Here’s How to Write Breathtaking Lyrics
Every songwriter dreams of writing lyrics that resonate, tell compelling stories, and evoke deep emotions. Yet, even the most seasoned lyricists sometimes find themselves struggling to squeeze their story into a song. This often results in them overloading their song with multiple perspectives, thus muddling the clarity of their message. In this article, we’ll be going through our easy, 3-step solution for this problem, which we call “The W3 Formula”.
This article is a summarised transcript of our video “A Simple Formula that makes Lyric Writing So Much Easier!”. Click here to watch the video for more details, explanations and examples.
Question 1: Who is talking?
The first W refers to the question, “Who is talking?”. One of our goals as a songwriter is to bring our listener into the world of our song’s story. The easiest way to accomplish this is to identify whose point of view your song’s story is being told from, and indicating it as early on in a song as possible. This can be done through the use of pronouns such as I/Me/My/Mine, She/Her/Hers, and He/Him/His.
To demonstrate this, let’s take a look at the opening line of the famous “Hotel California” by The Eagles. Here are the original lyrics:
“On a dark desert highway,
Cool wind in my hair”
By using the pronoun “My”, we very quickly imagine that we’re the storyteller. We instantly feel as if we’re in a vehicle with cool, desert wind blowing in our hair. By introducing a pronoun early on the song, it allows their audience to emotionally invest in their story.
Get our free PDF Workbook on “The W3 Formula” here:
Question 2: Whom are they talking to?
After you’ve decided whose point of view the song is from, you then have to decide whom the storyteller is talking to. Let’s take a look at the verse of Leon Bridge’s song, “Texas Sun”:
“You say you like the wind blowing through your hair,
Come on, roll with me ‘till the sun goes down,
Texas sun”
The usage of “You” and “Me” early on in the song helps us to understand that the storyteller is talking about something that happened between themselves and someone else. This places the listener in a position where they’re witnessing a conversation between two people take place. You can see this illustrated in the graphic below:
We can see an example of another type of song dynamic by examining the song “What’s He Building?” by Tom Waits. Here’s the first verse below:
“What’s he building in there?
What the hell is he building in there?
He has subscriptions to those magazines
He never waves when he goes by
He’s hiding something from the rest of us
He’s all to himself
I think I know why”
This time, the storyteller is clearly talking about someone else. What’s interesting is that the lyrics have been written in such a way that the listener is included in the storyteller’s conversation. In fact, the storyteller is talking about someone else out loud, with the listener witnessing this monologue. The result is that the listener feels as if the storyteller is gossiping about someone else with them. You can see this illustrated in the graphic below:
The bottom line is that by defining the target of your song’s narrative early on, you can establish a narrative which is both coherent, and emotionally potent.
Question 3: Why are you writing your song?
The final step of “The W3 Formula” involves asking yourself the purpose behind your song. This can be a difficult process. However, it’s also extremely crucial to the creation of an impactful song. Without a clear reason or motivation behind your song, listener’s might not be able to connect with your song’s narrative. To put it simply, the songs which best connect with listeners are ones with something to say.
Here are some questions which might help you discern the purpose of your song:
- Why does this song exist?
- Are you processing an experience?
- Are you trying to persuade?
- What is the motivation for writing this song?
- What do you as the songwriter need to say or express?
Bonus: A Common Mistake
To finish off, let’s touch on one of the most common mistakes done by songwriters which causes listeners to disconnect from their song’s narrative. This mistake is switching pronouns.
Take a look at the comparison of two versions of “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles below:
The version on the left is of the original song, whilst the version on the right has the same thing but with a changed pronoun. By changing pronouns to “You” after talking about Eleanor Rigby in third person, the listener becomes confused. As a result, they’ll become disorientated, and feel a sense of disconnect with the song’s narrative.
Conclusion: Here’s How to Write Breathtaking Lyrics
So, when you’re feeling lost whilst writing a song or if you’re unsure how to move forward, be sure to come back to the three questions ie. “Who?”, “Whom?”, and “Why?”. By using this 3 step method, you’ll be able to write lyrics which emotionally connect with your listeners, and keep them listening for your next word.
If you would like more details, explanations and examples, then be sure to check out the video now.
