by Lisa Hiton
Lyric. It’s a word we use these days to describe the words of songs. Hidden in the word is a rich history. Coming from the Greek for “lura” or “lyre”, this word has been used to describe the relationship between words and music since ancient times. A lyric poem, for example, is made up of lines, stanzas, and patterns that are suggestive of music or “fit to be sung”. Reading a lyric poem in your head you can hear the cadences—the sentence structure, the rhyme scheme, and stanza organization help the reader hear the music within the poem, even before we hear it aloud or set to music.
Songs for Revolution
In today’s songwriting, the best books of lyrics do this too, so that we hear the inherent music before we ever hear the strum of a guitar, the beat of a drum, or the strike of a piano’s key. Songs are part of everyone’s lives and cultures. From weddings, to funerals, to prayer, to riding in the car, songs weave into the fabric of life’s most important and surprising memories. Beyond the words that make up songs, it is the singing of lyrics that express our emotions. Songwriters use their medium to help us better express love, pain, sadness, anger, and even uprising.
The idea that singing can build community especially in politically heated times has been a human tradition for a long time. “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, for example, was sung by slaves in the United States who were trying to move north toward freedom. The lyrics hid the directions to reading the stars. In more contemporary times, songwriters have used their medium to address revolution from the political climate of the civil rights movement, to contemporary race politics. Beyonce’s most recent album, Lemonade, takes on gender and race politics in many songs, none more famous than “Formation”. One of the central figures of songwriting and its role in communities of protest is perhaps Marvin Gaye, who performed and co-wrote “What’s Going On”.
“What’s Going On” was written by Renaldo “Obie” Benson, Al Cleveland, and Marvin Gaye, and released in 1971 on the album What’s Going On. The song’s concept came to be when Benson witnessed police brutality against anti-war protestors while on tour with his band, the Four Tops. As these men collaborated on the song, the urgency of peace protesters during the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement was captured in the content of the lyrics and the accompanying sound of Gaye’s voice in conjunction with the music. Let’s take a closer look:
“What’s Going On?” by Marvin Gaye
[Intro]
Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today–yeah[Verse 1]
Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today, oh oh oh[Chorus]
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on
What’s going on
Yeah, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on[Bridge]
In the meantime
Right on, baby
Right on brother
Right on babe[Verse 2]
Mother, mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply ‘cause our hair is long
Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh oh oh[Chorus]
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
C'mon talk to me
So you can see
What’s going on
Yeah, what’s going on
Tell me what’s going on
I’ll tell you what’s going on, ooh ooo ooo ooo
Right on baby
Right on baby
When we think of songs we love, we think of the tune and the sound. As we break songs down, we can begin to see their artful structures. This song is made up of verses, a chorus, and a bridge. From the opening words of the song, “Mother, mother”, the song also sets a series of repetitions and rhymes into motion. The verses all begin with “mother, mother” or “father, father”. They are short phrases and have the same number of beats/syllables. This helps organize each of the verses. We also see that every other line rhymes. As we look through the rest of the song, we see the phrases in the verses are longer than the ones in the chorus and bridge. As you organize your own songs, these techniques will help you bring order to your language.
Love and Heartbreak
Songs about love and heartbreak are everywhere. As for heartbreak in particular, there is perhaps no greater contributor to this canon of songs living today than Adele. From “Chasing Pavements”, to “Rolling in the Deep”, “Someone Like You”, and her most recent single, “Hello”, there is no greater contemporary crooner of unrequited love. Adele co-wrote “Hello” with her producer, Greg Kurstin. The song was an instant classic in our canon of songs about love and heartbreak:
[Verse 1]
Hello, it’s me
I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet
To go over everything
They say that time’s supposed to heal ya
But I ain’t done much healing
Hello, can you hear me
I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet
There’s such a difference between us
And a million miles[Chorus]
Hello from the other side
I must have called a thousand times
To tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried
To tell you I’m sorry for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore[Verse 2]
Hello, how are you?
It’s so typical of me to talk about myself I’m sorry
I hope that you’re well
Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened
It’s no secret that the both of us
Are running out of time[Chorus]
So hello from the other side
I must have called a thousand times
To tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried
To tell you I’m sorry for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore[Bridge]
Ooooohh, anymore
Ooooohh, anymore
Ooooohh, anymore
Anymore[Chorus]
Hello from the other side
I must have called a thousand times
To tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried
To tell you I’m sorry for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore
Love songs are great places to study rhyme and repetition. Like being heartbroken or hung up on someone, our mind and emotions tend to move through circular patterns, which are mimicked by repetition of phrases, rhymes, and words within the song’s structure. While the song begins with “hello” and repeats the word and idea throughout, the truth behind the word is its opposite: that the person trying to be reached is already gone and far away. And so, repeating the word “hello” is an exercise in expressing longing for the other who is not there to respond.
Like many songs, stories, and poems that deal with love and heartbreak, the page is a space for the writer to find a listener, especially when there is no one in real life to hear what they’re trying to say.
Song of Myself
Songwriting, like all writing, is the ultimate space of self-expression. More than words themselves, songs use sound to transcend language and bring us into feeling. Sound is one of the most powerful senses in our human capacities, for our mind is unable to intellectualize it before we feel something in our gut. It’s why hearing a song can bring us so much nostalgia—both joyful and painful. We can be brought immediately into the moments we have heard the song before. It’s no wonder that many songwriters also use this medium to write about the self. One ballad of our time and all time in this form is Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”.
[Verse 1]
I’m gonna make a change, for once in my life
It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right…
As I turn up the collar on my favorite winter coat
This wind is blowin’ my mind
I see the kids in the street, with not enough to eat
Who am I, to be blind? Pretending not to see their needs
A summer’s disregard, a broken bottle top
And a one man’s soul
They follow each other on the wind ya’ know
’Cause they got nowhere to go
That’s why I want you to know[Chorus]
I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself, and then make a change)
(Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah)[Verse2]
I’ve been a victim of a selfish kind of love
It’s time that I realize
That there are some with no home, not a nickel to loan
Could it be really me, pretending that they’re not alone?
A willow deeply scarred, somebody’s broken heart
And a washed-out dream
(Washed-out dream)
They follow the pattern on the wind, ya’ see
’Cause they got no place to be
That’s why I’m starting with me
(Starting with me!)[Chorus]
I’m starting with the man in the mirror (Ooh!)
I’m asking him to change his ways (Ooh!)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself and then make a change)
[Bridge]
Take a look at yourself and then make the change
You gotta get it right, while you got the time
Cause when you close your heart
Then you close your mind
This song addresses the self in a direct way, talking to the man in the mirror. A desire to transform is universal to the human experience. As the song is about change, the use of repetition within the songs’ phrases as well as the many repetitions of the chorus serves as change’s opposite. And yet, the singer’s voice builds in urgency throughout so that the singer and audience understand that memorizing the message itself is the ultimate way to open your mind and heart to changing oneself, and in turn, the larger world.
While we’ve explored a myriad of songs in contemporary pop music, these ideas and techniques are important to many genres within music. From musicals, to opera librettos, to rap, to country, to reggae, the verses and choruses of the music in your own canon of favorites can all be explored and “read” closely to give you inspiration for your own work. So dear writers, use your own experiences and emotions as part of your songwriting process to organize your words into the next verses and choruses of your time!
About Lisa
Lisa Hiton is an editorial associate at Write the World. She writes two series on our blog: The Write Place where she comments on life as a writer, and Reading like a Writer where she recommends books about writing in different genres. She’s also the interviews editor of Cosmonauts Avenue and the poetry editor of the Adroit Journal.
