FOUNDATION SONGWRITING LESSON 4

LYRIC WRITING 2: TELLING A STORY (WRITING VERSES)

The verse is where the song-writer gets to tell their story. In older musical forms (like a lot of Appalachian folk music or blues) verses typically made up the bulk of the song, and tunes were often many.many, many verses long - often with the chorus added as an after-thought - if there's a chorus at all!

These days verses typically tend to be a lot shorter, and most songs are normally limited to 2-3 verses in total. (The exception to this is hip-hop, which often has multiple extended verses).

In modern music, the first verse normally 'sets up' the story, introduces the listener to the main characters, themes, tensions and setting of the tune. Verses 2 is where the main action of the song happens, and verse 3 resolves the story, talks about how the characters have changed or developed, and looks to the future . Look at the following examples:

SOME GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW WHEN WRITING VERSES

Keep your language simple and conversational. Flowery, poetic language takes up too much space, and is harder to fit rhythmically into a melody. Keeping your language simple is a really effective way to engage an audience.

The Devil is in the Detail  While it's a great idea to try to write about universal themes that lots of people in your audience will be able to relate to, you also want your listeners to be able to picture the scene your painting easily. One way to do this is to consider details such as: What time of day is it? What is the weather like? Is the room that the narrator is in crowded or empty?

Always keep the story in mind! Try to avoid adding lines 'just for the sake' of achieving a rhyme, each line should be pushing your story forward. Plan out your story before you try to add rhyme and rhythm to it!

Use lots of strong verbs! Because there's a lot of ground to cover in a short time, you want to keep the story moving with 'action' words. Some verbs are stronger than others - compare 'eating' to 'devouring' or 'walking' to 'stumbling'. Descriptive verbs that carry an emotional impact go a long way, and will create a powerful picture without you having to reach for adjectives all the time.

VERSE WRITING EXERCISE 1

This exercise is going to use a technique called a 'destination write'. Firstly, pick one of the following topics:

1) Your last holiday

2) The most memorable day at beach

3) The wildest storm you've ever seen

4) The best party you've ever been to

5) Your first 'crush'

Once you've chosen your topic, imagine the scene clearly in your head.

Then write a paragraph describing this scene; what can you see, smell, hear, taste or feel?

Try to describe the scene with as much detail as possible. For instance, instead of just saying "There is a flower in a vase on the table", try to describe all three items: 

"The flower is a single-stemmed red rose, but it was cut some time ago and the petals are starting to yellow and curl. The vase is chipped, blue and ceramic, only just big enough to hold a single flower. The table is an old oak writing desk, the varnish is worn and faded and it is covered with scatches stains from old ink pens, coffee mugs and red wine."

Try not to include thoughts or feelings at this stage - you just want to collect descriptive ideas. Write as quickly as possible - try to get as much information out as you can, but set yourself a time limit (I like writing in 25-minute chunks, but you could do more or less than this). 

Once you've completed this part of the exercise, have a break. 

Go do something else for at least 10 minutes.

Next, read through what you've written, and highlight or circle any words that you particularly like, or any pairs of words that rhyme. 

Then, put yourself in the scene as a character. What are you thinking and feeling about the scene? Are there other people there? How are they thinking about what's happening? Write this as another paragraph.

To help you answer this, ask yourself "How does your scene relate to one of the universal themes we look at earlier?" (Love, death, coming of age, change or transition).

Again, have a break, then come back and highlight words or ideas that are particularly interesting, and identify pairs of rhyming words.

You should now have two paragraphs, with a selection of words highlighted.

What story can you tell from this scene? Is there a problem that needs to be overcome? What is interesting about the scene?

Use these paragraphs to write your first verse.  If you're having trouble, pick a song that you really like and base your verse on this; using the same rhyme scheme and rhythm to help you shape your own verse.

Again, have a break!!!! This time make it a bit longer - I usually find 24 hours is good... Then come back and re-visit your verse. Is your message clear? Does it make sense? Do any of the rhymes feel forced? Can you replace any of the verbs with. stronger, more emotive ones?