learn more about pyramiding and Andrea Stolpe’s insights into commercial songwriting, check out her book Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling. It’s great!

If you want to know more about another technique for songwriting lyrics - Song Painting - click here.

Questions

Here are a few questions to think about:

1. How can you use pyramiding to enhance the emotional arc of your next song?

2. What are some ways to avoid making your songs feel formulaic when using pyramiding?

3. Which of your favorite songs effectively use pyramiding, and what can you learn from them?

Hope this helps!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

Irony is a tool that is often used in novels, films, and other forms of media and is brilliant for songwriters too.

The irony is something that we encounter every day. It can be hard to define, but it is often used to describe when something happens that is the opposite of what was expected.

Three types

There are various theories on how irony works, but for me, there are three types of irony that I've seen mostly:

1. Situational

2. Dramatic

3. Verbal

Situational irony is a situation in which the outcome of an event is different from what was expected.

Dramatic irony is when a character's ignorance or innocence leads to his downfall or another tragedy. But the audience knows more than the character does, such as in the wonderful story by Hans Christian Andersen - The Emperor's New Clothes. We see this in politics in the world right now.

Verbal irony is a type of speech in which the speaker says one thing but means another. It can be hard to understand this type of irony because it's not always obvious that the speaker is saying something different from what they mean. Until we hit the end or the punch line.

For songwriters, it's possible to set up a lyric using any of these types of irony. But songwriters, when done correctly, may have a truly significant impact on listeners, allowing them to look at ideas from new angles. 

Examples

Many well-known artists have written songs that use irony to great effect, such as Pink's "Sober”, which boils down to the main lyric, "How do I feel this good, sober?" Other well-known hits that make effective use of irony include Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" (ironically), as well as Passenger's "Let Her Go", and Carly Simon's "You're So Vain".

Christ is the epitome of what we would call restorative irony. To everyone who sees him being crucified, it looks as if he's being left by God the Father. But in reality, he is blessed. It may appear that Christ is losing his battle at the cross, but in truth, he is winning the ultimate victory. The world sees him as weak and powerless because of his gruesome death on the cross when actually, he displays great strength by rising from the dead three days later.

All throughout Scripture, there are examples of ironies that point to this greatest irony of all–that Jesus died for our sins even though He committed none Himself.

I would love to hear more Worship songs on these ideas.

Questions

Here are a few questions:

• Are there any songs in your Idea Bank that could be used in your songs? 

• Are there any of your favorite songs that capture an idea with words that paint something else?

• How about using this tool to write a Worship song?

Enjoy!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

When I wrote my first-ever song, I started rhyming. It was all about a long list of rhymes that sound almost the same – 

• Day/Stay/Bay 

• Enough/Stuff/Guff

And after a while, I realized I needed more options for rhymed words. Way more options because I wasn’t getting the words I needed. Especially with words like “Stuff” and “Guff”! So, having found the wonderful book, ‘Successful Lyric Writing’ by Sheila Davis, I realized there were several alternative types of rhyme, particularly: 

• Perfect rhyme (street/retreat)

• Identities (day/today, leave/believe)

• Assonance (night/strike)

• Unstressed rhyme (given/heaven)

• Consonance (can/men, bet/ate)

• Para rhyme (loft/left, sign/scene)

• Augmented (blue/gratitude, rain/stained) 

• Diminished (stairs/glares/dares/pears) etc.

And these are all great but, when I went to Berklee Music School’s online courses, I found Pat Pattisson’s Family Rhyme, which helped take it to another level. As my friend Andrea Stolpe says:

Family rhyme occurs when the stressed vowel sounds match exactly, and the ending consonant sound is closely linked. Family rhymes are like cousins of perfect rhymes. Some examples of family rhyme are: wet/deck; dame/grain; float/yoke; math/pass.

Brilliant stuff. This is what family rhyme looks like in a pic:

Family rhymes have been great for adding a large set of rhyme options to my songwriting. However, I still needed more, way more. 

This was all unlined to me when I had one of my first ever songs critiqued by a pro songwriter in Nashville in front of 12 other young songwriters like me. One of the faculty members was able to come up with way more rhyming options than I had even thought of. The 28th draft of my overworked lyric had still missed something. What was I missing? And what, exactly, was going on in the head of this genius pro-songwriter?

So, I started to check it all out from a new viewpoint. That’s when I discovered mosaic rhyme.

Mosaic rhyme

Mosaic rhyme is when one or more syllable words are matched with different syllable words e.g. “poet” and “know it”. And in songwriting, Mosaic rhyme can take lyrics to another level by combining three elements:

1. Scansion

2. Prosody, and

3. Sub-syllables

It’s possible to try and rhyme with just both 1 and 2 along with simple rhymes. However, when using mosaic rhyme, using deeper level sub-syllables, there are way more words and lines to access, and closer relevant emotions, to be used in song lyrics. 

How does this work?

Mosaic rhymes are not just using end-of-line words, but it helps deliver whole phrases and lines to use in your lyric. 

I have already talked about scansion and prosody, but you may wonder why they are so important. 

The reason is, that scansion and prosody are both fundamental to finding the right lines and rhymes for writing powerful lyrics. But when you combine them together with the third element - sub-syllables - it all starts to make sense. 

Sub-syllables look at each syllable in three parts:

• Starts 

• Middle

• Ending

What does this look like?

So the first words I was trying to rhyme - 

• Day is split into three parts “D”, “a”, and “y”

• Stay is also split into three sub-syllable parts - “St”, “a”, and “y”

When these are combined with the scansion - a “DUM” stressed overall syllable (rather than an unstressed “da”), and the prosody dictated by the music, there is a big puzzle (or mosaic) that needs to be figured out. 

This is especially when you are looking to use a number of words together. This is what mosaic rhyme is all about - and coming up with some really interesting and more fun results. 

Take the phrase

“Then you say”

What matches can be used with this with mosaic rhymes?

• Then you say

• When you stay

• Blew away

• There’s a way

And a million other lines out there, including on of my favorites – 

• Bear’st away

which is from one of Charles Wesley’s “Lamb of God”.

And here are a few things to think about:

1. Mosaic rhymes are not about how things are spelled: it’s what they sound like. This is important.

2. Any kind of rhyme can be used to match internal rhymes within a line, not just at the end of a line, from above: when/blew/there’s/bear’st.

3. The idea of this is not to necessarily find the most complex links from this technique: the art of writing with this is to see if it works with the emotion of the song. 

4. The more complex the mosaic rhyme used, the more fun it can be. Many pro songwriters use this without even thinking in terms of mosaic rhymes. But they are still doing this in their lyrics.

There are many brilliant rhymes that match masculine/feminine rhymes to multiple mosaic rhymes. This is really interesting as a lyricist, bringing many options than simply looking only family rhymes. Especially in some genres, like jazz, musicals, Worship, hymns, and rap.

For example, a line like this:

“Try to find amazing lines” (DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM)

Is the agent line, which can be linked with many other lines, like:

“Thine the work, the praise is thine” (also, DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM) 

The mosaic rhyme takes “Try to/Thine the”, “fine amazing/work the praise is”, and “line/thine”. Cool eh? 

Question

Here are a few questions: 

• Are there mosaic rhymes in lyrics you’ve already written?

• If not, how about trying a few lines or words that you could add to your lyrics?

• How about making a list of important words you would love to use in your lyrics and see if you can find some mosaic rhyme mate lines?

Enjoy!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

Drama is a brilliant way to grab your song listeners right up front. Let me explain.

Sometimes, when we are writing songs - with a Song Map or otherwise - we might linearly put all of the ideas, maybe starting with a description of the situation and writing it as the drama gradually develops. That’s fine if you want to write that kind of song. 

However, if you want to grab your listeners as quickly as possible, you need to use the first moment to draw in and capture them. My chum Shane Adams at Berklee Music School here says:

Start with drama or conflict to draw in your listeners 

The inverted pyramid method

This is similar to many writing in American newspapers early 20th century, called the inverted pyramid method of writing, which was introduced in stories, press releases, short research, articles, and other writing. Here’s what the inverted pyramid looks like, broadly:

1. Intro with a killer line

2. Then develop the most crucial idea

3. Then the second important idea

4. Less important idea

5. Outro - less important idea

This is the inverted pyramid, albeit used for songs. And this is great to use in our own songwriting, where we are simply setting up the emotional reason for the actions in our song.

Examples

BuzzFeed here list the best opening lyrics of all time with the Beatles at the top of the list, their song “A Day in the Life” – 

I read the news today, oh boy…

This is also used in worship songs, such as in “Way Maker,” the first line is:

You are here, moving in our midst

And, the first line of “Living Hope” is:

How great the chasm that lay between us

Brilliant starts of worship songs. 

So, we don’t all need to write something shocking or conflicting in our first line. But the whole point is to use the first moment to use the drama we are trying to create to capture our listeners.

Questions

Here are a few questions for you – 

• What lyrics of your songs could possibly be rewritten with a more dramatic open line?

• What is the most important crucial idea for V1? And for the Chorus?

• What other songs are great examples of having grabbed you from the first few seconds of the song?

Hope this helps!

Simon. 

www.simonhawkins.com

We all have different ways to go about our wonderful craft. There are many tools and very few rules. Nashville is a great place to discover alternative ways to write songs in the co-writing room. And this is one trick that my good friend and brilliant songwriter, publisher and author Dave Clark once said to me:

“The best way to write a song is back to front.”

And he’s right. While there is nothing set in stone, many commercial writers tend to craft the lyric this way.

What does writing ‘back to front’ look like?

What does that look like? Well, it’s written in the following order:

1. Chorus (ideally identical each time)

2. Pre-Chorus 1 (if appropriate)

3. Verse 1 (maybe a double Verse)

4. Pre-Chorus 2 (if not the same as Pre-Chorus 1)

5. Verse 2

6. Bridge

7. Outro

There we have it.

The benefits

The cool thing about writing back to front means:

• The song title, THE ONE IDEA, is mostly in the Chorus, so once it is already established it’s a lot easier to approach the title from the verses later.

• Pre-Choruses are not essential but it’s a great way to drive ideas from what seem like completely different ideas directly to the title. A smart technique.

• Having written the Chorus and Verse 1, it’s a lot easier to write Verse 2, showing a different perspective, timezone, place, role, or another dimension. This avoids Second Verse Curse (see Chapter 2 of Song Maps)

• Sometimes, after having drafted the Chorus, it helps figure out how strong the overall song could be and whether it’s worth continuing with the ideas in the song, or maybe rewriting it a little differently before writing the other sections of the song.

So when you start your next song, try to write it back to front.

Questions

Here are a few questions: 

• How do you normally write your lyrics? Front to back or back to front?

• Could back to front be worth trying?

• Do you ever find yourself hitting the wall with Second Verse Curse?

• Are there other approaches you find better? Put in the comments below!

Hope this helps!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

If you want to take your songwriting journey even further, check out other pro-songwriter tips below. These tips may help you hone your craft and take your songs to the next level!

• Write the Title

• How to Write an Idea Bank?

• Where to Write Your Best Work?

Song Mapping is a Pro-Songwriter tool that allows you to see the connections between all the words in your song. It's a great way to see how your song is structured and to find new ideas for lyrics.

Click here to learn more!

Hearing well-crafted songs with peaks and troughs makes it all the more wonderful to listen to. But what do I mean, exactly, by peaks and troughs? There are two kinds:

• Music–The term "peak" refers to the highest point of a song's melody, while the term "trough" refers to the lowest point. By understanding how to identify and utilize these elements in your songwriting, you can create a more dynamic and interesting musical composition.

• Lyric–When writing lyrics, the words you choose will set the tone and convey the message of your song. And while there are no rules when it comes to writing lyrics, peaks and troughs refer to the high and low points in your song.

The highs are the exciting or emotional moments, while the lows are the more introspective or reflective moments. By alternating between these two states, you can create an engaging and meaningful song.

So, how do we craft songs with the appropriate peaks and troughs? The following might help.

Five Tips

Here are five tips for using peaks and troughs in your songs:

1. Use peaks to add excitement–If you want to create a song that is high energy and upbeat, then use peaks to add excitement. Highlight the positive moments and let the music and the lyrics convey the feeling of joy!

2. Use troughs to add depth–If you want to create a more reflective or introspective song, then use troughs to add depth. These low moments can be used to explore the darker side of your lyrics and to really connect with your listeners.

3. Find the balance–It's important to find a balance between peaks and troughs in your song. If you have too many highs, then the song may feel scattered and overwhelming. If you have too many lows, then the song may feel depressing and lackluster. Find the right mix of peaks and troughs to create a song that is both engaging and meaningful.

4. Use transitions–Transitions are key when using peaks and troughs in your song. These moments can help to connect the different parts of your song and to keep the listener engaged, for example, when the Bridge goes to a different musically and lyrically space before coming back to the Chorus.

5. Experiment–Don't be afraid to experiment with peaks and troughs in your song. This is a flexible technique that can be used in many different ways. So play around with it and see what works best for your song.

For example, here’s what it could look like on a graph:

Examples

Here are some interesting commercial examples:

• A good example of using peaks and troughs to create excitement is in the song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" by Justin Timberlake. The song starts with a low, introspective verse before building to an exciting and high-energy chorus. This contrast between the lows and highs creates a song that is both catchy and emotional.

• Another example of using peaks and troughs to add depth is in the song "Hello" by Adele. The song starts with a high, emotional chorus before going into a low, introspective bridge. This contrast between the highs and lows allows Adele to explore different emotions within the same song.

• And finally, an example of finding the balance between peaks and troughs is in the song "All of Me" by John Legend. The song starts with a high, emotional chorus before going into a low, introspective verse. However, the song never gets too low or too high, which creates a song that is both beautiful and balanced.

Peaks and troughs are a great way to add excitement and depth to your lyrics and music. By alternating between these two states, you can create a song that is both engaging and meaningful. So, don't be afraid to experiment with this technique and see what works best for your song.

Questions

Here are some questions you might want to consider when using peaks and troughs in your songwriting:

1. What feeling are you trying to create with this song?

2. What kind of journey do you want your listener to go on?

3. How can you use both peaks and troughs to create that feeling or take the listener on that journey?

4. What transitions can you use to move between the peaks and troughs?

Hope this helps!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

Allusion is a figure of speech that references a person, place, thing, or event. These references can be direct or indirect, but allusions typically use less explicit language than metaphors or similes. Allusions can be found in various kinds of writing, including literature, music, and everyday conversation.

Allusions are a powerful tool in songwriting, but they can be challenging to create. A good allusion will add depth and meaning to your song without being too heavy-handed. With a bit of practice, you'll be able to quickly use them like a pro!

Why is Allusion Effective?

Allusions are effective in songwriting because they can add depth and meaning to a lyric without being heavy-handed or instructive. A well-placed allusion can also be a clever way to reference something your audience is already familiar with, making your song more relatable and memorable. They can be a powerful tool in a songwriter's arsenal when used skillfully.

Examples of Allusion

Songwriters often use allusions to add depth and meaning to their songs. Here are some examples:

"All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan

The opening line of this song is an allusion to the Book of Isaiah in the Bible. Dylan is referencing the time when the world will end, and God will come to rescue his people.

"I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston

This song, made famous by Whitney Houston, is a wonderful song originally written and performed by Dolly Parton. The allusion in the lyrics comes from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet says, "parting is such sweet sorrow."

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

The song's opening line, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" is an allusion to life and death. The lyrics also reference several works of literature, including Alice in Wonderland, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet.

As you can see, allusions can add depth and meaning to a piece of writing, or they can be used for fun. So keep your eyes peeled for allusions the next time you're reading or listening to something new!

Questions

Here are a few questions –

• What other examples of allusion have you seen on your journey? Add in the comments below!

• Are there any songs or ideas in your Idea Bank that could be written with an allusion?

• What literature (like, The Bible!) could be used to apply as an allusion in your songwriting?

Hope this helps!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

When writing a song, it's important to make sure that the lyrics reflect the title. After all, the title is what everyone will be looking for! Especially a cool title. This seems odd but so many songs I’ve critiqued move away from THE ONE IDEA of the song, it’s unlikely to make the song work further than the artist/writer.

Here’s the thing: the title is the business card for the song - it tells people where your song is going and what they can expect. So take your listeners on a journey with you! We'll give you some tips on how to do just that.

Why write the title?

One of my favorite books on lyric writing is Sheila Davis’ “Successful Lyric Writing”. In this, she says:

The name of your product is the title, what the consumer asks for at the store. Skilled songwriters are skilled in making a title both recognizable and unforgettable.”

So, titles are words or phrase that requires special treatment.

Seven Tips

Here are seven tips to help you write great lyrics that reflect your song's title:

1. Brainstorming–Start by brainstorming what the title of your song means to you. What story, pictures, or emotions does it evoke? Use these as inspiration for your lyrics.

2. The goal–As you're writing, keep the title in mind and make sure that your lyrics are all about it. Every time you mention the title, think about how you can make it more significant. The goal is to develop the title, nothing else.

3. A story, not a plot–The difference between a story and a plot is that a story is about the journey, while a plot is just a series of events. Use this tip to keep your song focused on the title - make it about the journey, not just a series of events.

4. Unifying–Allow the title to be the song's main unifying concept or the subject that every section of the song revisits, recolors, and grows as it progresses.

5. Flow–Let the lyric be logically set up by each section by ordering the flow of ideas. Often the ideas in Verse 1 may start off some way from the title, but a well-crafted Pre-Chorus can twist the lyric effectively into the Chorus to create a natural progression of ideas into the Chorus. 

6. Emotions–Capture the emotion of the song—so that a listener can recall the emotional impact of the song simply by hearing the title, as well as each section.

7. Placement–Be highlighted by its placement in the Chorus or Refrain—to spotlight it, the title is often placed in power positions in the Chorus (e.g. first and/or last lines). Also, it is often set up at the end of a Chorus by its rhyme scheme. 

There are a lot of ways to write a song, but these seven tips should help you get started focusing on the title. Remember, the title is important because it's the first thing people will hear about your song. Make sure it reflects the journey you're taking your listeners on!

Questions

Here are a few questions: 

• What process do you use when you’re writing? Does the lyric capture the title in each section?

• How can you make sure your lyrics reflect your song's title?

• Is there a lyric that could be more about the journey rather than the plot?

• Do you have any songs that you think could need a new title? The title should capture the emotions in the song.

Hope this helps!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

If you want to take your songwriting journey even further, check out other pro-songwriter tips below. These tips may help you hone your craft and take your songs to the next level!

• What is Song Mapping?

• NEW Song Map: Gradual Review

• What is Foreshadowing?

Song Mapping is a Pro-Songwriter tool that allows you to see the connections between all the words in your song. It's a great way to see how your song is structured and to find new ideas for lyrics.

Click here to learn more about Song Maps!

As songwriters, the creative process can sometimes be a bit unpredictable. You might have days when the words and music just flow and other days when it feels like you're pulling teeth.

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to make the writing process a little easier with the music – and to help ensure that the songs you write are the best they can be. 

Here are ten songwriting music hacks that will help you write even better songs.

10 Hacks

HACK #1: PROSODY – MUSIC TO WORDS

One of the most important aspects of writing a great song is ensuring that the music and words work together. Prosody is the study of the melodies and rhythms of speech, and it's something that all great songwriters understand. 

When working on a new song, you might want to pay attention to how the words sound when you sing them. If they don't flow well with the melody, try changing the melody or the words until they fit together better.

HACK #2: THE RIGHT CHORDS

Chords can also help. Chords are what give it its emotional quality. If you can find a way to change the chords in a song, you can change the way it makes you feel. For example, adding a minor chord to a major progression can create a more melancholy sound. Or, by using seventh chords, you can add a bit of jazz flavor to your tunes.

HACK #3: A NEW PROGRESSION

Listening to pop music, you know that the right chord progression can make all the difference in a song. A progression is simply a series of chords played in a particular order. If you can find a progression that you like, try playing it with different chords to see what else you can come up with.

HACK #4: A DIFFERENT TEMPO

The right tempo can make a big difference in how a song sounds. If you want to make a song sound more exciting, you can speed up the tempo. But if you're looking for a more relaxing version of a song, you can slow the tempo down. Try experimenting with different tempos to see what sounds best to your lyric.

HACK #5: ARRANGEMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION

One way to make your song more interesting is to create a new progression in the arrangement. This means that each section of the song (verse, chorus, bridge, etc.) gets progressively louder, quieter, or even faster or slower. This can be a very effective way to keep the listener engaged throughout the song. 

You can also change the instrumentation of a song to give it a different flavor. For example, if you're crafting a song for country music, try adding some banjo or steel guitar. Or, if writing EDM, try writing with a cool synthesizer loop or drum machine tracks.

HACK #6: TRY MY FAVORITE KEY – F#

One small change can make a big difference in your song's sound. If you want to make your song sound more unique, try changing the key. For example, if you're normally writing in the key of D, try switching to my favorite key: F# (F-sharp). This will give your song a darker, more mysterious sound. It’s more difficult to play on your keyboard, but it’s a beautiful key!

You can also change the key of a song to make it sound better. If a song is too highly-pitched, you can try lowering the key to making it sound fuller. And if a song is too low-pitched, you can try raising the key to make it sound brighter.

HACK #7: TRY A DIFFERENT MELODY OR HOOK IT

If you're having trouble coming up with a melody, try this hack: Pick a favorite song and write a new melody to the existing chords. This will help you get out of your normal writing rut and give you some ideas for melodies. 

The melody is arguably the most essential part of a song. If you can find a way to make the melody more catchy or more commercial, it can make the whole tune sound better. 

Another way to make a melody more catchy is to add a hook. A hook is a short phrase that is repeated throughout the song. It can be anything from a word or phrase to a sound effect. Hooks are what make songs memorable, and they can make even the simplest melody sound better. 

HACK #8: MAKE THE CHORUS CATCHY 

The chorus is the part of the song that is repeated after each verse. It usually contains the main melody of the song, and it's the part that people remember the most. Choruses are usually catchy and easy to sing along to. If you want your song to be more memorable, make sure your chorus is catchy and easy to sing along to. 

Sometimes adding a little more space in the chorus is helpful, or adding longer notes, or even one syllable sung over a number of notes – a rising melody or a falling melody – otherwise known as melisma. This is a lovely trick.

HACK #9: VOCAL EFFECTS

While you're at the demo stage, vocal effects are a great way to make your song more interesting and unique. There are a variety of vocal effects that you can use, from echo to reverb to pitch shifters. Adding reverb or delay can give your favorite singer's voice a whole new dimension. So go ahead and experiment with different effects to see what sounds best.

HACK #10: MOTIFS

A motif is a melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic idea that recurs throughout a song. Listening for motifs can help you better appreciate the overall structure of a piece, and can also make complex works more digestible. Try listening for motifs next time you're stuck on a particularly dense listen; it might just help you unlock the music's hidden treasures.

So there you have it, ten ways to make your favorite tunes sound even better. Give them a try and see how they work for you.

Questions

Here are a few questions: 

• Do you have any favorite music hacks? Let us know in the comments below!

• When you've written part of the lyric, what music could best combine to enhance the song? 

• What chords, progressions, motifs, or hooks shine the lyric best?

• What can somehow make the chorus work best? 

Hope this helps!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

I was once taking a songwriting course and the speaker mentioned the word Anaphora. Unfortunately, he didn’t say what it was, just something worth looking at after. It made me think: “What (on earth!!) is Anaphora?”. So, I thought I should do a little research.

Anaphora is a great tool to simply use a word or phrase at the beginning of several lines. The benefit of using anaphora is to:

• Build emphasis

• Build emotion, and

• Build drama

Just like that.

And it’s found in all sorts of places - in songs, speeches, poetry, and anywhere that builds the moment somehow. In songwriting, repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of a number of lines can really add something to the lyric.

Here are 15 Anaphora Examples written by Barbara Sturm here. Great stuff.

How does it work?

In my book Song Maps, chapter 5, I introduce Map 2 - Problem/Declaration, where I talk about simpler Choruses, especially writing anthemic songs. And anaphora is just where this can help. Here’s the passage:

”One thing to note is that anthemic songs can often benefit from simpler Choruses, for example:

• Title

• Title

• Another line

• Title

Or simply,

• Title

• Title

• Title

I often think that, as writers of lyric-driven songs, we are sometimes nervous about writing simple Choruses. We feel like we are somehow shortchanging the artist or listener by having a three-or four-line Chorus with a lot of repetition. But if you look at many of the most successful song hits, they often have simple three or four line Choruses with a lot of repetition of the title. Just sayin’.”

This is what happened with my song “He Is God”:

He is God, author of all

He is God, of power and awe

Nations rise and nations fall

But He’s still God

Yes, He is God

This is Title/Title/Another line/Title. But I haven’t yet written a Title/Title/Title Chorus so far this year.

How to use this?

There are many examples of using anaphora across all genres of music. The trick here is to keep a substantial idea when it needs to be repeated, say, in the Chorus or in a Refrain. For example, there is nothing substantial about someone losing their shoe (although maybe that’s a creative frontier yet to be explored!). The repeated phrase or word needs to be something people can really ‘get’ in an idea. Often, for writing anthemic songs, the Chorus needs to have something people can get behind, something universal enough for people to totally agree with—a cause, an injustice, a purpose or a triumph.

Here are a few steps I’d suggest:

1. Decide the main idea for the lyric (say, using a Song Map)

2. Draft how this idea can be developed in each section (say, a Writable Idea)

3. Decide on the Title (say, a phrase or word)

4. Generate options to best position the Title in the Chorus, using a phrase or maybe a word

5. Draft the Chorus and then sing/read it back to see if it works

And there we go, you’ve just written a lyric anaphora.

Questions

Here are a few questions –

• What songs in your Idea Bank could be developed using a simple Chorus using anaphora?

• Could anaphora help you build the emotional hook of your lyrics?

• Have you written a song or two that would be more impactful in your catalog if using this tool?

Enjoy!

Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

Hey, I'm writing a Christmas song! And this is partly what made me think of this lovely songwriting tool: foreshadowing. 

Foreshadowing is an English language device to drop into a lyric, linked to something used later on in the song.

How does it work? 

Often, it can use many nouns to set up what/who/where/when we are in our lyric. Foreshadowing is linked to plot (which I mention in Song Maps) and narrative, so often used in books or films, and foreshadowing is used to create anticipation, a sense of thinking: 

'Something is about to happen' 

In one of my favorite songs, Three Wooden Crosses sung by Randy Travis, the great songwriters Kim Williams and Doug Johnson used foreshadowing in this. It's is an excellent example of setting up the whole song in verse 1 - introducing five people and a bus (a farmer, teacher, hooker, preacher, and bus driver) who are all on a journey bound to Mexico. And 'the eighteen-wheeler can't stop on a dime.' And the plot thickens in verses 2 and 3.

Interestingly, verse 3 ends up much later in the future with someone else describing this in a story to others, also part of the lyric. It's a fantastic example of saying so much in so few words. And this song uses foreshadowing to quickly introduce the story in verse 1. 

How to use this?

Although 'Three Wooden Crosses' is a story song, foreshadowing can be used in any kind of song, as long as a little bit of planning is done to make this work. In terms of using this device, here are a few steps I'd suggest:

1. Verse 1: Find the main verbs/nouns and weave them into this verse (i.e., foreshadow them) for them to support the main idea in the chorus.

2. Chorus: Summarize the main idea. This could even be a very simple chorus.

3. Verse 2: Move on the story about the verbs/nouns from verse 1, somehow linking to the main idea in the chorus.

4. Verse 3/Bridge: Move the story on again but try to complete the lyric before getting to the chorus.

These are similar to the Timezones Song Map I mentioned in the book:

Verse 1 - Timezone 1 - the story begins

Chorus 1 - Title

Verse 2 - Timezone 2 - the story moves on

Chorus 2 - Title

Bridge - Timezone 3 or Payoff

Chorus 3 - Title 

And this Song Map is a great way to write with foreshadowing. So it looks like my new Christmas song might be a Timezone song!

Question

What writable ideas in your Idea Bank could maybe be developed using foreshadowing? Do you have any Timezone writable ideas that could be developed this way?

– Simon

www.simonhawkins.com

This is all about timing, which is one of the most important tools for writing commercial songs.

Here’s a story

Twenty years ago, when I finally left my corporate job to become a full-time songwriter, I knew there was a lot of information I didn’t know about this beautiful craft. Especially for Christian music. It was not just about lyrics and music, but …

Read more

Some time ago, I walked along the most beautiful part of this country, along the South Downs. It was spectacular - on the right: sea, miles away - on the left: English countryside at its best. On the way home, I walked close to the station at Amberley, where there was still an old signal box that housed a mechanical set of levers to make sure each train went on the right line. And it reminded me of something about our own beautiful craft: Prosody.

What is it?

I’ve always thought prosody is a lovely moment when we craft a song with a perfect combination of lyrics and music. And prosody is great, mostly because it enables us to paint a particular emotion with our song, which ultimately is what we try to achieve as songwriters. 

But, taking this more in-depth, there are more things we have at our availability when we write a song than thinking about just the words and music.

Prosody has two parts: 

• Phonology

• Cognitive

Now, if you’re like me, this is probably too deep to spend too much time talking about anything with an ‘ology’ at the end of a word like that. But, for me as a songwriter, there are some things it can interest me in: my seven levers of prosody.

My seven levers

Looking at the two parts of prosody, there are seven different levers we can use as songwriters (and poets) like the signalman used to pull and push in his signal box: 

1. Chunking - this is whether the syllables are in the right place at the right time in the music. Here’s the rule for stresses (“DUM”) and unstressed (“da”) syllables in a 4/4 staff: 

   • DUM goes on beat 1 or 3

   • da goes on beat 2 or 4. 

2. Emotion - what’s the emotion in the lyric - well, that’s where the melody needs to go (high or low)

3. Intonation - 3 T’s - tonality, tonicity, and tone. This is all about sub-syllable parts in threes - a beginning, a middle and an end - then match to the melody, the emotion, as the chucking in 1.

4. Loudness/stress - production should fix this, often kept to the chorus.

5. Pitch - higher notes are normally for higher emotion and vice versa. Maybe keep some for the chorus too.

6. Rhythm (and rhyme) - similar to 1 above for rhythm. Rhyme keeps with the established rhyme scheme, except if there’s no rhymes. Always choose emotion above a sucky rhyme. 

7. Tempo - unless we’re in classical or musical songs, it might be worth keeping to the beats per minute (BPM) constant. But there're no rules, just tools.

There are, in reality, more levers we can pull or push, we can talk about. But for me, these are the major ones. 

How to use this?

Am I saying, to be a GRAMMY winner, we have to get a PhD in linguistics? No! In reality, it’s more about the craft than the science of how this works - it’s about the art and emotion matching between our lyrics and music together. 

For me, this is what I do:

• Find the bumps - having drafted a song - both the lyric and the music - I listen to the complete song to see if there are any “bumps” in there, where the emotions don’t seem to fit together.

• Decide which to fix - listen to the bump zone and decide what would be better to fix - the lyric or the music. For me, it’s a lot easier to fix the music because, for me, music is always there. 

• Fix and review - having fixed it, I listen to it now again with the new lyric or music, asking does it still cause a bump in the song? Do the music and lyric now match perfectly? If not, I go back and have another go.

This is normally not a rewrite - just minor things. Things that make all the difference to make it a more powerful song. And, to be honest, if it needs a re-write, that would be fine with me because it’s a lot cheaper to fix something in the writing room than in the studio where it’s being demoed.

Questions

Here are a few questions for you: 

• Could there be a bump somewhere in one of your songs?

• If you found one and you’ve fixed it, what does it sound like without the bump now?

• Is it more powerful because of it ironed out?

This is all about having a song that is packed with emotion the way you intended. Ultimately, it could mean the difference between getting your song cut rather than left unheard. 

I hope this helps!

Simon.

www.simonhawkins.com

As songwriters, every now and again, we hear people saying the phrase “Scansion”. But what exactly is it talking about?

Scansion is another general lyric tool and is particularly important. It’s the principle of preserving the natural shape of language and has a lot to do with getting the marriage of words to music right.

While there are few rules in songwriting – only tools – squeezing in an unnatural rhyme or a set meaning into a line can often undermine the emotional impact of your writing. 

Conversely, getting the scansion or words to music right will result in a much stronger emotional impact of your song. This might be particularly important if you are writing in a lyric-driven genre.

How scansion works

Each word in the dictionary has a natural rhythm comprised of stressed and unstressed syllables. When you combine words into a line this has a natural rhythm or 'shape'. This means that finding the best line for your song isn't just a matter of figuring out the “rhyme scheme”, but also the “rhythm scheme” of your song. It impacts what happens when we reach for the rhyming dictionary, what choices we make with the possible words we find.

Similarly, each melody has a natural rhythm comprised of stressed and unstressed beats according to where they sit in the bar. Stressed beats are (in a 4/4 signature) beats 1 and 3. Unstressed beats are beats 2 and 4.

When the shape of our words perfectly matches the shape of our melody we have the best chance to communicate the full emotional impact of our lyrics.

How to get the scansion right

I suggest the following three-step process:

1. Step 1- Figure out the rhythm of the melody

2. Step 2 - Figure out the rhythm of a possible lyric

3. Step 3 - Do they match? If not, try another line or melody. If they match your scansion is good.

Note: Steps 1 and 2 can be switched.

Example

If we have a melody with a rhythm of:

"da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM"

where:

da = an unstressed beat in the melody

DUM = a stressed beat in the melody

And the lyric we are thinking about using is:

"I know that love can bring changes", which has a natural rhythm of:

"da DUM da DUM da DUM DUM da"

This works well for the first six syllables of the line, but falls apart when we get to the word "Changes". Try saying it with the stressed and unstressed syllables switched around i.e. "da DUM" rather than its natural shape, "DUM da". This is what setting it to our existing melody would want us to do.

So we now have three choices:

1. Live with the imperfect match - this is clearly my least favored option.

2. Rewrite the melody to match our lyric - this can be done by simply adding a note or two or nudging the syllables of our line to land on the right stressed/unstressed beats of our (slightly modified) new melody.

3. Find another lyric that matches the melody - for example:

"A love that turned my life around" 

has a natural rhythm of:

"da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM"

Perfect.

Questions

Are there lyrics in your catalogue that you feel would benefit from getting better scansion? If you fix it, how does this affect the overall emotional impact of the song?

Simon.

www.simonhawkins.com

Here's a new word. It's a unique word I made up myself –

"Universalizing"

This is a general lyric tool, inspired by the beautiful book "The Craft of Lyric Writing" by Sheila Davis. What I mean by "universalizing" is turning our experiences into things that somehow resonate with our listeners. And this resonates in a far more powerful way than if we tell them every detail.

One of my co-writers put it very well when he said:

”The songwriter's challenge is to turn the specifics of their lives into something everyone can hang their stuff on."

This might at first seem to be a bit of an idea crusher – having to make every idea 'big enough to write a song about. But, while I do think ideas need to be substantial enough to write, I think that's looking at universalizing the wrong way round. I believe universalizing opens up a whole new world of potential song ideas because it's about harvesting elements of what may seem to us as sometimes negative, mundane detail to produce beautiful principles that can unlock, inspire, empower and ignite our listeners' lives through our lyrics.

Examples

Instead of writing a song about the fear of seeing a dentist after having a long-standing toothache, write about how taking charge of our challenges empowers us to live life to the full.

Perhaps, from our experience of deep frustration or failure, write a song about how we will persevere. Or maybe, how we draw strength from our faith in dark times or how, with a bit of belief from a loved one, we become empowered to achieve more than we ever thought possible.

How to universalize

I suggest the following three-step method:

1. Recollection: Think of several recent struggles or challenges you have had, no matter how mundane they might feel to you

2. Extraction: What life lessons can you derive from those experiences, replacing your specifics with generalities?

3. Mapping: Using an appropriate Song Map (Tension/Response, for example), turn one of these life lessons into a Writable Idea.

Question

What recent experience, struggle, or meaningful moment could you universalize into a great song idea?

Simon.

www.simonhawkins.com

The other day, Poppy and I went to have 'special time', which means taking off and finding a nice cup of coffee somewhere and having a chit-chat for an hour or so. There was nothing specific to talk about – no bad news or good news. Just chatting.

A few other people were having a special time, or whatever they call it, some dads and daughters (like us), some parents who wanted a break with their small, young children, and some moms with their children. But we were all doing the same thing.

On our way back to the car in the car park, there was something odd: right next to each other, there were two cars of the same make, model, and color. How crazy was that? There are not too many Fiat Pandas around this part of Great Britain. But to get two parking right next to others is rare.

And it made me realize three things:

• We often do similar things – sitting or parking next to each other.

• We often look similar – sure, we are all unique in our own way, just like my car has its salty white deposit on its black windshield wipers, but, ultimately, both cars look remarkably similar.

• We often like finding others – just like when found our lovely little car blue Fiat parked next to her sweet sister, we needed to celebrate by taking a picture!

I'm sure there are many other ways we're similar right now. So, let's celebrate!

– SJLH

www.simonhawkins.com

Tonight, I drove the short trip to pick up my daughter, Poppy, from her school bus. It was a beautiful evening, deep dark blue skies with a few waking up stars, and a thin sliver of moon. Then, all of a sudden, in front of me a car came hurtling around the corner with its main beam shining full up, ice white, piercing through the night. Yes, I was:

DAZZLED

Why am I writing about this?

Well, sometimes it’s just like this when you are songwriting. Here’s why:

1. Trust – Sometimes, you need to trust that you’re driving to the right place. Like when you are dazzled by the main beam in front of you, there are moments when you’re not totally clear about where the road is going. Sometimes you can only see, and it’s the same thing when you’re writing a song - the reason for dazzling can be from a number of main lights:

• The dazzle of your co-writers

• The dazzle of your co-writer’s craft, which you hope will LOVE your ideas

• The dazzle of your publisher, hoping they will LOVE the song you’ve just written

• The dazzle of the artist, you hope, will LOVE your song demo.

If or when you’re dazzled, just keep writing.

2. Tools – Sometimes, all we can see is the dashboard to make sure you’re driving at the right speed. And the same way as songwriters we have our dashboard ourselves:

• Rhyme schemes

• Structures

• Title placement

• Unity emotion

• The lyrical Map

There are hundreds of similar tools, which all become part of our own songwriting dashboard when we are dazzled.

3. Waiting – Sometimes you need to wait until you see a signpost, something like a 30 mph speed sign or a 'welcome' to your own town. You just hope you’ll get there by simply waiting. And it’s the same thing with songwriting – sometimes you need to chase an idea until you’ve written all verses, the chorus, and the bridge before you KNOW that the song has been written.

Being dazzled by the million things that can worry you about your craft. Just trust. Do your best. And before you know it you will be home.

Take care! 

– SJLH

www.simonhawkins.com

I hope you and your family are doing OK through this nasty season of COVID-19, but I’ve been getting to the end of box series on TV and films. Whatever you’re doing in lockdown, here’s something you might find useful.

After reading my book Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, someone recently emailed to ask me, 

“Where do song title ideas come from?”

Well, there are many different ways to start writing a new song. And titles are an excellent place to start. So I took a look at my Idea Bank and here are my top 25 techniques to find new song titles to write -

My top 25 techniques for generating song titles

In alphabetical order:

1. Adages titles

2. Alliteration titles

3. Altering the adage titles

4. Antonyms titles

5. Cause & effect titles

6. Colloquialisms titles

7. Colors titles

8. Conversations titles

9. Dates titles

10. Epigrams titles

11. Evolving situation titles

12. Literal & figurative titles

13. Maxim titles

14. Multi character titles

15. Multi meaning titles

16. Multi time frame titles

17. Neutralized chorus titles

18. One word titles

19. Physical & emotional titles

20. Places titles

21. Realization titles

22. Situation & reason titles

23. Times titles 

24. Verses show chorus tells titles

25. Word switches titles

How to use these techniques

Here’s what I do:

1. Scan the list of 25 techniques until I find something I think sounds fun to try

2. Come up with a few words or phrases with that technique 

3. Figure out how to develop through the song (i.e., a Song Map)

4. Jot that down ready for writing as a draft lyric

Every now and then, when I think I want something completely new to write about, I tend to spend an hour or two generating a whole LOAD of ideas to be written later. It’s a bit like binge-watching, but for songwriters! 

Question

Here are a few questions: 

• How about trying a few?

• Is there one that works better than any others on the list?

• Maybe try TWO different techniques together? These are sometimes the best titles to write!

Enjoy!

Simon Hawkins 

www.simonhawkins.com