Tag Archives: lyrics

Not so bumpkin

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The second song attempts to get closer to country motifs by speaking of years of tears but the twist here seems contrived and this can only be because a country song may draw attention to its words when it’s a novelty number such as “I’ve Been Everywhere Man” where the singer lists off all the towns he’s been to in a musical manner. You can even spell out a word – such as D.I.V.O.R.C.E. – and keep the listener focused on the fact that this is about parents keeping the bad news from their young children by spelling things out. It’s the narrative that is captivating here and you become interested in this family (or you don’t; experience may vary)
What you can’t do is to divert the interests of skinny youth in greatcoats to capture the country crowd. Not unless you can do crossover.

At a pinch of red dirt, I’d say there are elements of rockabilly which must be a distant cousin of bluegrass or am I just making that up?

So the move from the tears, which are already streaming in a strange direction, to an apparent escape of some kind – this is not explained – confuses in a way that is then compounded by the words to follow. Sure, there’s a straight reading of these words that serves the concerns of country kind. But it’s the fact that they suggest other readings is distracting in a song that prides narrative engagement. Though they might not phrase it that way.

‘You lent me/rent me/circumvent me’ Is there a place for this in country? No, I would say it was lost. Both the set of meanings in this triplet and the rhythm are suggestive of a more uptempo style and one that doesn’t mind puzzling people as they dance.

It’s not so much that the subject matter is wrong for a country song called “You Can’t Take It Back” so much as the approach to it and the ambiguity; who by the third verse is certain about the role the narrator has in this. Country songs may revel in protecting the feelings of saloon girls and salon guys alike but the listener wants to know which group are being referenced in this song. That is not the kind of trickery that belongs in a country song. There are plenty of other kinds; this is just not one of them.

II

Now, I have written country songs. Or, I have written songs that musician friends have given a country backing, which is similar enough.

If really pushed, I could do a reliable paint-by-numbers take on “You Can’t Take It Back” to make it suitable for any community hall performance. The moped mope of that first song (not a draft as the two snippets are two different takes and unrelated) is humanised a little but perhaps pause over paws for next time.

The idea of giving out things and not being able to reclaim them is good grist for the rustic meal so keep at it.

The Rules of Country

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What about genre? Let’s not get caught up in the clanging of metal or flitting of folk. There are as many genres and subgenres as to have lost count. There are song types that are labelled but the fad finishes so fast that it falls into disuse. But for all its susceptibility genre has a useful purpose in subconsciously delineating its defining features.

Country music is earthy and celebrates life on the land. It talks about the trails and tribulations of life, love, companionship, home. There is glitter and rhinestones, don’t get me wrong, but the lyrical content has a modesty of intent. Later artists started getting increasingly gimmicky to keep the appeal of plowing the same field, with one behatted guitar-slinger declare he was “Lookin’ for Tics”. No music should, however, be judged by its most facile aspects.

Every permutation of love and heartbreak is attended somewhere along the line. These are popular subjects in many genres. Country music adopts a more courtly approach; Merle Haggard “We don’t make a party out of lovin’/We like holdin’ hands and pitchin’ woo”. The menfolk are as likely to get a serve, perhaps even more so. From being admonished to ‘Not come home a’drinkin’ with lovin’ on your mind’ to being accused en masse “Two hoots and a holler/The men ain’t worth a damn/Two hoots and a holler/They’re the lowest thing around”
Even when a partner is found to be cheating, there’s a bitter remorse at it “happening” like in the beautiful Tennessee Waltz where ‘my friend stole my sweetheart away‘ or coming off the poorer from a table with “Three cigarettes in the ashtray” rather than an excuse to cuss. It’s ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ not ‘You’re a Cheatin’ Harlot’

If you’re a national treasure you can write songs about different towns and then tour them. You’re guaranteed of good crowd reaction for at least one song.

The first artist I would have seen live was Buddy Williams, an odd honour for him to possess given the array of singers and musicians I’ve watched since. But live entertainment was very much appreciated that far out in the country and there’s a real sense in which artists in this genre are writing to, for, and with the people living in remote rural communities.
One of his was ‘Way Out Where the White-face Cattle Roam’ but that was on a later recording so not sure why that one stuck. Early Slim Dusty takes its inspiration from the bush balladeers of the nineteenth century and also sings about pubs and mates. Country music isn’t given to too much trickery. Wordplay has to let the listener in on the joke. But it’s glorious when it does this well “If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me” “All my exes live in Texas, that’s why I live in Tennessee”
Chad Morgan’s stock in trade is humorous songs about country weddings, country nutjobs, country hicks. Nothing’s sacred.

While country lyrics take a genteel approach to lovemaking – witness Charlie Rich suggesting what will go on once they get Behind Closed Doors or listen to Travis Tritt hearing his lover’s heart beating faster – death tends to be dealt with more bluntly, and there’s no sanction on singing of revenge and murder.

Occasionally country will stray into politics but usually only if the situation is extreme such as Hank Williams warning off Joe McCarthy in ‘No Joe’. Even then we wonder whether he’s not more of a folk performer when he addresses such topics. Topical events like The Pill or The Streak get a run and we can’t forget (much as we might like to) the conservative admonitions often as not culminating in boneheaded attempts at rousing patriotic sentiment for the agenda of the government of the day.

II

I don’t intend to look at features of all genres that closely as I feel that the songwriting process absorbs much of this understanding from a lifetime of listening (even half-listening) but I don’t think it hurts to see how genre operates.

Does this mean that you tailor your words to the expectations of what a country song is? Or what an alt country or Americana tune is? I remain consistent in my advice that you need to build songs up from the needs of the song and let things like genre take care of themselves. This wouldn’t work so well if you were thinking of writing ‘You Can’t Have a Hoedown Without Hoes’ but if you stay away from the cliche you’ll be better off anyway.

III

‘Towing Back’, ‘Tow It Back’ sound too topical to past muster, especially when the subject strays a little into the opposite camp. Even when my whimsy touched down on ‘Towin’ Back Your Heart’, I thought of the tangential ‘You Can’t Take It Back’ but, even as I was assembling the first lines in my head, I had an overwhelming sense that this would be more of a gritty R&B. Let’s see

You Can’t Take It Back

You give out hurt and hate galore
The darkest corners to explore
You surrender planned splendour
Release a real ease of movement
The impact that sells improvement

But you can’t take it back

You give away the things you say
Watching it all come into play
You abandon the cause you stand on
Throw the game of second chance
While circling round a circumstance

No you can’t take it back

IV

I don’t think it fits either genre. It’s more my choppy style laden with different readings. You may encounter other stylistic tics that take you away from the country. This is only a problem if you’ve taken on the wording for a hoedown or been given the task of pitching some lyrics for a country & western song. As for alt-country, for the purposes of this exercise, I want to stick to a more traditional form even among more contemporary songwriters.

I’d thus suggest an approach more along the lines of:

You Can’t Take It Back

You gave me years of turns at tears
You gave me an escape
You surrendered your pretended
coy ploys and attack
You can’t take it back

You lent me rent me circumvent me
You turned me inside and out
You pawed me and ignored me
at the first prospect you lack
You can’t take it back

What you offered and you proffered
Off colour and profane
You slid across the chrome embossed
dream all dressed in black
You can’t take it back

Bets placed for what are but bits

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If it was difficult to join two disparate lines then surely adding a middle one will fail to tell us what we don’t already know. That said, let’s try three lines or couplets we can align in any order. That way, if one has more relevance or resonance than another in a certain position, we at least have that as a tool in our armoury.

‘The yarn pulls apart’

‘Rolling hills of condescension/Rolling waves of seize your chance’

‘Heavenward or awkward, you decide’

Well, the yarn pulls apart could reasonably sit at the end but so could Heavenward or awkward, you decide. In fact, that has a conclusive tone to it. The rolling hills and rolling waves are on a roll; you’d see those in the middle.

But none of that is accounting for what the finished song decides. What do I mean? Well the order of the lines in abstract are different again to the order of lines once the whole song unravels. There’s always an element of enigma and it’s best to allow for that.

Let’s try three different (unfinished) pieces placing them in different order and see what eventuates:

The yarn pulls apart
from the very start
The close-knit brow
for the here and now

Lie rolling waves of condescension
rolling waves of seize your chance

The waves pull me under
once more rent asunder
Weave an old wives fancy
Several stories high

The hills rise before me
the rest to restore me
Depict a depth I fancy
Paddled tales afire

The characters collude and then collide
Heavenward or awkward you decide

II

Rolling hills of condescension
Rolling waves of seize your chance

I’ve watched the way you’re guided
all the time you’re timed and tided
The yarn pulls apart
at the source your art

Always confound whom you confide
Heavenward or awkward, you decide

III

Heavenward or awkward you decide
To give birth to the earth where you reside
The sentimental celestials wait some while
For you to scan the skies

The yarn pulls apart
all the yearning for a start

To rolling hills of condescension
Rolling waves of seize your chance

IV

So order is important. If not the order imposed by a theme or subject then by how we place the lines; the beginning, middle and end. This affects the flow and it privileges the beginning, which takes over from the title or subject matter when they are not defined.

These are drafts and can be sketched out with more repetition and effects that suit the vocals or music. The important thing to take away from this lesson is that it is possible to construct meaning merely by choosing a leading line. There are more than three possible treatments here: you could do yarn/Heaven/hills or Heaven/hills/yarn, for instance. And you’ll notice I’ve already turned the ‘hills of condescension’ into ‘waves of condescension’ in one treatment.

Middle muddle medal

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Speaking from the constructs of the song, working a song from beginning to end, rather than from the usual organic approach, had some benefit in expanding the possibilities. As a songwriter, you don’t use every morsel, but there’s a delight in the gathering.

Mixing for the middle or staging for the start; enabling the end, are all capable of being done mechanically.

If you have a particular techno beat or trip hop treatment then lyrics are tools for that. But that is a different emphasis. My teaching is in the classic song form that I use. Clearly, knowing the strengths and limitations of different songwriting strategies is what you want when you are learning the trade.

Given the genres that continue to use verse chorus verse or variations thereof, you won’t miss too many core tenets of good lyric writing if you stick around.

II

Having looked at beginnings to end in both a structured and unstructured style, let us meet in the middle. The middle we went to before? Well, this time with the features we’ve found in the start and finish of the song.

First let’s theme a song before doling out the three sections and their potential, separate and combined.

Canopy

The cool collective gather there in branches
Underneath the leaves their shadows dancing

Flung high above our fellows

Live solely in the canopy
Never touching ground

Here the three parts are all still on the subject of canopies but the style is different: the first is a poetic romantic walk through the forest, the second connoting the presence of humans or else casting the narrator as a beast, and the third managing to be scientific and Doorsy at the same time.
Whether you want as abstract a notion as this natural feature (?) being cast above kindred creatures, as to trust it to lead to the end (or The End for that matter) is something for you to decide as you work on it.

You could also rest on a moss-covered log and ponder whether you feel that the quite violent ‘flung’ reference might disturb the mood.

Meditative mood setting in the opening does complement the science wonder the song closes with and we feel reassured that we haven’t left the rainforest.

That middle line introduces drama and mystique and it’s knowing when those are not wanted that is crucial in developing as a songwriter. Without those narrative fellows with something- presumably the canopy but possibly not – flung above them, this would serve an ambient purpose while still satisfying those who came for the music. Arpeggios go well with birdsong and brook babbling if you time it right. And if hammering the Hammond conjures the forest, so much the better.

III

You could at this point decide that it’s time for the flung line to be flung aside.

Or keep it in reserve in case the subsequent song suggests it again.

Needless to say, if you’ve followed my approach to the art, there’s no need to be prescriptive about the position these lines hold after there’s a certain progress. If you can see that the number of verses looks right and the conclusion brings satisfaction then why shoehorn in some aspect of the songwriting tool you started with. Don’t let these considerations hamper your style. Choosing to write to a formula; albeit a loose and arty one, is worth it for the exercise. It can on occasion lead to other things.

IV

Canopy

The cool collective gather there in branches
Underneath the leaves their shadows dancing
They commune as common lesser spotted

Yes the canopy is one level
Layers lie below
All sheltered from the winds
Hidden from the sun

Covered by the canopy

The naturally selective perform a highwire courship
Flung high above our fellows
They play out green affection
and filtered fancy there

Live solely in the canopy
Never touching ground

Top to tale

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Just as I don’t recommend particular focus on your song’s end, any more than I do for any other feature (as my emphasis has been all along on the song, with some qualifications, writing itself), I don’t imagine there’s a reason why you’d want to use a method where the songwriting student nuts out an opening line and a climax, and then finds the filling.

But, as with those other facets that I’ve downplayed, From the Sound of It is going to examine this as a strategy and see what develops.

As with devising just a beginning or fashioning only a finish, you can either do this with an overall title and theme in mind, or you can play with this as a creative writing exercise. Just be warned that the latter approach is harder, especially if you’re not paying any regard to whether those two lines have commonality.

Fear for our Reef

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To score an Abbott Point

I’ve played fair and made sure that the lines are relatable to the subject matter in a clear and recognisable way. The first line deals with the Great Barrier Reef as one of Australia’s most important features; as being integral to our identity and the thing tourists are driven to see. The last line conflates the dredging and dumping activity and its architect or facilitator. A happy accident like the name Abbott Point is too good for any lyricist to pass up.

Given though, that coral bleaching and the Crown of Thorns starfish also threaten the reef, there is plenty of opportunity to make this more about the region and the reef itself than a further screed against the Government. I think doing this and making only the last couplet or so about Minister Hunt and co would make for a stronger piece (unless you’re deadset on writing a protest song that inflames opposition).

II

What happens when you don’t relate the first and last line? It’s been my experience that the brain’s ability to draw connections is near infinite so, if you want something more abstract you’ll probably need a non descript title and watch where the rest of the piece drifts.

‘Terminal avatars have set belief’

‘The gardenias have taken their place’

The last line, so capable of a literal reading and nice adjoining image, is a letdown for the first, which burst with potential in all directions: ‘What are terminal avatars; are they stand-ins that stand round stations, are they memes with a shelflife, or are they something else entirely?’ ‘Do they have rigid and doctrinaire belief systems or are they the instigators of an idealogy and drivers of perception?’
The last line may mean that there was some other flower or plant in the garden bed before, it may mean that the gardenias have assumed their position.. There is room for ludic play aplenty. But the fact that it is so different stylistically – though matching in length – makes it hard work for the novice to see the connection and work from it. I wouldn’t be surprised, if a work does emerge, that the title is decided once the piece is written because the task of joining up such a song requires all your concentration.

The most likely approach is to add to the lines in a way that makes sense for both the pitch and flow of the song. It may be harder for some to work backwards, and there’s no guarantee that, by observing the fidelity of couplets, start and finish will meet and make sense.

‘While shadows have met with grief’

‘Seedlings and saplings falter’

Terminal avatars have set belief
While shadows have come to grief
Our spirits were dashed
Where the waves once crashed
Wraiths wrapped in car wreck confession

Strident symbiotes have open reign
Slipshod silhouettes say can’t complain
The market forces sway statues
Golems as solemn as virtue
Tear ducts for tragic betrayal

Simian similarities in sample case
We can’t let these things go to waste
Proteus as prototype
Grip now, mustn’t gripe
Time spent in timeless fashion

III

We have a draft that doesn’t lead to gardenias but, I’d venture to say, the work on this piece is fully attendant on what is there, not grafting on bits that don’t belong.

See how you go writing a separate song from ‘Seedlings and saplings falter/The gardenias have taken their place’

Tall shoots and deep roots

strikes me as a possibility for a preceding line.

Pretty end pretend

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The purpose of leaving ‘Unlucky for Some’ open-ended is to invite more verse. The post about song endings has a capsule, germ, essence of what that song contains but there are several treatments that suggest themselves. You could be adding in at different spots, repeating, emphasising; there’s so many ways to forge beginnings, mechanise middles, and craft finit.

But there are fledgling writers who will focus on that final line ‘Four leaf clover consumed‘ which looks like it has more to say for itself, and requires explanation.

Can you work backwards? Would an ending generate everything leading up to that moment and thereby produce a song? Certainly it’s possible. It wouldn’t be everyone’s working methodology.

There are two ways I can think of approaching (or retreating, if you prefer) the task:

  • Have a theme and/or title and generate a final line from that consideration then work back
  • Create some random last line and work from that

Universal Application

‘to prod and poke in places private to the touch’

You can go two ways again: retain the original thought about universal applications and songs entitled Universal Application when using this line OR work solely from a now singularly intriguing snatch.

‘To liberally baste you/To hardly waste you/To touch and taste you’ That’s one line that I thought of that bears both in mind. Whether you could find a way of reaching from there to a universal application or the ‘prod and poke’ line is another matter. But even if you now just have more crackerjack lines and snippets, it’s worthwile.

I propose a last line ‘Carbon sequestration’ and, really, I’m dooming it be the title or to have some repeating to do. Probably both.

‘The singed, unhinged can’t penetrate/The hour is late/How sour the fate’

That’s an earlier line for the song that ends with the line ‘Carbon sequestration’ or, perhaps after even more such efforts, it’s the germ of another song. Or it’s still this song but now you’ve lost the end and none the wiser.

Of course there’s nothing to say that your ending has to comprise of only one line and so you might start (as in end) with a toughie
‘It was you at the hold-up
Now we’ve found where you’re holed up’

Not for beginners.

Part as a whole

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While I emphasise the song as a whole (or the story the song contains/image it sustains) in this instructional blog, one should not overlook the part the part has to play.

Whether it’s noting the bad grammar of ‘this ever changing world in which we live in’ or the clunky image of ‘you wouldn’t know me from a can of paint’, particularly bad parts stick in the conscious of the listener more than the unexceptional or fitting parts of the song. However, a song has been sold on just one part and, if you’re really (un)lucky, you will thus hear the part repeated.

The consummate lyricist has no time for this (unless the motif is repetition) and will continue to where the song leads him or her. Be content that there is a memorable line, a quirky couplet, a terse but tender turn of phrase. And, sure, if you’re the bassoonist, think about your bassoon parts as well.

Is it possible to manufacture a part? It’s evident that there are songs that are built around their strongest point, rather than containing such in a mix with other elements that also serve to serve the song. And, on balance, you are better exercising your craft writing a full song, rather than an extended part.

Let’s say you have a part of a song where you are witness to an atrocity (as an example), and this image you’ve conjured is powerful enough to be the centrepiece. Any ideas? That’s the thing, as I’m racing ahead, you should always gauge your ability to engage with the topic and then mold that into the shape of the exercise. Here we’re asking for an eyewitness account to suggest a line or phrase, and from there show how the snippet can inform the song.

Here you might protest that the part of the song is dictated by the theme so it won’t be the part that is telling the story, it will be the parameters the part was given. To ward off this objection, let’s follow it with a more abstract clause. So, firstly:

‘Blood on your hands should have stayed a metaphor‘

So, that’s pretty clumsy; maybe worthy of a pub rock number when no one is really listening but you kind of know that this isn’t going to be a deep philosophical dissertation on the subject, but arresting as an image in the constraints of the song.
There is probably still more lyrics written that are perfunctory or on their way to going somewhere before abandoning it for the drink rider. We don’t aim to write them, naturally, but it helps to know how they perform in the song.

It’s hard to say whether you’d want to turn this “beginning” (as the exercise is to write with the part as the starting point, not because this will be the actual beginning of the finished song), into a song based on the incident of the extremist killing a soldier in a London crowd and holding up his bloodied hands, or whether it doesn’t match the event. It is probably safer to turn down a cartoon horror corridor, where you lose nothing in the saleability and the song has a chance of being okay rather than offensively “too soon”.

And if you think of a better line along the way, as always, be prepared to grab it rather than hoping you’ll remember it later, after you’ve finished staying with the theme you’re after for this one.
Many a writer has forgotten some of the best lines of their life because they thought they could remember them later.

II

‘I couldn’t match the motion of that blade and bloodied hand’

Now this line, believe it or not, is apropos of no real world event whatsoever. It’s taking a sidereal shift and tracing the arc of stabbings and slicing innumerable. If you count every swordstroke, every machete blow, every sideswiped with a scythe.. this is subject to our history as far back as you can recount.

Now that you have a line or phrase – a part – that is telling a story, rather than recounting an event, you are free to take it into any avenue you wish.

Even though you’ve divested yourself of a specific association, there is still the objective question of what can be done with ‘I couldn’t match the motion of that blade and bloodied hand’ as opposed to ‘Blood on your hands should have stayed a metaphor’. The latter is a deprecatory account of the murderous erupting into our everyday, while the former is classic storytelling. It doesn’t matter where you go with this – it reads as a first person account from the victim; otherwise why the urgency to match (fail to match) blows?

When we say ‘part’, technically this could mean the title, the opening line (as an event), the refrain. I’ve used it here as a separate entity that informs the song. The line about bloodied hands being better as a metaphor, or the one describing the attack from the victim’s perspective, are capable of more than one treatment. The important thing is, that they do stimulate the creative impetus and result in a good song.

III

So, again, the part might be a title “Blood on your Hands“, an opening line ‘I consider calm and kindness/the best conditions for a crowd‘, a chorus ‘and everyone can see/there’s blood on your hands/blood on your hands‘. You can use a mixture of these, or decide that one restricts where you would like the song to go – or more the case, where the song wants to go. The part can be similar to the notes a writer makes when constructing prose: characterisation and background not featured in the book that nonetheless informs how well rounded the characters and scenarios are that do appear. In a song, a phrase like ‘eyewitness to an atrocity’ would make a suitable headline but doesn’t have the right feel for a song title and would have trouble sitting in the song itself. As a reminder of where you want the focus of the song to rest, it could prove valuable and it is, therefore, also a part.

The me

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Should we be thinking about the theme when we’re writing a song? I wouldn’t recommend it; only because my experience has been that the theme will form of its own accord. It’s more the job of the reviewer or academic to decide whether there’s a theme and, if so, how well the song develops that theme, or works within it.

The composer has a broken heart, has lost his/her job, is missing someone; these are the emotions that drive composition. But so is necessity, desire for glory, a nice turn of phrase. It’s not possible to dismiss any of these factors when they are so much in display in their respective corner.

This is a separate concern than that found in the ideal theme for a set of lyrics; one organically grown as a consequence of exploring the implications of the scenario presented in the song. This means, despite the fact you might be writing nationalist ditties for Skrewdriver or California ditties of either the Beach Boys or Dead Kennedys variety, your fidelity to the song is what drives it, not your projection as to its place in the charts, or the fine words spent in that Mojo review praising the finished product.

If you call your song ‘Kill the Poor’ or ‘Wouldn’t it be Nice’ either way a theme begins to emerge. This is then quailfied by the lyrics as we progress through the song. And when I say “qualified” I mean not just that it explores every facet of that main notion, but that it alters our sense of what is meant.

This is not a critical exercise, so I don’t want to explore in too much depth what Jane Fonda being on the screen does to perception of what this act (killing the poor) would entail, but it does colour the content of the song; the lyrics going in slightly different direction than the audience at first expects from the title or opening lines.

Wit will wilt

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Wordplay and a combination of aphorism and wry aside is a feature of memorable songwriting. It has been a device, or combination of, from all the great songwriters from Gilbert and Sullivan to Elvis Costello. Along the way, it hasn’t hurt performers like Joe Jackson to get their message across or release a record that makes it into the charts.

Of course “she’s got eyes like saucers/oh you think she’s a dish” lessens the seriousness even as it brings attention to itself so even the masters can overegg.

To really get across the point though, and to drag in that other favourite lyrical ingredient, the nudge and wink: consider two similarly-titled songs: “If You Seek Kay” by the blues performer Memphis Slim, and “If You Seek Amy” by the pop chanteuse Britney Spears.
It is hedging your bets writing suggestive lyrics that play with meaning just as they tickle your fancy. ‘Rock me baby with that steady roll’ is serviceable in capturing ribald imagery but these resonate more. While it’s true that both fifties blues and nineties pop find all manner of uses for sexual connotation, the difference is apparent. Even Memphis Slim’s own output includes the standard bonking metaphors about churning and grinding; useful when it comes to the censoring of bare descriptiveness (not so necessary in today’s sexualised success meter), but not a patch on spelling it out without spelling it out, as “If You See Kay” does.

The pianist, born Peter Chatman, is able to extend the metaphor cleverly throughout the song by pretending that he is really asking after some girl named Kay. Had Britney’s writer on “If You Seek Amy” done the same, it might have worked. But the task was harder because, while it pursues the same vein at a literal level as it does at a hidden level, the writer is unable to maintain the tension of the dual meaning and it ends up not making a lot of sense. So there’s the surprise at decoding but it’s not sustained by the song itself.

Cleverness is only useful in some contexts, even when it’s working. Dancefloor numbers rely on putting one into a trance groove, not startling them out of it with a line like Jim Steinman’s “We were barely seventeen and we were barely dressed” (the milder of his verbal jousts). Folk music relies on a straight telling of an important narrative or a pronouncement that can be embraced universally. Since we don’t all think of smart lines or ripping ripostes, it places the performer at one remove from their audience, when the idea is to get them to join in. In many of the more extreme music forms, the words are going to be drowned out in the general mayhem so, unless you’re expecting your fans to pick up on the little extras in double meaning by reading the lyric sheet, it’s largely wasted on the generic pummeling the sound provides.

So you can avoid lyrical flair and be excused, but it’s a good quality to cultivate, as you never know when that extra zest in your bag of tricks will come in handy.