Writing Better Lyrics

by Pattison, Pat

• ISBN13: 9781582975771
• ISBN10: 1582975779
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-08
• Publisher: RH

Summary

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.

With additional song evaluations and exercises to help songwriters hone their lyric-writing skills, "Writing Better Lyrics, 2nd Edition" is more comprehensive than ever before. The book features new and expanded chapters covering such topics as: when the use of repetition can be an asset; how to successfully manipulate meter; how to work with a co-writer; how to build on ideas and generate effective titles; and, much, much more.

Author Biography

Pat Pattison is a professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches lyric writing and poetry.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Object Writing: The Art of the Diver	p. 3
Rusty's Collar: A Lesson in Showing and Telling	p. 19
Making Metaphors	p. 23
Learning to Say No: Building Worksheets	p. 33
Clichés: The Sleeping Puppy (A Case Study)	p. 47
Productive Repetition	p. 55
Verse Development and Power Positions	p. 82
Travelogues: Verse Continuity	p. 93
Stripping Your Repetition for Repainting	p. 101
Perspectives	p. 111
Point of View: Second Person and the Hangman	p. 128
Point of View: Second Person as Narrative	p. 132
Dialogue and Point of View	p. 139
Meter: Something in Common	p. 147
Spotlighting With Common Meter	p. 153
Meter: Two by Two	p. 161
Managing Couplets	p. 168
Prosody: Structure as Film Score	p. 177
Understanding Motion	p. 189
Form Follows Function: Building the Perfect Beast	p. 229
The Great Balancing Act: Courting Danger on the High Wire	p. 239
Song Forms: (Im) Potent Packages	p. 250
Song Forms: (Im) Potent Packages II	p. 257
Process	p. 262
Appendix: Co-Writing: The "No"-Free Zone	p. 289
Permissions	p. 292
Index	p. 295
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