Tag: lori mckenna

• February 17, 2023

  Top 5 Exercises for Coming Up With Great Song Lyric Ideas: #4—Metaphor Sense Writing

  Metaphor Sense Writing is a combination of Exercise #1 (Sense Writing) and #2 (Metaphor Collisions). It’s a way to take a novel combination of ideas—the sun is a bride; aging is a church (for example)—and expand the connection between the two ideas, filling it with rich language that furrows into the rabbit hole of the…

• 

  December 15, 2021

  Getting to Great Chorus Lyrics

  A great chorus is more than just the bit where the lyrics repeat. This video dives deep into the craft of finding and writing great chorus lyrics. We look at what a great choruses really do (beyond merely repeating), and look deeply at one of the most important concepts in great chorus writing: RECOLOURING. We…

• September 16, 2019

  Steal Like a Songwriter

  The most effective way I write songs is to immerse myself in songwriters. I like to remind myself of the songwriters who will always, without question, ignite something in me. Here is my list.   These writers don’t just write great songs; they are GREAT SONGWRITERS. Drenching myself in the structures, forms, and developments of…

• September 1, 2019

  Metaphor in songwriting is alive and well, thanks.

  Many years ago, while living in LA, I heard a Big Shot Industry Dude (cue Beethoven’s 5th…) say: “Songs shouldn’t have metaphors in them. I can’t think of a good song that has a metaphor.” To my great relief, and with a giddy sort of rebellious delight, all of us songwriters gathered afterward, as if…