Do assonance and consonance count as "musical terms"? I know that one of the phrases that stands out in "Werewolves of London" for me is the BEST example of consonance EVER:

"little ol' lady got mutilated late last night"

The gruesome image juxtaposed with the bounciness of the repeated L sound creates a wonderful irony.

PS: It'd be lovely if there were transcripts of the podcasts, for those of us who would like to keep listening to our Pandora stations. ;D

In your COPIOUS free time, right? ;)

Anyway, I've told my friends & associates. Pandora ROOLZ!

Right on, Clix! Glad to hear it. And yes, "Werewolves Of London" is brilliant. I just got into Warren Zevon a few years ago (after reading his obituary, actually), and I wish I had much earlier. Quite a lyricist, that man.

As for your question...

Assonance and consonance definitely factor into lyric-writing. Michael and I are working on a third lyric episode, tentatively titled "Poetic Devices in Lyrics."

Topics this might cover:
Assonance
Consonance
Alliteration
Simile
Metaphor
Enjambment
Elision
Synecdoche
Plain language
Stanza form
Caesura

Other relevant devices we're overlooking?

Thanks for the interesting listen. I was surprised that the lyrics which I found most interesting were the rap lyrics. I'm not a big fan of rap, but as stand alone phrases I found them more interesting and approachable than the lyrics you listed from non-rap songs.

When listening to the lyric examples, I found myself needing more context. The example from "Take This Waltz" for me was completely out of context because I'm totally unfamiliar with the song. And although I like the line "With its very own breath of brandy and death" I still am not drawn to any special sensory experience. I still feel that way even after looking at the songs lyrics. I now understand how the line fits, but until I hear the song I really don't think it's going to do anything more for me.

This draws me to the conclusion that praise for lyrics is probably as diverse as general taste in music. I think we wouldn't find a lot of universal choices if we asked people to list their top ten favorite lines from songs. (Wouldn't that make a great topic for Listen and Repeat?) I think when we did find matches they'd probably be from groups that all like the music the lines came from. This will probably be a mix of exposure (only people who know the song would pick it) and shared tastes (the line is an important component of why people like it.)

Another observation I've made about myself is that just looking at one line from a lyric isn't enough. I need them in context with the rest of the lyrics, I need to hear the music associated with them and I need to hear the way the lyrics are phrased and sung. I think a bad vocalist can kill even the best lyrics.

An interesting experiement would be to get a group of people to listen to 20 songs they've never heard before and choose their top 10 favorite liines from those songs. I would imagine that most people's favorite lines would come from songs of styles they like.

An additional experiment would be to give a different group the lyrics printed out without the music and have them choose their top 10 lines without having the benefit of hearing the music.

Thanks for the interesting information and catalyst for further thought.

hey tony -
great comments.

I'm glad you pointed out that it's a stretch to take song lyrics out of their musical context - I agree - they are not meant to be read, they are meant to be heard, usually wedded to a melody, and of course with music.

you can't overestimate the effect that the musical context has on the lyrics - the music allows the language so much more freedom than it would have if it were poetry, for example. so strictly literary elements in song lyrics are not necessarily of any value at all. that's part of what makes lyrics so great - they can be good (or bad) in so many ways.

also, falling into literary vanity, and being too precious with the way one writes lyrics can be one of the major pitfalls of new songwriters.

but having said all of this, the elements of good writing, and in the case of this podcast, the words the writer uses, still play a major role in how the lyric comes across -

cheers,
mz

ps - great idea for play listen repeat, as well - you may see that up there on monday...!

Okay, well, not to sound obtuse, but... what about rhyme?? In fact, I'd think there might be enough material for a podcast all to itself - near/slant rhyme vs true rhyme, internal vs end rhyme; and what about visual rhyme? is it even (purposefully) used anymore? And then creating a pattern of rhyme and abruptly throwing in a nonrhyme to disrupt the pattern... sort of like caesura but not exactly.

And I might add repetition and allusion to the list - heh. I was GOING to say that I don't think allusion is all that common anymore, and then Splitsville's "Ponce de Leon" started playing.

Hee hee!

hy I love rap okk...

Wow...I just discovered this site yesterday...stayed up much too late creating my stations...a veritable Pandora's Box for me...what you have added is superb! I am hearing so many new songs that I just love...Pandora is the best thing to happen to radio or the internet in a long, long time. Kudos to all of you who have created this...you're the best!

I am learning how to write lyrics and music. I have alot to learn to do so and find this site helpful. I love music and want to be able to express my thoughts with a song. I seem to communicate better through music and sharing music makes me feel I have sone sort of connection to the world.
Thanks
sissy

I have written poetry, personal feelings, but never tried to set it to music. I have however took a song like "That's How Strong My Love Is," by Otis Redding and with the melody in my head written my own lyrics, for fun not profit, and also Cold Cold Heart, doing this comes easy for me if I don't try, but just follow the melody. It's fun and tho I don't do it for $ I can totally relate to a line about the Rolling Stones when one of them described how when the words come you have to get them out right now, and they would have lyrics on napkins and scraps of paper etc. guess that is the artist in us and the need to let it out and get it written down as opposed to just trying to find a line from nowhere. Leonard Cohen's Halleluiah has been used in many movies and tv shows like a verse here and there whatever fits but still the same song. I also notice some tv commercials will play the instrumental from a song and most people don't notice they're remembering the tune so they tend to look at the commercial or listen to the ad w/out realizing, I spose this is on purpose too. Anyway interesting lesson on lyrics. I enjoyed it.

I think that there is likely a matter of culteral relevance to consider for many listeners. It seems that in the case of something like rap, barring what to some may be a sort of an insider thing with turns of phrase that are coloquial or provincial and far from timeless which in many cases insures obsolescence after a time, you are getting a lyrical sense of immediacy. There is no real need to be subtle or to employ devices that hide meaning in artistry. You are meant to know straight away what is being told. I think that is probably informed by, or perhaps informs the method in which most people persue information, or the way in which they persue gratification. This is not to say that such style is the exclusive domain of rap. Rap just happens to epitomize that in a fashion that bears a resemblence to a characature of the device. For the most part, you have a similar approach in contemporary rock, blues, country and pop. In that regard you are getting down to sort of brilliant mother of invention lowest common denominator root. You could say that these styles delay thier immediate delivery of information with innuendo, but that is probably in the main the biggest sort of turn of subtlety. However I would also maintain that its only another mother of invention thing. You get terms like "barrel house" and "squeeze my lemon" with cats like Robert Johnson to imply sexual intercourse. In the case of barrel house, it is also a reference to a liquor joint where music is played and in this case, is a lot like saying honkey tonkin.. when he says "we can barrel house all night long". It could be a sly prank on polite society, but then again polite society would have taken efforts to conceal any involvement with juke joints, honkey tonks and the like, so its really not that much of a prank. Maybe more of a holdover of more victorian sensibilities where even when you mean to tell someone that you are about the business of drinking and fornicating, you could never come out and say it. But its a very thin veil and all commers sort of just knew.

In a more modern context, as we have parted company with any need to obscure our meaning or intent other than those needs of the FCC to keep the profane at bay, popular music has come to be plain and blunt in its delivery. I am grossly generalizing here, but I feel pretty safe on this ground for now.

Now... having said all that.. Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen likely will never run a huge risk of breaking the top 40 of any chart, though they can garner to themselves Grammies. At least I know Tom has. However, they both creep in to some level of awareness in the public through things like soundtracks, commercials, or covers by more well established acts. Downtown Train is a perfect example, Hallelujah being another..

oh lord, I am rambling..

what did I mean to say?

Oh yeah, simply I mean to say that to me it matters very little what everyman chooses in his top 20 songs of all time list. While common culture may be the product of concent by consensus, not all culture is common from soup to nuts.

for whatever that was worth.

Another Sense Imagery~Sight & Visual I'd like to suggest is the song 'Ballad of Dorothy Parker' by Prince (Sign O' the Times CD).
The whole song is a trip in visual imagery, like many Prince songs. But there's a specific verse, 'She pretended she was blind, an affliction brought on by witch's curse-Dorothy made me laugh...' I just love that verse !! Maybe Pandora can include Prince's SOTT CD as well to it's musical selection.

New subject: This is a repeat of what I left on my profile info & coming at you through the kindness of my sensitive son who knows what I like which might be fully satisified by your Pandora. I just logged on to be one of your last subscriber (or freeloader) of the season or newest of the new.

Since discovery of Brubeck during college years (on the east coast yet), I grew to appreciate the post-Paul Whiteman ("King of Jazz"...humpft) musicians - beginning with Bing & the Blues boys from the cotton fields to that ageless artist (in more ways than one) Tony Bennett today - long may he wave.

What you offer for my consumption in the way of Swing, Jazz, Big Band & big vocalist with occasional classical orchestral intervention is "groovy" to say the least. And I'm "hip" or is it "hep"?? .Obviously, this one is very appreciative. It's a great ride. Thanks again.

Great series. I listened to all 8 episodes today, but I had to download the episodes. Clicking "Listen Now" changes the button to yellow, but I don't hear any audio. Also, the Reggae episode cuts off at 7:37. I look forward to listening to the next episode. Thanks!

Hi, guys...

Deborah - I love "Ballad of Dorothy Parker" too. Sign O' The Times is indeed on Pandora already, in its entirety. Quite a ride, that double album. "Starfish & Coffee" is another personal favorite, too.

Jim and Brock, good to hear that you're digging into it. Thanks for speaking up, too.

i am digging this so much! i have begun to improve in my own writing- -craft of lyrics by noticing the elegance simplicity of some of the best songs ever written. want examples??? Fell On Black Days, Diary of Jane, Pain, Hurt ect and what not! i went from attempting to write a novel of many words to the bluntly styled form of lyrics, which ironically is harder when you are required to use the least amount of lines to express the most amount of information...thank you pandora peeps---you made my day!

oh yeah...let's talk of re-makes...imagine evenessence or flyleaf singing Marie Osmonds song 'Paper Roses'(!!I Know??!), hell, let lamb of god or mudvayne or Korn try a shake at it, it could be cool!

ehh I feel like you guys are kind od pretentious, like there are loads of wonderful lyrics out there and really the good ones come down to a few pieces of advice:

1. write what you know
2. write what you feel
3. write with your heart

and you can never go wrong. Love you guys at Pandora!

Wow...I just discovered this site yesterday...stayed up much too late creating my stations...a veritable Pandora's Box for me...what you have added is superb! I am hearing so many new songs that I just love...Pandora is the best thing to happen to radio or the internet in a long, long time. Kudos to all of you who have created this...you're the best!