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How to Write a Song – Part Three – Imagery & Repetition

How do I create imagery in songwriting?

How to write a song - part three - imagery and repetition in songwriting.

Imagery in Songwriting

Songwriters use flowery or descriptive imagery in place of the actual things they describe.

Think Bob Seger in Like a Rock, or Poison’s Every Rose Has It’s Thorn, or Pat Benatar’s Love is a Battlefield.

Beware of tortured or awkward sounding metaphors or similes.

Bad similes:

  • He was like a dog with rabies…
  • Her heart was like a jelly roll…
  • Her hair was stringy as spaghetti…

Bad metaphors:

  • Her heart was sweet as a jelly roll…
  • Her hair fell like fresh egg noodles…
  • The night was dark as a blackened crispy steak…

Also be wary of overused imagery, such as the weather.

The same can be said about the sun, moon, and stars. If you insist on using cliches when writing a song, try putting a fresh spin on them.

Example, instead of:

  • It was raining cats and dogs…
    try:
  • It was raining bats and frogs…

Again, there are no set rules, just have fun, be playful. And if you hit upon something that works for you, run with it. Depending on the song, you might even use humor.

Repetition

Repetition can be a very effective tool in lyric writing. Consider the use of the word every in The Police’s Every Breath You Take, or the word every in Every Rose Has its Thorn.

Those songs demonstrate that it’s possible to take a single word or phrase and construct an entire song around it.

How much repetition can I use with words in a song? How much repeating is too much in a song?

Example:

  • I’m praying someday you’ll come to see
  • I”m praying someday you’ll notice me
  • I’m praying I’ll be a part of your life
  • I’m praying someday that I’ll be your wife

You can pick from a thousand different phrases to start each line.

Here’s an example from Chain Breaker, by Zach Williams:

  • If you’ve been walking the same old road for miles and miles
    If you’ve been hearing the same old voice tell the same old lies
    If you’re trying to fill the same old holes inside
    There’s a better life
    There’s a better life

Note the effective use of repetition in each of the four lines above.

Here’s a few ideas to get you rolling. Use them or alter them to fit your needs.

  1. If I was…
  2. Remember the time…
  3. I never said…
  4. If only I’d…
  5. you never told me…
  6. I should’ve tried…
  7. Everyone says…
  8. over and over…
  9. I should’ve been…
  10. Down by the river…
  11. Take me back…
  12. She/He could always…

Repetition is one of your strongest and most effective tools for inspiring ideas.

Try it and see where it takes you.

Rhyming

Does it have to rhyme?

While writing a song, lyrics don’t necessarily have to rhyme. But in most songs they do.

Rhyming can be alternating – where every other line rhymes, or it can be in couplets, which pack a stronger punch and are more often used.

Rhymes don’t always have to be precise, but the closer they are, the better.

This is where a rhyming dictionary comes in handy. Tortured rhymes are annoying to the listener. So if you find yourself stretching beyond and into the realm of nonsense, by all means find another word to rhyme.

Happy songwriting!