You might not think too much about your rhymes. You might just go with whatever rhymes fall out naturally as you write your songs. Any rhyme is a good rhyme, right?
Wrong.
If you want to write songs that thrill your fans or get recorded by other artists, you need to be intentional about your rhymes. Making the following two rhyming mistakes can hurt your song – and your chances for songwriting or artist success.
Read on if you want to write better songs.
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1. Boring Rhymes.
“My love for you… is true” and “without you… I’m so blue” is NOT gonna cut it. Neither will “our love… is a gift from above.” Moon and June. My way and the highway. Heart and apart.
Professional songwriting is so competitive, you must be more interesting. Publishers and artists want something fresh- something they haven’t heard before a bazillion times.
If you think you’ve heard a certain rhyme a lot, imagine how many times a publisher has heard it!
Yes, some boring rhymes will make it into songs on the radio, but they’re probably either internal rhymes which don’t have to do as much work (they’re almost like “bonus rhymes,”) or they’re few and far between. Or they’re written by the artist or an established hit songwriter. Either way, you want to be better than that. You have to be better than that.
To get away with simple, cliche rhymes, you have to do something absolutely amazing in other areas of your song- melody, idea, raw simple honesty, or something else. But why put yourself in a position to have to depend on those other parts of your song?
Why not get the best of both worlds- have a great melody AND interesting rhymes?
2. Chasing Rhymes.
It’s easy to start chasing rhymes. This is when you write a line with a setup rhyme and, instead of concentrating on what needs to be said, you just try to get the payoff rhyme to work.
For example, line 2 of your verse says, “You’re the one I love” setting up an “of”-sounding rhyme in line 4. It’s easy to spend lines 3 and 4 just getting to, “Girl, we fit like a glove,” without really stopping to consider the thought behind the lines should be.
A place this happens a lot is the line right before the chorus.
The line right before the chorus is one of the most important lines in your song- it sets up the chorus and helps determine the impact the top of the chorus has on the listener. (In basketball terms, the last line of the verse or pre-chorus throws the ball up – alley oops it- so the chorus can slam dunk it.)
But sometimes that line, instead of serving the song or chorus, is trapped into serving the rhyme that comes before it. For example, a writer can get too focused on, “The line above ends in ‘blue’ so I have to write the next line so it ends with an ‘oo’ sound.”
This can result in a line that’s weaker than it should be.
To avoid this trap, I’ll often figure out the IDEA of the set-up line, but intentionally leave it unrhymed. Then I’ll move on to the last line of the chorus and get that line just right.
The line at the end of the verse or right before the chorus is more important than the line in the middle of the verse. And I’d rather have the more important line determine the rhyme of the less important line. This frees me up to focus on finding the strongest idea for the last line of the verse- on finding the best idea and figuring out how to say it. After I have that figured out, I can go back to the set-up line and figure that one out.
Remember: the thought behind the line is more important than the rhyme at the end of the line.
It requires intentionality, discipline and time to build the habit of putting the thought behind the line first. But it’s worth it. It helps your song to be more thoughtful and more interesting. Figure out the thought first, then figure out the rhyme.
Rhymes matter. If you don’t believe me, just ask a publisher.
Easy for me to say, right? How do you actually GET your song to a publisher to ask them? Well, I’m glad you asked. I have a wonderful opportunity for you.
If YOU would like to play your song for a legit music publisher, our next Play For A Publisher event is coming right up! Our guest is Tim Hunze of Parallel Music. Tim has worked closely with several #1 hit songwriters, and he’s been getting songs recorded by major artists for years. If YOU have the songs, HE knows what to do with them!
CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE DETAILS AND SEND IN YOUR SONG!
God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,
Brent
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US, a #1 in Canada & a top 10 in Texas… so far.
This is excellent information. I think all of us have fallen into the rhyme put a few times – or more.
Pit
Great thoughts Brent!
Thanks, Julie!
My barometer to whether I have written a great song, is to make sure the second verse, and third (if there is one), are at least as strong as the first verse.
I have a number of songs that have never been pitched or even heard, that I feel are very commercial. I have been a professional musician for many years, sit down gigs, and on the road. Would love co-write with same.