Songwriting Without Boundaries (43 page)

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Authors: Pat Pattison

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Because prepositions are not as important as the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs they serve, their stressed syllables are marked with a secondary stress (//), which also notes their secondary function in the line. Because of this, when you set lyric to melody, you will remember to relegate prepositions to secondary rhythmic positions in the bar.

Take a second to notice
into
, another two-syllable preposition. It is stressed
ín
to, not in
tó
. It is probably the most badly handled word in songwriting—perhaps since it usually follows a stressed syllable:

She walked into the room.

The proper handling is

She walked (pause)
ín
to the room.

not

She walked in
to
the room.

’Nuff said.

Rhythm

Again, you create rhythm in language by arranging stressed and unstressed syllables into patterns. The most usual pattern, typical of 4/4 time, is a duple (two) pattern:

da DUM, or DUM da

When you repeat the pattern a few times, you produce a duple rhythm:

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

I
soon
for
got
the
ones
I
loved

DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da

Don’t
let
lov
ers
leave
you
strand
ed

Since the pattern was repeated four times, there are four stressed syllables in the line and thus a
tetra
meter line in duple meter.

Lyrics and poetry also work with triple rhythms, typical of 3/4, 6/8, and 12/8 time signatures:

da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM

In the
still
of the
night
when I
held
you so
tight

DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da

Ro
ses have
thorns
that can
cut
you to
pie
ces

Again, since the pattern was repeated four times, there are four stressed syllables in the line and thus a
tetra (four)
meter line in triple meter.

Of course, lines need not be regular, and in fact, in this challenge it is better that your lines be a little jagged. Writing in four-stress lines is limiting enough. Writing in regular four-stress lines would let the rhythm drive the bus. A line like this (by Paul Simon):

Four in the morning, crapped out, yawning

Is a tetrameter line:

Four
in the
morning
,
crapped
out,
yawn
ing

But it is hardly regular, containing a triple pattern (DUM da da) and three duple patterns (DUM da). For a time, you’ll be working in four-stress lines, the mainstay for songwriters (along with trimeter lines), because they suit the demands of 4/4 time so perfectly.

Or this (by Sting):

I can
hot
wire an ig
nit
ion like
some
kind of
star

So you can be somewhat relaxed in constructing your lines. Just make sure they have only four stresses.

For the first two days, you’ll work in rhythm without rhyme, after which you’ll jump into couplets, before moving on to other line lengths and rhyme schemes.

Have a good fourteen days.

DAY #1

TETRAMETER LINES

This begins the last of the four challenges, and it is intended to use all the skills you’ve gained so far. Keep your writing sense-bound, and keep your eyes open for metaphor.

As usual, set a timer and respond to the following prompts for exactly the time allotted. Use only tetrameter lines, concentrating on a duple feel. No rhymes for now.

Sight Sound Taste Touch Smell Body Motion

10 minutes: Sunset

CHANELLE DAVIS

Peeling rays of orange light

Juices dripping through the clouds

Flung across the rippling ocean

Swirling blue to black in minutes

The moon rushes the sun away

Hungry for the stage and a crowded street

Cool night air chills me

Slipping its fingers under my scarf

CLARE MCLEOD

Sinking into the horizon’s trees

The sun’s burnt amber disc

Is swallowed whole by the green tongues

I pull the scarf around me tighter

As a light breeze picks up my hair

The twilight air is a little chill

And the purple time descends gentle

Turning, I head for warmth and home

Look at their use of metaphor. Pretty cool, “night air … slipping its fingers under my scarf,” and the forest as “green tongues” swallowing the sun. Count the stressed syllables for practice. Then it’s your turn.

5 minutes: Art Museum

TAMI NEILSON

Walls a crisp and sterile white

Like bed sheets on a hospice ward

No sound but heels that click and scuff

Echo, bounce off concrete floors

Colour pops to life in frames

I almost smell the paint not dried

While brushes whisper canvas secrets

SCARLET KEYS

Swirling twirling dance hall dress

Kicking legs, white petticoats

Porcelain bosom cancan dance

Beer mustaches sway and ask

To let me turn to liquid now

Slipping off this canvas now

To feel her tiny hand in mine

Across this crowded museum floor

Really nice use of senses here. The “I almost smell the paint not dried” and “feel her tiny hand in mine.” Both pieces pull you in. Go ahead, pull me in. It’s your turn.

DAY #2

TETRAMETER LINES

Now that you have a feel, from yesterday, for tetrameter lines, do it again, to lock it in. As usual, keep your writing sense-bound and your eyes open for metaphor.

Set your timer and respond to the following prompts for exactly the time allotted. Use only tetrameter lines, concentrating on creating a duple feel (moving in twos).