Song Lyrics

What do you hear when you listen to your favorite song?

Some song lyrics seem so simple it prompts people to think, I could write better. Other lyrics might seem bizarre or incoherent. Chances are the songwriter knew what he or she was doing, however, crafting their language around the musical ebb and flow of a song.

When a musician writes lyrics to a song, there is meaning behind the words they use. It may not make sense to the listener, but it makes sense to the writer. People tend to enjoy songs to which they can relate. Generally, they connect most strongly with a song's lyrics. When fans can relate to the actions and emotions the songwriter describes, the artist is successful.

The lyrics to popular songs establish familiar themes. Though audiences may not immediately understand these themes, people are commonly drawn to music because the intimacy of lyrics can make a person feel as though the song was written just for them. That is the art of songwriting.

Some songs may initially seem simple to write, but writing lyrics is a difficult task for any songwriter to accomplish. It involves deep concentration and knowledge of a wide variety of music. Listening to different types of music allows the artist to get a feel for different sounds and varying lyrical accompaniments to those sounds. The ability to identify with another song's lyrics sometimes helps artists write their own lyrics.

Good writers are often avid readers. Ideas for songs can come from understanding and identifying with the themes or motifs behind a book or a poem. It can be helpful for an artist to understand the process others have used to express their thoughts and feelings, and model their own process off this understanding.

A songwriter should be armed with a pen and paper at all times. Inspiration can strike anywhere at anytime. Good songwriters will write ideas down as they occur. Some artists have even been known to keep a pad of paper next to their beds, writing down lyrics as they enter their sleepy heads.

Lyrics generally tell a story. The writer deems whether this story is based on an actual experience or an emotional journey. These themes, which hold meaning for the author, seek to impress the audience.

Good song lyrics also contain a hook. The hook is predictably meant to get listeners hooked to the song. The hook captures the thesis of the song, repeating its meaning. It is the part of the song people should want to play again and again. A good hook will find itself lodged inside the listeners' collective heads as they bounce in unison to the song. If someone initially dislikes a song, only to repeatedly catch themselves singing that catchy part of the song, the songwriter has done a good job of establishing the hook.

2005 was a good year for memorable song hooks. I have compiled a list of songs I could not shake out of my head throughout the year. Good luck getting them out of yours!

1. Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl. "This sh*t is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S! "

This line might not make any sense, but thousands of people caught themselves cheering along to this popular phrase, making the song one of the year's most requested hits.

2. The Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha. "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? "

I know the first time I heard this song I was singing these lyrics and directing them toward my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.

3. The Killers - All These Things That I've Done. "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier. "

These lyrics are socially relevant because they pertain to the band's view on the war in Iraq. The band is using their captivating hook with the hope people, once they start singing along, will identify with the meaning of the words.

4. Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Goin' Down. "We're going down, down in an earlier round. And sugar, we're going down swinging. I'll be your number one with a bullet, a loaded God complex, cock it and pull it."

Though I do not know what a loaded God complex is, I cannot stop singing along.

5. Natasha Bedingfield - These Words. "Read some Byron, Shelley, and Keats, recited it over a hip hop beat. I'm having trouble saying what I mean with dead poets and a drum machine."

Bedingfield links three notable poets together in a pop song, proving even seemingly mindless beats can have a deeper inspiration.

6. The Click Five - Just the Girl. "She's cold and she's cruel, but she knows what she's doing. She pushed me in the pool at our last school reunion."

The songwriter describes his willingness to take abuse from a beautiful girl who he is desperate to impress, a feeling most people have felt at the height of infatuation.

7. Weezer - Beverly Hills. "I'm just a no-class, beat-down fool and I will always be that way. I might as well enjoy my life and watch the stars play."

Weezer's singer, Rivers Cuomo, once claimed the band's aim was to schematically create the perfect pop song. This catchy hook proves their work was not done in vain.

8. James Blunt - You're Beautiful. "I saw your face in a crowded place and I don't know what to do ‘cause I'll never be with you."

Many individuals can relate with themes of unrequited love. Blunt's talent lies in expressing this commonly-shared emotion.

9. Missy Elliott featuring Ciara and Fat Man Scoop - Lose Control. "Get your backs off the wall ‘cause Misdemeanor said so. "

This song features Elliott demanding her audience to dance. The simplicity of the lyrics emphasize the live-for-the-moment theme embedded in the song.

10. Kelly Clarkson - Since You Been Gone. "How can I put it, you put me on, I even fell for that stupid love song. "

One of popular music's recurring themes is that love makes people do things they ordinarily would not. Clarkston is lamenting this loss of control at the hands of an ex-lover.