Songwriting 101: Song Meter
By Dave Byers | September 29, 2007
Let’s discuss song meter and how that affects your writing.
We know that each line in verse one needs to match the same line length in the other verses. But have you ever written a song and had to squeeze in words really fast to make them fit? Then later, you decide that it just didn’t sound right?
You’re not alone, because there’s a subtle little trick you can use to that will transform any poorly-written line into a catchier, more distinguished lyric.
SongwriterToolbox Tip: The natural word flow of your lyrics should match your melody.
One of way of matching is to hum the melody where the line goes and count the syllables. The best way is to count the stresses in that line. For instance, read the lines below out loud:
This song is silly
But serves a purpose for us
It shows song stresses
And I guess that’s enough
Song meter is not an exact science. It is a theory at best. Just like many poems can be scanned differently, so can lyrics.
This SONG is SILLY
But serves a PURPOSE for US
It SHOWS song STRESSES
And I GUESS that’s ENOUGH
Stressed words are the important words that are focused on and stressed within the line. Take the first line you see above that reads “This song is silly.” The two most important words in that line are “song” and “silly.” Say that line out loud a few times and notice how you stress those two words specifically.
This stanza has 2 stresses in each line. One way to find stresses is to quickly look for words that have the meaning in the line. For instance, the words “this” and “is” don’t have much importance in line one, so they are not stressed.
The line would have 3 stresses if the line read “This song called meter is quite silly.” The words “song” “meter” and “silly” would all be stressed. Say the line out loud and notice how those words are stressed.
With this verse, we have established the song’s meter. With that pattern established, following verses would need to match the pattern of two stresses per line in each of its 4 lines. They could not, for instance, have two stresses in line 1, three in line 2, two in line 3, and four stresses in line 4. The song’s meter would be off considerably and would sound silly with the music.
When you take away everything but the stressed words of a line, you end up with the basics of the message of that line. For instance, line 1: song + silly. Knowing those two important words, we have a good idea about what the line is trying to say to us.
Many times you’ll notice that stressed words appear in the down beat of the rhythm. Tap your foot while you say those lines. Tap your foot the first time, when you say the word “song” and then the next time when you say “silly.” Continue that same tempo as you say the rest of the lines.
You will also find many chords fall on stressed words in a song. That is a good thing to happen, as this new chord highlights a word, and the words that you would want highlighted are the important words in your lyric which are also the stressed words.
When a singer holds a note and lets it soar at times, you’ll notice that the notes will be stressed words as well. There is no reason for a singer to hold a word and highlight it if it’s not a stressed word.
Imagine a line that said, I The stressed words are “wish,” “was,” and “Toledo.” You wouldn’t hold the note on the word “in” and not “Toledo.” If you held “in,” you would be highlighting the wrong word.
Songwriting basics again are these three things:
- A song should have an interesting lyric that draws a listener in.
- A song needs to be “catchy” and draw the listener in by that as well. (Catchy tune, melody, chord patterns, musical parts etc.)
- A song should have proper structure.
At this point, dive into studies of your own and search out books and study materials from several sources to begin continually improving your craft. Treat songwriting as just that — a craft.
SongwriterToolbox Tip: Make sure you have all the tools available to you as you work at your craft, and learn to use them more and more as the years go by.
You may think that the best songs get written in 5 minutes and with little effort or time spent on them, and truthfully some do. But the harsh reality is that the vast majority are not. You must write, and re-write, and then re-write again until you get it just right.
For those few times in history when inspiration hits, and a hit song is written quickly, you can bet the writer had honed his songwriting muscles with knowledge and practice long before their “quick hit” song was written.
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Loading ...About the Author
Dave is the founder of WritingSongs.com and the Christian Songwriters Organization. He has been writing songs since 1979. His book Songwriting Fundamentals is full of helpful hints for both new and seasoned songwriters. Visit Author's Website.
Last 5 posts by Dave Byers
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