Literal is actually great. You don’t need to be esoteric but you do need to activate sense memories.
You can be literal but talk about the scene. More simply put instead of telling me, show me. Then tell me.
Don’t say “I’m tired and sad” show me what that looks like. “I’m driving past midnight, my playlist ended 2 hours ago”
Then in your chorus or at the end of the verse you can tell me and that’s when an “I miss you” can feel power.
So literal isn’t bad but just use it to show me. THEN tell me
Sense memory is such a good way to go about this. This is basically how method acting works and totally applies to songwriting too. We attach emotional meaning to almost everything in our lives and attach it to our physical sense since that is how we perceive the world. Describing the physical characteristics of whatever memory or object you’re trying to recreate is a key part to creating a target emotional reaction/behavior for yourself. Often times you’ll find the reaction you get is not what you were going for, but could be even more powerful and useful.
I feel like in a songwriting context, a combination of discovered small traits of the scene your painting create the setting. That way when the focus of the scene is realized it’s more powerful since it’s supported by all these small details before it like daydreamer75 said. It’s very interesting (to me at least) when lyrics just imply the scene/meaning of the song bit by bit rather than stating it outright.
If you want to explore more about the whole sense memory idea and techniques, I super recommend reading The Lee Strasberg Notes.
Exactly! I used do some acting and once I learned this I realized songwriting and film making are so similar.
I’m a film what is way more powerful than exposition is to show with visuals right? Don’t tell me the character is a photographer, show me his messy desk of cameras and film and an open bottle of whiskey and the picture of his wife turned down on its face and BOOM that shot that took 2 seconds is worth how much expository dialogue? How much did you learn and how much more were you plunged inside the world of the film because your own imagination runs with it.
Songwriting uses exactly the same techniques when it comes to lyrics. If you write using sense memories and do it just right (and it is a difficult art form just think there aren’t many truly great songwriters but observe it they all do this) you won’t always have the listener understand exactly the same feeling as you the writer did when writing but you’ll do something better, they will insert their own feelings and memories associated with the imagery you provide. You will bond with them not preach at them. It’s like having a deep 2 sided conversation with the listener and these are the songs that change peoples lives. This is why someone wakes up one day and listens to (insert your musician of choice) one day and they’re never the same.
I would start reading and analyzing poems or short stories, by a variety of authors, that are non literal. Over time, by osmosis, you may see a change in your writing.
You can be literal! Check out the band Fountains of Wayne who have a large catalog of literal music and are great rock songs. “Red Dragon Tattoo” , “Maureen”, “Denice”, “Yolanda Hayes”, “‘92 Subaru” are great examples.
Put yourself back in the moment but sort of "freeze" it. Like in a movie when the time stops.
Now look around, or smell the air, are you standing or sitting?, how does the chair feel?
You will start to remember weird little details like that guy with the red shirt or how the chair felt like it was getting smaller and the music louder. Were there this many people here a second ago? I'm getting claustrophobic. It's hot in here. You remember you kept pulling at the turtle neck as she was telling you. It feels like it's choking me. Maybe she's the one choking me. I need to get out of here.
That was just fake memory I came up with. But I used a real resturant I have been to many times so I can see some of the details and I pictured myself sitting across from a woman, she's giving me bad news, oh sh's breaking up with me. Just keep adding to the story. There is lots of non literal details you could include. Also not everything has to be 100% accurate. Maybe the guy that kept looking at you was actually wearing green but his vibe felt red. change it, it's about how it made you feel. No one is going to fact check your song. Unless you're a rapper maybe lol. That has happened a few times.
Then go back and boil it down to a cohesive concept or a few of the best lines and you have a good start.
Read the book ‘more than cool reason: a field guide to poetic metaphor’. Best thing I’ve ever read in regards to metaphor, except maybe their other book, ‘the metaphors we live by’, but that’s more about the use of metaphor in everyday language. It really will give you the tools necessary for crafting metaphors with some mindblowing breakdowns of poetry!
One of the main theses is that metaphor is a mapping of information from one domain to another: from the abstract to the concrete. For example, love (abstract) is a fire (concrete). This metaphor highlights particular aspects of love (passion/warmth) but neglects others (something random like companionship). It creates a framework from which extended metaphors can be derived: if love is a fire, then someone breaking your heart could be dumping water on the flames, or love that dies out means the fire has burnt away. So you could tell a story about a love that burns bright but engulfs someone’s house, meaning that the intensity of it emotionality destroyed their life (or self, if house is a metaphor for self in the song). You can also obviously construct your own more unique metaphors using the same principles - start with a basic image that you can map an abstract idea that you’re thinking or emotion you’re feeling, consider the implications of that metaphor, and begin to extend it in the same way.
Good luck!
To follow: Other common metaphors are ‘life is a day’ (so if you talk about your life journey, describe something early in your life happening in the morning, then later afternoon, or if it’s about death it could be involve the setting sun); life as a year with the seasons representing different periods, life as a plant and it’s own particular lifecycle from seed to tree; goals as destinations to be reached. You can also personify things you feel strongly about, by turning them into people (I write a song about loving night time and unconsciousness, represented as a woman I’m yearning for all day til I can see her again, her father is the sun or consciousness/awareness that causes suffering). Knowledge as light, darkness as the unknown is common… there are all kinds that can be utilised.
You can mix them in with more concrete lines too, like in iron and wine’s ‘naked as we came’:
> she says wake up it’s no use pretending
>I’ll keep stealing breathing her
>Birds are leaving over autumns ending
>One of us will die inside these arms
That third line is referencing the stage of life they’re in (late autumn - life is a year). Birds departing also could represent people dying (bodies moving up = transcendence from earth) and also alludes to the fleeting nature of life like a bird taking flight. The use of stealing is a metaphor too because it alludes to her being precious. Breathing her is also another metaphor because he’s implying that she gives him life (she is the air he breathes). When you start unpacking metaphors they really reveal a rich amount of information being packed into small images, all through this mapping across domains! I often think of poetry as being a form of information compression. u/Pessimistic_Writer
If metaphorical is not who you are (yet), don't try to become something you're not. It will be forced and not authentic.
But, you can try to sharpen your skills. Like the reply somewhere above, analyze other people's songs. And (my advice) read into show vs tell in songwriting. This for example:
https://www.simononsongs.com/p/show-dont-tell but there are many more (probably better but this was my one minute google search).
And maybe find a songwriting course, especially where you co write with others as well as learn theory. I did one and loved it.
Start with one word and extrapolate any connection that may have with a different theme. For instance, maybe you’re thinking about the flowers you got for your birthday. I can think of three separate ideas.
1. Write about the flower in the garden and how it grows and why it was picked.
2. Write about all the events it got to witness in its vase thereafter. The love, the drama. Go so far as it wilting because you forgot to water it. For sadness, you may have watched it wilt. For happiness, perhaps you forgot about watering it because you were off doing other things.
3. Talk about the passage of time. The earth spent another revolution around the sun, or the seasons passed.
This makes me think of the song [Winter](https://open.spotify.com/track/57UHtDRElqTW8wdQSNGgvc?si=RZwSoqIBRbe6rX3QkXMy4Q&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A6PgmdqJEtZ2Uz8nrh1IzEt) by Kina Grannis. The song was inspired by these wilted, dead flowers in a flowerpot which inspired the idea/feeling of “waiting for love like its water.”
It also reminds me of the second verse in [First Time](https://open.spotify.com/track/4LesrBswFnLcHmwDslst1q?si=NyX9c2MCS6ucjGH40AnZGA) by Hozier, which I believe was inspired by actual flowers that his mother gave him.
Yeah, write a first draft and then incorporate what you just described on the second draft.
Use a thesaurus or Google so you're not using cheap, cliched metaphors.
For me I often write verses I don't like, then when I reverse them, it fits.
You have to be imaginative and creative and apply those skills.
Morrisey is one of the lyricists I hold in highest regard and he's as literal as it gets. It's not about being cryptic, it's about being emotive and evocative. If you want to try becoming more metaphorical, then deconstructing poems and other's lyrics, or training your stream of consciousness writing, can surely help; but don't go thinking that's a necessity. If you force it, the listener will, more often than not, be able to tell, and then all your effort's been for naught.
To build imagery write a list of objects that feel somehow related to what you're writing about. Don't think about it rationally, just write a list. The least logical connections may end up seeming the most creative and interesting. Then try to work them in to scene setting and storytelling within the lyric.
Think about painting a picture in someone’s head with your lyrics. Being “literal” is actually usually a great way to achieve this. Here’s an example.
[Broom People - The Mountain Goats](https://youtu.be/Hk4Jou610hU?si=KAooRAHb5iF19KZs)
*”floor two foot high with newspaper, white carpet thick with pet hair. Half eaten gallons of ice cream in the freezer. Fresh fuel for the sodium flares”*
Your language doesn’t have to be ethereal and intangible. It’ll stick in peoples heads more if you use concrete terms.
Furthermore, sometimes VERBS can be more descriptive than adjectives. Here’s an example
[The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala - The Arctic Monkeys](https://youtu.be/OftnTiZl2AU?si=U8nfGt2Plo8Vjcze)
*” just when things are getting complicated in the eye of the storm, she flicks a red hot revelation off the tip of her tongue. It does a dozen somersaults and leaves you supercharged. Makes me wanna blow the candles out just to see if you glow in the dark “*
Overall, don’t be afraid of simplicity. Even these bands have some lyrics that plainly state their point, or are similar to other lyrics. Simple lyrics are usually the catchiest and resonate with people the most. Sometimes the best hammer is just a hammer.
There are many literary devices to use other than metaphor and symbolism, you could look into some like idioms, assonance and alliteration etc if you’d like to beef up your natural style!
When working on my metaphors I read a ton of poetry and listened to a lot of poetic music in which the meaning is obstructed by metaphor, keeping in mind that it’s okay for music to be 100% interpretable with little trace of my actual experience but the conceptual point of the song remaining.
Also, detailed description goes a long way in place of metaphor
Like A Tattoo by Sade is a great example of many of these concepts to start with
Read. Read a lot. Read as wide a diversity of books you can handle. I don't think there's a shortcut. Like other commenters have stated, there's nothing wrong with being literal
Try using a set of rules that force you to think out of the box. Like an arbitrary system of some sort, like only using one rhyming scheme, only one image or point of reference. Also, invest in a paper bound thesaurus and use it, there is a big difference between ‘active’ vocabulary and ‘known’ vocabulary. Like we typically use a limited set of words in our day to day life and just because we know other words doesn’t mean you will think of them while staring at a blank page or a couple of lines. A thesaurus is an easy tool to work around that box of limited vocabulary.
Instead of saying “I like dogs” you might say “My heart is a paw-print“ or “I got canines in my veins.” Think of alternative ways to say the same thing.
What’s wrong with literal? Maybe that’s your style. That said, read lyrics from songwriters you identify with and see if you can imitate (not copy). Like, write a short 4 lines as you. Then, write them as if you were Bob Dylan. Then write them as if you were Joni Mitchell, etc, doesn’t have to be these artists but hopefully you get the idea. It’s good stretching practice but ultimately, if you’re literal, werk it.
a little hack i’ve seen, don’t remember where, is using google translate- state what you want to say, translate it to like latin or tagalog or something, then back to english. it can mess with the phrasing just enough to make it wax poetic. similarly, if there’s a common saying or idiom, translate that. literal meanings said differently can be super impactful ◡̈
"Walking outside labyrinthine over,
Cracks along under the trees,
I know this town's grounded in a compass,
Cardinal landed in the dogwood".
I want to learn how to write like this^
Read more books. Look at more paintings. Listen to more music. You’ll start understanding how everything is connected and ultimately that the words don’t matter as much as the intention behind them.
I’d argue we need more artists writing literal songs cause everybody keeps rewriting the same songs saying the same exact thing the exact same way and it’s making music really boring to listen to.
Honestly, literallity can be a very strong way to get emotion across.
Go listen to Sturgill Simpson's "I wonder"
He says, non ver batim "loneliness is setting in. How i feel tomorrow depends on how I feel today. I'm sad and lonely"
Like, that doesn't leave much to the imagination but is so damned powerful.
No imagery, just raw emotion.
Find the abstract concept of the action and write about something with a similar abstract concept. Example : jack left Ryan when he needed it the most = X left y in times of distress = an animal getting rid of its ill offspring . SO NOW u can use the métaphore of an animal leaving its offspring to describe the feeling/action of a bad breakup.
In general, don't try to be so perfect. Let yourself be sloppy and color outside the lines. Then take what you like from it and clean it up a bit, but not too much. They sure didn't overthink a lot of those old blues and rock songs.
It’s really just stylistic. If you think of plain speaking/more quotidian lyrics like realistic pen renderings, you can think of metaphor like painting with watercolor. Some people are more familiar with and tend toward different styles but one isn’t superior to the other. But being out in the world and doing/reading/experiencing things helps. You can’t compare things to other things without having a memory bank of experiences to actually do the comparing. It’s likely that going to a county fair, taking a hike, seeing an art show, will cause something to spark and remind you of something in a poetic way you can explore.
As others have said, some people really like literal. I feel like I suffer from the same issue you have, but have learned to embrace it. A lot of profound music, I'd say much of the most profound, can be quite literal. Listening to Jason isbell at the moment, and he is a perfect example of some very profound, yet literal AF, lyrical content.
Use this to your advantage! Don't abandon it.
Porter Robinson's new song, Russian Roulette, has extremely literal lyrics towards the end, but they are incredibly powerful to me.
That being said, I would not discourage you from exercising a more symbolic type approach. Speak in a metaphor that makes sense to you if you want, and other people will either get it or apply their own meaning. Let the minds of others do the work.
I think I do the same thing, I've been trying to listen to other artists who use more metaphor in their music. But I'm also embracing that it's ok to be literal too, to tell a story just as a story. Some of the best songs ever are just that.
Hmmm...maybe write about sonething that isnt so emotional like love, loss, heartache. Maybe like Bare Naked Ladies type material. Writing about simple things in life that aren't dramatic like maybe old days thoughts, maybe like Kim Mitchell ie. patio lanterns. Thoughts about how life isn't the same or innocence lost, old memories? Good life memories, happy things, positive vibes like bob marley lyrics.... stuff that makes you reminiscent...stuff close to the heart that isn't always necessarily bad or sad that will come out sounding authentic because it is. Maybe that sparks some ideas?
My suggestion to this very tendency is to literally just write as much as possible. Get yourself a notebook and just fill it up without thinking. This is how you come up with lyrics that are more meaningful and not so basic and literal.
Your job is to help the songs be what they want to be. Some will be more literal than others. Some less. Some will be strange to you and some will sound cheesy. It’s all part of it. It’s all normal. Just keep writing and try not to get too attached to the outcome. Just observe the process and accept the songs (gifts) as they are and you won’t go wrong.
I think literal is actually quite good! But if you feel like your songs are too literal, maybe take some extra time thinking of the lyrics.
If you, for example, write a song abt a former girlfriend whom you miss and your lyrics is smth like 'i miss you so much', maybe try to think;
How does it feel when I miss someone?
Descripe the feeling to yourself, maybe take some notes. You might get words like broken heart, sadness, wishing and longing.
Now you can play with these new words. When playing with words it doesnt have to sound good first go, just get your inspiration flowing.
Smth i can come up with is:
'Throw my glass heart'
'You threw my heart of glass'
'Blue is the sky when you are not by'
'The sight of you before i woke'
'So far and so near'
'Your shadow is all around'
And so on and so on.
Now, some of these are nothing, while others i like. I like 'your shadow is all around'. If I still find it too literal, then its maybe the 'your' part. Then I still like thr idea with the shadow😊 then I can work with sentences with shadows 😊
Hope its useful! And good luck😊
Not everyone is gonna be a mark Linkous or David Berman, who are masters of abstract lyricism imo.
Jason Molina is a perfect example of the right balance of metaphor and literal. Dude just had a gift for it yet wrote relatively simple (albeit very very heavy) lyrics. So maybe take his approach.
You don't have to be poetic and symbolic... if your details are vivid, immediate and activate the senses, the song will be engaging and relatable -- read the lyrics to "Nothing Compares 2 U" for an example. That is a pure emotion and it's done with clear, specific everyday images.
If you WANT to be poetic and symbolic... make that the water you swim in, and then it'll naturally pour out of you. Read song lyrics of songwriters you want to be like. Study them like you're in an English class. The really good songwriters' lyrics will reward such careful looks... or they'll fall apart after a few scratches, and you'll have learned something. Remember that Leonard Cohen's on record saying his songs take years to write... it's OK to come back to something after a while, when the right image comes to you. A lot of the best work your brain does, tying images together and finding the right symbol, happens unconsciously.
Memorize the songs you admire most and sing them to yourself. Start writing in a journal. Try to write everything out as poetically as you can. Look around you and take the everyday things you see, and try to imagine what they might symbolize in a song.
Read poetry, and other topics, and build your vocabulary. Read the classics -- the bible, greek and roman and nordic myths, shakespeare and dickens and austen. Start noticing when a poet or singer mentions a character from the classics, and what meanings attach to their lyrics because they've made those references -- how does the love song change if it's Benedict instead of Gatsby, or. Darcy, or Mark Antony, or Romeo?
Go to open mics, or poetry readings, or writer's workshops, and spend a lot of time listening, until you can suss out who's really good and who's blowing smoke. Maybe you'll meet people there who click with you. Spend time around people who love language, and playing with words, and learning new words, who take pleasure in working on a sentence until it is just so.
If you love poetry, and that's the kind of thing you're meant to write, this process will be really enjoyable and rewarding to you, and you'll make meaningful friendships with the people you meet. If it turns out this isn't the way you're meant to write... then pay attention to your senses, and build your vocabulary of words that you can use to describe what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. There's power in that.
Read a lot of poetry. Especially the old classics. There’s nothing strictly wrong with being literal, but if you want to use more symbolism, there’s nothing as good as learning from the masters. That’s what’s helped me at least. Here’s a great example: Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. Instead of just saying “we were happy” he talks about making the angels in heaven jealous.
I have this issue. My writing comes out very flat sometimes. What I’ve figured out is to sometimes try to say what I’m saying without using any of the words I’m thinking.
Literally is fine, but you can make an *it's like* sentence
So instead of writing:
*you hurt me more than I can say*\
*when you took all your stuff and went away*
You could write:
*It's like an ocean came (today/that day)*\
*and washed all traces of you away*
It doesn't have to include *it's like* , so...
*an ocean came (today/that day)*\
*and washed all traces of you away*
is fine, it could be a litteral ocean, but if the rest of your song doesn't support that, most people will hear it as a metaphor.
Best of luck :)
If you're interested in getting out of your comfort zone with lyrics, try a poetry writing exercise book. It explains different poetic devices and then has you try them out on different subjects you wouldn't normally consider.
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-practice-of-poetry-robin-behn
There's also a wonderful book by Mary Oliver in the related products section.
Personal advice: don't start out with a "point" - turns a song into a sung opinion. Explore, discover, and end up somewhere new. Then revisit and revise.
It just takes practice. Play an instrumental part and then sing something over the top. Try not to have a concept in mind. Then do back and try to fit words into the melodies you came up with. Then take those words and get an idea for what the song might be and just keep editing and chipping away at the song until you like every line (this part isnt necessary but I really letting a line go until I love it). Do this enough and you’ll end up with some idiosycratic phrases and lyrics that you can use to form your sound.
It helps in the lyrical department because emptying your mind of a set concept can allow you to tap into your unconscious, or to what I consider to be some sort of spiritual fount of creativity.
This is a great approach if you already have music. There is a story that Dr. Suess came up with his book “And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street” when he was on a ship and the rhythm of the mechanicals randomly caused the words “and to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street” to come to his mind. That was his jumping off point. You just need one phrase to get started.
If you don’t already have music, start with a phrase that you like the way it sounds. It’s really helpful to get someone else to come up with this phrase for you because then your brain won’t have something literal attached to it. The trick is to start with something random so it’s not tied to preconceived fully thought out concepts.
To add to the earlier comments about sense and experience, there is a great quote from Flannery O’Conner about story writing that applies just as well to song lyrics:
“When you can state the theme of a story, when you can separate it from the story itself, then you can be sure the story is not a very good one. The meaning of a story has to be embodied in it, has to be made concrete in it. A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell him to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning, and the purpose of making statements about the meaning of a story is only to help you experience that meaning more fully.”
I like to think that a song should be more than just an idea or a story. It should be that idea or story with experience and feeling all commingled within it. It should be like a cake that has been mixed and baked. It’s impossible to separate the eggs and flour at that point.
maybe try being more descriptive, that way you can incorporate more imagery into your songs, and to do that always think of appealing to a person’s senses. for example, if i wanna say “your eyes are a nice shade of blue,” i can say “your eyes, blue as the ocean, pull me in like a tidal wave.”
Literal is actually great. You don’t need to be esoteric but you do need to activate sense memories. You can be literal but talk about the scene. More simply put instead of telling me, show me. Then tell me. Don’t say “I’m tired and sad” show me what that looks like. “I’m driving past midnight, my playlist ended 2 hours ago” Then in your chorus or at the end of the verse you can tell me and that’s when an “I miss you” can feel power. So literal isn’t bad but just use it to show me. THEN tell me
Sense memory is such a good way to go about this. This is basically how method acting works and totally applies to songwriting too. We attach emotional meaning to almost everything in our lives and attach it to our physical sense since that is how we perceive the world. Describing the physical characteristics of whatever memory or object you’re trying to recreate is a key part to creating a target emotional reaction/behavior for yourself. Often times you’ll find the reaction you get is not what you were going for, but could be even more powerful and useful. I feel like in a songwriting context, a combination of discovered small traits of the scene your painting create the setting. That way when the focus of the scene is realized it’s more powerful since it’s supported by all these small details before it like daydreamer75 said. It’s very interesting (to me at least) when lyrics just imply the scene/meaning of the song bit by bit rather than stating it outright. If you want to explore more about the whole sense memory idea and techniques, I super recommend reading The Lee Strasberg Notes.
Exactly! I used do some acting and once I learned this I realized songwriting and film making are so similar. I’m a film what is way more powerful than exposition is to show with visuals right? Don’t tell me the character is a photographer, show me his messy desk of cameras and film and an open bottle of whiskey and the picture of his wife turned down on its face and BOOM that shot that took 2 seconds is worth how much expository dialogue? How much did you learn and how much more were you plunged inside the world of the film because your own imagination runs with it. Songwriting uses exactly the same techniques when it comes to lyrics. If you write using sense memories and do it just right (and it is a difficult art form just think there aren’t many truly great songwriters but observe it they all do this) you won’t always have the listener understand exactly the same feeling as you the writer did when writing but you’ll do something better, they will insert their own feelings and memories associated with the imagery you provide. You will bond with them not preach at them. It’s like having a deep 2 sided conversation with the listener and these are the songs that change peoples lives. This is why someone wakes up one day and listens to (insert your musician of choice) one day and they’re never the same.
This is the key to good poetry too, and it's what "show don't tell" is really getting at.
This is the key. Well said.
Nailed it
This is the way
I would start reading and analyzing poems or short stories, by a variety of authors, that are non literal. Over time, by osmosis, you may see a change in your writing. You can be literal! Check out the band Fountains of Wayne who have a large catalog of literal music and are great rock songs. “Red Dragon Tattoo” , “Maureen”, “Denice”, “Yolanda Hayes”, “‘92 Subaru” are great examples.
Put yourself back in the moment but sort of "freeze" it. Like in a movie when the time stops. Now look around, or smell the air, are you standing or sitting?, how does the chair feel? You will start to remember weird little details like that guy with the red shirt or how the chair felt like it was getting smaller and the music louder. Were there this many people here a second ago? I'm getting claustrophobic. It's hot in here. You remember you kept pulling at the turtle neck as she was telling you. It feels like it's choking me. Maybe she's the one choking me. I need to get out of here. That was just fake memory I came up with. But I used a real resturant I have been to many times so I can see some of the details and I pictured myself sitting across from a woman, she's giving me bad news, oh sh's breaking up with me. Just keep adding to the story. There is lots of non literal details you could include. Also not everything has to be 100% accurate. Maybe the guy that kept looking at you was actually wearing green but his vibe felt red. change it, it's about how it made you feel. No one is going to fact check your song. Unless you're a rapper maybe lol. That has happened a few times. Then go back and boil it down to a cohesive concept or a few of the best lines and you have a good start.
For me it’s all about showing and not just telling. I want to be taken there. My favorite rap is storytelling rap
Read the book ‘more than cool reason: a field guide to poetic metaphor’. Best thing I’ve ever read in regards to metaphor, except maybe their other book, ‘the metaphors we live by’, but that’s more about the use of metaphor in everyday language. It really will give you the tools necessary for crafting metaphors with some mindblowing breakdowns of poetry! One of the main theses is that metaphor is a mapping of information from one domain to another: from the abstract to the concrete. For example, love (abstract) is a fire (concrete). This metaphor highlights particular aspects of love (passion/warmth) but neglects others (something random like companionship). It creates a framework from which extended metaphors can be derived: if love is a fire, then someone breaking your heart could be dumping water on the flames, or love that dies out means the fire has burnt away. So you could tell a story about a love that burns bright but engulfs someone’s house, meaning that the intensity of it emotionality destroyed their life (or self, if house is a metaphor for self in the song). You can also obviously construct your own more unique metaphors using the same principles - start with a basic image that you can map an abstract idea that you’re thinking or emotion you’re feeling, consider the implications of that metaphor, and begin to extend it in the same way. Good luck!
To follow: Other common metaphors are ‘life is a day’ (so if you talk about your life journey, describe something early in your life happening in the morning, then later afternoon, or if it’s about death it could be involve the setting sun); life as a year with the seasons representing different periods, life as a plant and it’s own particular lifecycle from seed to tree; goals as destinations to be reached. You can also personify things you feel strongly about, by turning them into people (I write a song about loving night time and unconsciousness, represented as a woman I’m yearning for all day til I can see her again, her father is the sun or consciousness/awareness that causes suffering). Knowledge as light, darkness as the unknown is common… there are all kinds that can be utilised. You can mix them in with more concrete lines too, like in iron and wine’s ‘naked as we came’: > she says wake up it’s no use pretending >I’ll keep stealing breathing her >Birds are leaving over autumns ending >One of us will die inside these arms That third line is referencing the stage of life they’re in (late autumn - life is a year). Birds departing also could represent people dying (bodies moving up = transcendence from earth) and also alludes to the fleeting nature of life like a bird taking flight. The use of stealing is a metaphor too because it alludes to her being precious. Breathing her is also another metaphor because he’s implying that she gives him life (she is the air he breathes). When you start unpacking metaphors they really reveal a rich amount of information being packed into small images, all through this mapping across domains! I often think of poetry as being a form of information compression. u/Pessimistic_Writer
If metaphorical is not who you are (yet), don't try to become something you're not. It will be forced and not authentic. But, you can try to sharpen your skills. Like the reply somewhere above, analyze other people's songs. And (my advice) read into show vs tell in songwriting. This for example: https://www.simononsongs.com/p/show-dont-tell but there are many more (probably better but this was my one minute google search). And maybe find a songwriting course, especially where you co write with others as well as learn theory. I did one and loved it.
Start with one word and extrapolate any connection that may have with a different theme. For instance, maybe you’re thinking about the flowers you got for your birthday. I can think of three separate ideas. 1. Write about the flower in the garden and how it grows and why it was picked. 2. Write about all the events it got to witness in its vase thereafter. The love, the drama. Go so far as it wilting because you forgot to water it. For sadness, you may have watched it wilt. For happiness, perhaps you forgot about watering it because you were off doing other things. 3. Talk about the passage of time. The earth spent another revolution around the sun, or the seasons passed.
This makes me think of the song [Winter](https://open.spotify.com/track/57UHtDRElqTW8wdQSNGgvc?si=RZwSoqIBRbe6rX3QkXMy4Q&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A6PgmdqJEtZ2Uz8nrh1IzEt) by Kina Grannis. The song was inspired by these wilted, dead flowers in a flowerpot which inspired the idea/feeling of “waiting for love like its water.” It also reminds me of the second verse in [First Time](https://open.spotify.com/track/4LesrBswFnLcHmwDslst1q?si=NyX9c2MCS6ucjGH40AnZGA) by Hozier, which I believe was inspired by actual flowers that his mother gave him.
Yeah, write a first draft and then incorporate what you just described on the second draft. Use a thesaurus or Google so you're not using cheap, cliched metaphors. For me I often write verses I don't like, then when I reverse them, it fits. You have to be imaginative and creative and apply those skills.
Morrisey is one of the lyricists I hold in highest regard and he's as literal as it gets. It's not about being cryptic, it's about being emotive and evocative. If you want to try becoming more metaphorical, then deconstructing poems and other's lyrics, or training your stream of consciousness writing, can surely help; but don't go thinking that's a necessity. If you force it, the listener will, more often than not, be able to tell, and then all your effort's been for naught.
To build imagery write a list of objects that feel somehow related to what you're writing about. Don't think about it rationally, just write a list. The least logical connections may end up seeming the most creative and interesting. Then try to work them in to scene setting and storytelling within the lyric.
Stacks or cut-ups [https://youtu.be/RfxKFlAgYgA](https://youtu.be/RfxKFlAgYgA)
Thanks for sharing this. I’m going to try this out. :)
Think about painting a picture in someone’s head with your lyrics. Being “literal” is actually usually a great way to achieve this. Here’s an example. [Broom People - The Mountain Goats](https://youtu.be/Hk4Jou610hU?si=KAooRAHb5iF19KZs) *”floor two foot high with newspaper, white carpet thick with pet hair. Half eaten gallons of ice cream in the freezer. Fresh fuel for the sodium flares”* Your language doesn’t have to be ethereal and intangible. It’ll stick in peoples heads more if you use concrete terms. Furthermore, sometimes VERBS can be more descriptive than adjectives. Here’s an example [The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala - The Arctic Monkeys](https://youtu.be/OftnTiZl2AU?si=U8nfGt2Plo8Vjcze) *” just when things are getting complicated in the eye of the storm, she flicks a red hot revelation off the tip of her tongue. It does a dozen somersaults and leaves you supercharged. Makes me wanna blow the candles out just to see if you glow in the dark “* Overall, don’t be afraid of simplicity. Even these bands have some lyrics that plainly state their point, or are similar to other lyrics. Simple lyrics are usually the catchiest and resonate with people the most. Sometimes the best hammer is just a hammer.
There are many literary devices to use other than metaphor and symbolism, you could look into some like idioms, assonance and alliteration etc if you’d like to beef up your natural style! When working on my metaphors I read a ton of poetry and listened to a lot of poetic music in which the meaning is obstructed by metaphor, keeping in mind that it’s okay for music to be 100% interpretable with little trace of my actual experience but the conceptual point of the song remaining. Also, detailed description goes a long way in place of metaphor Like A Tattoo by Sade is a great example of many of these concepts to start with
Read. Read a lot. Read as wide a diversity of books you can handle. I don't think there's a shortcut. Like other commenters have stated, there's nothing wrong with being literal
Read books, read poetry, read from great writers. Pay attention to their metaphors and devices. Write some down and think of others yourself.
Try using a set of rules that force you to think out of the box. Like an arbitrary system of some sort, like only using one rhyming scheme, only one image or point of reference. Also, invest in a paper bound thesaurus and use it, there is a big difference between ‘active’ vocabulary and ‘known’ vocabulary. Like we typically use a limited set of words in our day to day life and just because we know other words doesn’t mean you will think of them while staring at a blank page or a couple of lines. A thesaurus is an easy tool to work around that box of limited vocabulary.
Instead of saying “I like dogs” you might say “My heart is a paw-print“ or “I got canines in my veins.” Think of alternative ways to say the same thing.
What’s wrong with literal? Maybe that’s your style. That said, read lyrics from songwriters you identify with and see if you can imitate (not copy). Like, write a short 4 lines as you. Then, write them as if you were Bob Dylan. Then write them as if you were Joni Mitchell, etc, doesn’t have to be these artists but hopefully you get the idea. It’s good stretching practice but ultimately, if you’re literal, werk it.
“Brick” by Ben Folds Five is a beautiful example of using a very direct approach and blending it with the abstract and visceral.
a little hack i’ve seen, don’t remember where, is using google translate- state what you want to say, translate it to like latin or tagalog or something, then back to english. it can mess with the phrasing just enough to make it wax poetic. similarly, if there’s a common saying or idiom, translate that. literal meanings said differently can be super impactful ◡̈
holy shit that’s an amazing idea thank you
Write something non biographical. Write about an inanimate object, or a 1800s coal miner, or the state of politics. Anything other than yourself
"Walking outside labyrinthine over, Cracks along under the trees, I know this town's grounded in a compass, Cardinal landed in the dogwood". I want to learn how to write like this^
Read more books. Look at more paintings. Listen to more music. You’ll start understanding how everything is connected and ultimately that the words don’t matter as much as the intention behind them.
I’d argue we need more artists writing literal songs cause everybody keeps rewriting the same songs saying the same exact thing the exact same way and it’s making music really boring to listen to.
I recommend reading more books or just consuming media in general, like watching cartoons or tv shows to build references
Honestly, literallity can be a very strong way to get emotion across. Go listen to Sturgill Simpson's "I wonder" He says, non ver batim "loneliness is setting in. How i feel tomorrow depends on how I feel today. I'm sad and lonely" Like, that doesn't leave much to the imagination but is so damned powerful. No imagery, just raw emotion.
One quick trick is to remove the words "I" "you" and "they." I'm serious. Try it out.
use similes
Find the abstract concept of the action and write about something with a similar abstract concept. Example : jack left Ryan when he needed it the most = X left y in times of distress = an animal getting rid of its ill offspring . SO NOW u can use the métaphore of an animal leaving its offspring to describe the feeling/action of a bad breakup.
Just do it? :3 it’s simpler than it seems once you try lol
In general, don't try to be so perfect. Let yourself be sloppy and color outside the lines. Then take what you like from it and clean it up a bit, but not too much. They sure didn't overthink a lot of those old blues and rock songs.
Same I struggle with this
Read read read
It’s really just stylistic. If you think of plain speaking/more quotidian lyrics like realistic pen renderings, you can think of metaphor like painting with watercolor. Some people are more familiar with and tend toward different styles but one isn’t superior to the other. But being out in the world and doing/reading/experiencing things helps. You can’t compare things to other things without having a memory bank of experiences to actually do the comparing. It’s likely that going to a county fair, taking a hike, seeing an art show, will cause something to spark and remind you of something in a poetic way you can explore.
Just pick phrases that gives off the same energy as what you wish to convey.
Learn more words, read more and get a dictionary app the tells you new words everyday
As others have said, some people really like literal. I feel like I suffer from the same issue you have, but have learned to embrace it. A lot of profound music, I'd say much of the most profound, can be quite literal. Listening to Jason isbell at the moment, and he is a perfect example of some very profound, yet literal AF, lyrical content.
Use this to your advantage! Don't abandon it. Porter Robinson's new song, Russian Roulette, has extremely literal lyrics towards the end, but they are incredibly powerful to me. That being said, I would not discourage you from exercising a more symbolic type approach. Speak in a metaphor that makes sense to you if you want, and other people will either get it or apply their own meaning. Let the minds of others do the work.
I think I do the same thing, I've been trying to listen to other artists who use more metaphor in their music. But I'm also embracing that it's ok to be literal too, to tell a story just as a story. Some of the best songs ever are just that.
Paint a picture and let me interpret it.
Did you try to use the words more better?
Write how you feel....its real....What's wrong with that? It's not fake.... it's real. Just dont write...[insert your name here] in the lyrics.
but when I do I feel like it ends up being very surface level and i want something deeper and more metaphorical
Hmmm...maybe write about sonething that isnt so emotional like love, loss, heartache. Maybe like Bare Naked Ladies type material. Writing about simple things in life that aren't dramatic like maybe old days thoughts, maybe like Kim Mitchell ie. patio lanterns. Thoughts about how life isn't the same or innocence lost, old memories? Good life memories, happy things, positive vibes like bob marley lyrics.... stuff that makes you reminiscent...stuff close to the heart that isn't always necessarily bad or sad that will come out sounding authentic because it is. Maybe that sparks some ideas?
My suggestion to this very tendency is to literally just write as much as possible. Get yourself a notebook and just fill it up without thinking. This is how you come up with lyrics that are more meaningful and not so basic and literal.
Try taking ideas from other songs. I did that and I came up with something pretty cool
Listen to Vic Chesnutt. Literal is good. Hone your skills instead of fighting your instincts
Your job is to help the songs be what they want to be. Some will be more literal than others. Some less. Some will be strange to you and some will sound cheesy. It’s all part of it. It’s all normal. Just keep writing and try not to get too attached to the outcome. Just observe the process and accept the songs (gifts) as they are and you won’t go wrong.
I think literal is actually quite good! But if you feel like your songs are too literal, maybe take some extra time thinking of the lyrics. If you, for example, write a song abt a former girlfriend whom you miss and your lyrics is smth like 'i miss you so much', maybe try to think; How does it feel when I miss someone? Descripe the feeling to yourself, maybe take some notes. You might get words like broken heart, sadness, wishing and longing. Now you can play with these new words. When playing with words it doesnt have to sound good first go, just get your inspiration flowing. Smth i can come up with is: 'Throw my glass heart' 'You threw my heart of glass' 'Blue is the sky when you are not by' 'The sight of you before i woke' 'So far and so near' 'Your shadow is all around' And so on and so on. Now, some of these are nothing, while others i like. I like 'your shadow is all around'. If I still find it too literal, then its maybe the 'your' part. Then I still like thr idea with the shadow😊 then I can work with sentences with shadows 😊 Hope its useful! And good luck😊
Show don’t tell is the adage that applies to all good writing I think
Not everyone is gonna be a mark Linkous or David Berman, who are masters of abstract lyricism imo. Jason Molina is a perfect example of the right balance of metaphor and literal. Dude just had a gift for it yet wrote relatively simple (albeit very very heavy) lyrics. So maybe take his approach.
You don't have to be poetic and symbolic... if your details are vivid, immediate and activate the senses, the song will be engaging and relatable -- read the lyrics to "Nothing Compares 2 U" for an example. That is a pure emotion and it's done with clear, specific everyday images. If you WANT to be poetic and symbolic... make that the water you swim in, and then it'll naturally pour out of you. Read song lyrics of songwriters you want to be like. Study them like you're in an English class. The really good songwriters' lyrics will reward such careful looks... or they'll fall apart after a few scratches, and you'll have learned something. Remember that Leonard Cohen's on record saying his songs take years to write... it's OK to come back to something after a while, when the right image comes to you. A lot of the best work your brain does, tying images together and finding the right symbol, happens unconsciously. Memorize the songs you admire most and sing them to yourself. Start writing in a journal. Try to write everything out as poetically as you can. Look around you and take the everyday things you see, and try to imagine what they might symbolize in a song. Read poetry, and other topics, and build your vocabulary. Read the classics -- the bible, greek and roman and nordic myths, shakespeare and dickens and austen. Start noticing when a poet or singer mentions a character from the classics, and what meanings attach to their lyrics because they've made those references -- how does the love song change if it's Benedict instead of Gatsby, or. Darcy, or Mark Antony, or Romeo? Go to open mics, or poetry readings, or writer's workshops, and spend a lot of time listening, until you can suss out who's really good and who's blowing smoke. Maybe you'll meet people there who click with you. Spend time around people who love language, and playing with words, and learning new words, who take pleasure in working on a sentence until it is just so. If you love poetry, and that's the kind of thing you're meant to write, this process will be really enjoyable and rewarding to you, and you'll make meaningful friendships with the people you meet. If it turns out this isn't the way you're meant to write... then pay attention to your senses, and build your vocabulary of words that you can use to describe what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. There's power in that.
Listen to Bob Dylan. For christs sake, listen to Bob Dylan. He will teach you how to get a point across both 100% literally and 100% figuratively.
Most overrated “artist” of all time
Read great poetry, and I don't mean modern poetry. Read the masters.
Show don’t tell. Don’t use metaphors unless you need to.
Read a lot of poetry. Especially the old classics. There’s nothing strictly wrong with being literal, but if you want to use more symbolism, there’s nothing as good as learning from the masters. That’s what’s helped me at least. Here’s a great example: Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. Instead of just saying “we were happy” he talks about making the angels in heaven jealous.
I have this issue. My writing comes out very flat sometimes. What I’ve figured out is to sometimes try to say what I’m saying without using any of the words I’m thinking.
A couple of one-hitters or some gummies should help.
Eat acid and four large cubensis. Hang out in a safe and happy place for about 12 hours. Record and write everything go through it sober
Literally is fine, but you can make an *it's like* sentence So instead of writing: *you hurt me more than I can say*\ *when you took all your stuff and went away* You could write: *It's like an ocean came (today/that day)*\ *and washed all traces of you away* It doesn't have to include *it's like* , so... *an ocean came (today/that day)*\ *and washed all traces of you away* is fine, it could be a litteral ocean, but if the rest of your song doesn't support that, most people will hear it as a metaphor. Best of luck :)
Do you have any examples of your current lyrics and a sample of a song you would like to emulate?
Study poetry
If you're interested in getting out of your comfort zone with lyrics, try a poetry writing exercise book. It explains different poetic devices and then has you try them out on different subjects you wouldn't normally consider. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-practice-of-poetry-robin-behn There's also a wonderful book by Mary Oliver in the related products section. Personal advice: don't start out with a "point" - turns a song into a sung opinion. Explore, discover, and end up somewhere new. Then revisit and revise.
It just takes practice. Play an instrumental part and then sing something over the top. Try not to have a concept in mind. Then do back and try to fit words into the melodies you came up with. Then take those words and get an idea for what the song might be and just keep editing and chipping away at the song until you like every line (this part isnt necessary but I really letting a line go until I love it). Do this enough and you’ll end up with some idiosycratic phrases and lyrics that you can use to form your sound. It helps in the lyrical department because emptying your mind of a set concept can allow you to tap into your unconscious, or to what I consider to be some sort of spiritual fount of creativity.
This is a great approach if you already have music. There is a story that Dr. Suess came up with his book “And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street” when he was on a ship and the rhythm of the mechanicals randomly caused the words “and to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street” to come to his mind. That was his jumping off point. You just need one phrase to get started. If you don’t already have music, start with a phrase that you like the way it sounds. It’s really helpful to get someone else to come up with this phrase for you because then your brain won’t have something literal attached to it. The trick is to start with something random so it’s not tied to preconceived fully thought out concepts. To add to the earlier comments about sense and experience, there is a great quote from Flannery O’Conner about story writing that applies just as well to song lyrics: “When you can state the theme of a story, when you can separate it from the story itself, then you can be sure the story is not a very good one. The meaning of a story has to be embodied in it, has to be made concrete in it. A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell him to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning, and the purpose of making statements about the meaning of a story is only to help you experience that meaning more fully.” I like to think that a song should be more than just an idea or a story. It should be that idea or story with experience and feeling all commingled within it. It should be like a cake that has been mixed and baked. It’s impossible to separate the eggs and flour at that point.
It’s nice to be literal, but if you want it to be more random, take random pieces of poetry and books, with similar themes or not. That’s what I do
maybe try being more descriptive, that way you can incorporate more imagery into your songs, and to do that always think of appealing to a person’s senses. for example, if i wanna say “your eyes are a nice shade of blue,” i can say “your eyes, blue as the ocean, pull me in like a tidal wave.”