Writing Lyrics - Writing With Words Which Work

Writing Lyrics can be frustrating, fulfilling, foul, fabulous, frantic, fascinating, frightening, foggy or just fun...just to focus on a few.

And as you can probably tell by my opening sentence, this article is about alliteration.

You may not know what this word even means, and yet, you may naturally use alliteration on a regular basis in your writing.

Webster’s definition of ALLITERATION:
the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables (as wild and woolly, threatening throngs).

Alliteration can be used in lyric writing for several purposes:
1) To impact the meaning
2) To make the lyric more “singable”
3) Just for fun

Many times when I edit I re-think the lyrics with regards to alliteration.

Can I say the same thing with a different word that might create an effective, powerful, fun, or more singable lyric by using alliteration.

Obviously you don’t want to overuse this technique, and you don’t want to use it at all in some songs.

Finding the voice or perspective is important in making particular word choices. And impact is everything!

For more on perspective and point of view check out these other articles on lyric writing. Writing Lyrics Library (Sometimes the impact doesn’t come from alliteration, but from choosing different sounds – polar sounds -- but that's for another article. : )

The important thing to remember is this:
Lyrics, like music, are ultimately an aural art – that is, lyrics are to be heard, not read.

When you are writing lyrics, make sure you read your lyrics aloud to see if the sound they are creating is working with your message in the most effective way possible.

Many times in lyric writing the alliteration is not the use of adjacent words with repeating consonants -- i.e. threatening throngs -- but rather, the repetition of consonant sounds in the phrase or verse.

But alliteration is, in fact, the tool being used, and it is being used for one reason - to impact the lyric. The following excerpt makes my point:

Man In The Mirror
written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett

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
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change

Besides the use of the letter "m" for the hook -- i.e. Man in the Mirror -- the "m" sound is used in every line that follows in order to draw your ear back to the hook. (For more about writing a hook check out Finding the Right Hook.)

Notice that in line 2 the word "him" doesn't begin with "m," but it is still part of the sound repetition.

This is just an introduction to encourage your ear to start looking for effective ways to use alliteration.

There's a world of song out there with so many sights and sounds. Sometimes alliteration can be a handy helper on this humbling highway. : )

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