Flip Method #4 – Inverting
Clichés are an integral part of songwriting, but they can sometimes become stale and lose their impact. In this blog post, we’ll discuss inverting – which is one of the ways we can switch up well-known clichés, and create memorable lyrics.
This blog post aims to summarise the fourth part of our video “The Crazy Easy Trick to Write Great Lyrics (The Flip Method)’’. Click here to watch the video for more details, explanations and examples.
What is Inverting?
Inverting a cliché involves taking a familiar expression and presenting its opposite. It’s like turning a negative into a positive or a positive into a negative, which can lead to interesting results. For instance, consider the cliché, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” By inverting it, we get, “The grass is never greener on the other side,” which presents an entirely different meaning from the usual cliché.
You could even try to add some depth into the cliché as you’re inverting it. Take the cliché “Actions speak louder than words” as an example. We could flip it so that it instead reads “Actions cower in the shadow of words”. This not only allows to bring new meaning to the cliché, but also adds greater depth by creating more imagery.
However, it’s to be noted that this will not work for all types of clichés. If a cliché has no clear opposite to it, or would just sound strange inverted, then this method wouldn’t be suitable to use.
If you’d like to experiment with this method further, you can download this free PDF eBook entitled “The 5 Best Songwriting Exercises for Writing Great Lyrics”:
Examples of Inverting
The following are some examples of inverting popular clichés:
- Cliché: Think outside the box
Inverted: Think, confined in the box - Cliché: I’ve got my plate full
Inverted: My plate is empty - Cliché: There are plenty more fish in the sea
Inverted: The fish are sparse in the sea - Cliché: Lost track of time
Inverted: Keeping track of time
Conclusion: Flip Method #4 – Inverting
Inverting clichés allows us to take a different approach to breathing life into our lyrics. By doing so, we ensure that our songwriting isn’t plagued by overused, and boring phrases. Thus, creating memorable but distinct lyrics.
This is only the fourth of six flip methods that we’ve come up with. Check out the full article for all 6 methods or watch the video here now.
And if you’re interested in more ideas, tools, techniques, and inspiration for your lyric writing make sure to check out this playlist that we have made just for you
Level up your songwriting with five radically practical exercises used by professional songwriters around the world:
