Writing Better Lyrics

This is an excellent book which not everyone will like.If you want a book that you can skim through with lots of lists that you can quickly digest, put into use and immediately improve your songwriting, then buy something else like Robin Frederick's book "Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting: 126 Proven Techniques for Writing Songs That Sell", which is a great book in its own right:(http://www.amazon.com/Shortcuts-Hit-Songwriting-Techniques-Writing/dp/0982004001 ) .This book requires work, dedicated concentration and more than anything else, practice. You can easily live with this book for 6 months or more. Pattison's approach is very analytical and it deals only with lyrics and how to communicate them in a way that best transmits the emotional effect which the songwriter has in mind. The book goes far beyond Pattison's Coursera Songwriting course and his Youtube video lectures.I have found that for me, his techniques work best in rewriting my songs. There is so much here, that it is difficult to implement it all in the real-time process of songwriting. But once I have written a song, I can go back and apply his techniques to improve my songs. Especially interesting is his technique to use the 5 rhyme-types (perfect, family, additive/subtractive, assonance, consonance) and a rhyming dictionary as a search engine to brainstorm ideas to write a song from a concept or a title. I have never heard anyone else use this method, but I find that not only does it work for me, it also opens my ear to more easily find rhymes other than the perfect rhyme.Some people will not have the patience to work through this book, and for them, it will be a waste of money to buy. But I really like the book and it has taught me a lot of useful information to improve my songwriting.

I heard about this author and book from CD Baby’s podcast, DIY Musician. After songwriting for over two years, this is my first lyric help book I have purchased and while I’m only on page 27, so far I have not been disappointed. Pattison gives a nomenclature for techniques I was already using and expands and encourages the reader in those areas. It has been a creative blast for someone not only to give me permission but to give me an assignment to engage daily in creative writing. Regarding the very first exercise, daily 10-minute Object Writing, instead of picking random objects, pick objects/concepts within current song ideas you’re developing and apply his other concepts within that time. Powerful exercise. Thank you, Pat! Write on, creatives!!

This might be a great book for some people... like unemployed people who have all day to work on getting better through lengthy super-time-consuming processes. I was actually looking for a different approach to training and writing exercises. But then maybe my problem is I need to make more time somehow and do this work? IDK. Maybe I should quit my day job and go all-in on songwriting? :-) Maybe I need a book to tell me how to do that and avoid living under a bridge with my family at the same time. I do remember that the pain and uncertainty that soaks into your soul when you are poor is a source of ideas and inspiration and power when you are writing. But I guess none of this is about the book. The book is well written and will likely be helpful to many people... but you should go into it knowing that for every few pages you read there is a connected extended sometime very lengthy exercise that goes along with it. This book shows you ways to change your daily writing habits for the better. But if you don't go all-in with each idea it's a bit of a time suck.

Book contains some interesting ideas. One of the key thoughts in it is that lyrics that simply describe internal dialogue are usually boring to everyone, and instead focus on showing rather than telling, through sense language. The object writing is also interesting. The chapters about meter are really long. Not clear that those techniques are improving the lyrics in the examples. Maybe with examples of the song performed (in audio) it would be clearer. I do think the book could get a revision for more current songs. Many if not most of the examples are from the 60s and 70s.

the ideas and systems being set in place very early on in this book have gotten me more focused and thoughtful of the craft. it is a great book, one I knew I would want in a hardcopy, not kindle, as it feels better reading it in a book for some reason. that said, if you are struggling with writing lyrics or just need a boost, this is top advice from a master of the method. very much worth the money. there are a lot of excercises. I am doing some of them, most, but not doing all if they seem too much. there is a lot of emphasis on a writing class, which sounds nice, but I am not in one, so this is the next best thing. I think people already writing lyrics would do well to buy this.

This book includes my favorite exercises for getting my creative juices flowing. Pat takes you through a bunch of different aspects of lyric writing, such as location, time, imagery, etc. He gets you thinking about how you can incorporate different elements to make your writing richer and deeper. He also includes samples from some of his students and professional lyricists such as Gillian Welch. A great read for any aspiring songwriter!

Like all art forms, lyric writing is subjective. For some, this book is a 5 star eye opener, for others it will be a 2 star snooze. Me, I'm kind of right in the middle. It can be a little over analytical, for my taste, but there are some very useful tools in in here that will definitely expand your horizons. I'd be hard pressed to believe that any writer couldn't find value on these pages. No doubt I will be implementing several techniques going forward. Go in with an open mind and you'll find this a resourceful read.

First of all, let me say that I am not a musician but have a friend who is an accomplished guitar player and has, for many years, performed on the local folk circuit. For ages, he has ask if I could come up with some lyrics for him because, although he finds it easy to compose the music, he sometimes struggles with writing the words. I think he assumed that my worldly travels, combined with my love of reading would translate into me having plenty of 'ideas' for songs. The truth is I did have a go (many times) but failed to come up with anything that I thought worthy of passing on to him. Then one day I was inspired to write a poem that dealt with the simple pleasures I experienced as a young boy. I passed this poem on to my friend who produced a really good song from it. That set the ball rolling! We have gone on to write several more songs together - and I have many more that are 'works in progress.'However, I still thought there was room for improvement and, as I have never taken any formal lyric writing courses, I thought I should at least invest in a book that might help and inspire me. There's a lot of publications out there but after reading all the reviews, I opted for this one by Pat Pattison. As another reviewer has already pointed out, this is an American author, so the book is slanted more towards the US market - hence some rhyming words may not work when British pronunciations are used. However, for me, it's all about adapting what is being taught. I'm so pleased I got hold of this book because it's provided me with the techniques that I previously hadn't considered - and I've already finished off a couple of song projects that I'd temporarily abandoned! Can't say much more than that really - other than to give this book my seal of approval.

Pat Pattison teaches the tools of lyric writing as a springboard to get your ideas down and fleshed out into something emotionally impactful, these techniques can be transcended into the genre of music you're working in. You start out writing from your senses, utilising appropriate form, gramma, structure and rhythm suitable for your songs narrative, then stacking the emotional obstacles of your subject, down to the finishing touches of your lyrics. The emphasis is on practice within the 50 exercises - you learn the value of this through your efforts, not what you read :)I would strongly recommend this book if you are struggling to write from your own experiences, fleshing out ideas (getting the story going) or even if you're like me an accomplished musician but ok/crappy lyricist. I used this book to assist with writing lyrics for other audiences - for personal subjects I am not familiar with. I found myself being able to flesh out multiple versions of scenes I was not there to witness personally but have the lyrics impact me emotionally when I read them back days later. I compared what I created from this book to what I wrote before, and the difference is night and day! I also now look at other peoples works and find better ways they could have written theirs!Strongly suggest writing notes down for the milestone learning points - found these handy when I write my own lyrics. Took me about 3-4 months to complete it, ranging from 2-10 hours a week, you may be able to do it faster. I spent a-lot of time on some key exercises which allowed me to walk away with useable sections I couldn't come up with before starting this book. It feels like an epic journey when you finish it, first book I ever read without skipping the end!Thanks so much Pat Pattison

I'm always wary of books like this as a few I've dipped into come across as rigid formulas rather than flexible techniques. I like the way it made me think about my own lyric written and, even though the examples sometime look a bit cheesy and hokey-cokey, they are presented in a way that allows you to analyse and practise the techniques involved. This allows you to quickly use the tools in your own writing, and see with fresh eyes why some of your earlier examples worked and why others didn't work so well. The book also allows you some breathing space to not be afraid to write, in the author's own words, "crap" in order to free up your mind for the good stuff. Something that stuck with me from early on was (paraphrased): "Did the writer know of the effect of line length and phrasing when they wrote it? Maybe, maybe not, but that doesn't mean you can't". It puts the idea in your head that you can make happy accidents part of your arsenal to create better lyrics. Lovely stuff!The author's own experiences and anecdotes are also peppered throughout, which adds a nice personal aspect to the whole thing. I'd advise readers to try all the exercises as soon as they come across them - I didn't initially but found them very useful. This could be one of those key books that unlocks some of the mystery of songwriting by framing it in good technical processes.

One of the few books/resources I’ve found that doesn’t hypothesize how to write a song, but actually breaks down song structure and introduces writing mechanics that will help.If your looking to work on your structure, imagery, story telling speed... this is totally worth checking out as a good starting point.Also, buy a rhyming dictionary while you’re at it.

It provided me with some fantastic tips. It’s possibly a little expensive for the length.