5 Ways to Be Sure Your Lyrics Are As Effective As Possible

In the writing of song lyrics, simplicity is key element.

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The average audience member would be hard-pressed to identify any particular melody or chord progression as coming from one songwriter or another. While it’s possible to identify performers by the sound of the band, it’s the lyric where personal and unique style really can come through.

Once you’ve written your song lyric, take a close look at it, and see if you are achieving these 5 crucial responsibilities of good lyrics. Missing even just one can compromise the quality of your lyric and the effectiveness of your song:

1. Lyrics need to create images in the mind of the listener. Simple descriptions are often not enough to pull an audience into your song. Good lyrics use metaphors, similes, and other poetic devices to get the attention of the listener and deepen lyrical meaning.
2. Lyrics need to use common words that people use every day. Using complex, highbrow terminology in your song lyrics makes your song come across as disconnected from everyday life, and keeps listeners from feeling emotion.
3. Verse lyrics need to lay the groundwork by describing people and situations. They need to keep emotional responses to a minimum. There is a time to emote – in the chorus. But in the verse, you need to give the audience enough of an interesting description or storyline, using captivating imagery, that makes eventual emotions welcome and make sense.
4. Chorus lyrics need to emote, and need to succeed in creating an emotional response in a listener. So in your song choruses, use words and phrases that raise the enthusiasm and emotion to high levels. Listeners need to be able to empathize with the singer.
5. Bridge lyrics need to be able to complete the story for the audience. Verses describe a situation, choruses then offer an emotional response. But it’s the bridge lyric that allows the full situation or story to be fulfilled. By the end of a bridge, a listener needs to feel that there’s nothing left to be revealed. For that reason, bridges are often the most important part of a song, lyrically speaking.

Never underestimate the role a good lyric plays in the success of a song. One of the best ways to improve your lyric-writing abilities is to keep a notebook or file filled with great examples of lyrics from the best songwriters.

And always remember: great lyrics are not necessarily great poems. The best lyrics are usually simply-written, using basic words that evoke strong images.

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