Writing Better Lyrics [Paperback]

Pat Pattison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 2010

The Must-Have Guide for Songwriters

Writing Better Lyrics has been a staple for songwriters for nearly two decades. Now this revised and updated 2nd Edition provides effective tools for everything from generating ideas, to understanding the form and function of a song, to fine-tuning lyrics.

Perfect for new and experienced songwriters alike, this time-tested classic covers the basics in addition to more advanced techniques.

Songwriters will discover:

• How to use sense-bound imagery to enhance a song's emotional impact on listeners
• Techniques for avoiding clichés and creating imaginative metaphors and similes
• Ways to use repetition as an asset
• How to successfully manipulate meter
• Instruction for matching lyrics with music
• Ways to build on ideas and generate effective titles
• Advice for working with a co-writer
• And much more

Featuring updated and expanded chapters, 50 fun songwriting exercises, and examples from more than 20 chart-toppings songs, Writing Better Lyrics gives you all of the professional and creative insight you need to write powerful lyrics and put your songs in the spotlight where they belong.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pat Pattison is a professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches lyric writing and poetry. His books include Writing Better Lyrics, The Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure, and The Essential Guide to Rhyming. In addition, Pat has developed three online lyric writing courses for Berklee?s online school, and has written articles for a variety of industry publications. His internationally successful students include multiple Grammy winners John Mayer and Gillian Welch. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; 2 edition (January 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582975779
• ISBN-13: 978-1582975771
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Songwriting
  • #70 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Writing Skills
  • #71 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians

More About the Author

Pat Pattison is a Professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches Lyric Writing and Poetry.

In addition to his three books, Writing Better Lyrics, The Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure, and The Essential Guide to Rhyming, Pat has developed three online lyric writing courses, available through Berklee's Online School. He has written over 30 articles for Home & Studio Recording Magazine, and Performing Songwriter.

Pat continues to present songwriting clinics across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Several of his students have won Grammys, including John Mayer and Gillian Welch.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best available for its type February 1, 2004

By Robert Graves VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Pat Pattison has produced what is the ultimate book on lyric writing. Actually, Pattison's exercises and techniques are valuable for any aspect of creative writing, from poetry to fiction.

He begins the book with the staple of his teaching, "Object Writing". Object writing is defined as writing on a specific thing - it can be anything from polyester to holding your breath - while incorporating as many senses as you can: touch, taste, smell, etc. The exercises last for 10 minutes, exactly, and you do it every day. He likens this to a pearl diver holding his breath and diving for pearls. Each time you hold your breath a little longer, dive a little deeper. It's the same with object writing. At first your writing will be awkward and fragmented - and that's okay. But as you do it on and on, eventually you will hit that vein, that underground river where your creativity rolls free and the words will pour out. As you continue it day to day, you'll hit this river more and more frequently and at greater depths, until eventually you'll just exist there.

Here's the amazing thing - it works. Object writing on a regular basis has improved my reading ability, my writing ability, my comprehension skills - my overall thinking. It gets your brain in shape and gets you in better touch with the powerful subconscious parts of your mind, where the majority of creativity happens.

From here he brings you more into the disciplined aspects of writing, showing you how to build a worksheet to write a lyric from. It involves object writing on your lyric title or concept and extracting anything useful from that, then using a thesaurus and rhyming dictionary to brainstorm even more ideas, and to place these on a worksheet to write from, giving you tons of related ideas at your fingertips.

He then discusses verse development, song forms, rhyme structures and meter. It goes very deep into these topics, and you can go as far as you want.

It's one of those books that you can continually read, diving into various chapters as you get stuck in different parts of different songs you are writing. I highly recommend this book for any aspiring lyric writers, even for composers who want a better understanding of the lyric writing process.

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is THE book for lyric writing April 17, 2002

By Kevin S. Currie

Format:Hardcover

Lyric writing is doubtless the hardest aspect of songwriting (for most of us anyhow.) Believe me though when I say that this book is better than any other for helping you clear this most challenging hurdle.

I took two lyric writing courses with Pat at Berklee Coll. of Music and although I don't recall that this book was required, I bought it anyway. Pat is just too insightful not to have his ideas and suggestions spined out on my bookshelf.

First, he covers a technique called object writing. Without giving away too much, it is a brainstorming technique which shows us how to dig deeper into ours senses. This not only helps us write more powerful lyrics, but strengthens our imagination, insuring that fresh ideas abound. It is no exageration to say that this alone is worth the book's price many times over.

From here, he goes into methods of charting a lyric. Most of us tend not to think this systematically when writing (mapping out different rhyme-schemes and metaphor possibilities) but often times, it can help our writing develop an often lacking structure.

While these first chapters are arguably the meat of the book, the rest will prove valuable as well, going into metaphor, viewpoint, meter and the like. With grace and insight, Pat shows us continuously how to 'show, not tell' the listener your story, a lesson that many writers unfortunaltely never learn.

No matter what tools are missing from your lyric writing toolbox, Pat can help you find, polish and utilize them. Enjoy!!

55 of 60 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good technical information not so good group requirements... January 23, 2004

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I have been writing songs for the better part of my 32 year old life. I've even sold some and made some money. I can say though that it's never too late to improve a good thing.

For someone who is looking to strengthen their potential, learn how to formulate verse from a single idea and even generate ideas, this is a great book.

The one thing I have to mention is the "group" requirement. Many if not most of the more beneficial exercises ask you to gather in a group of four persons or more. When we talk about brainstorming, most of us understand the benefits of doing it with a group; it is simply most effective with a group of people participating. However, those of us who carry notebooks in our pockets, take our laptops everywhere we go, keep a voice recorder in our pocketbook and go into seclusion for days on end to capture ideas and think through a song know - writing is done alone. I just don't have anyone I can call on to sit in a room and think of metaphors with. In fact, why would I want to?

Other than that, this book does have a lot of good stuff inside. It's worth a read and the exercises have helped me immensely.