Writing Better Lyrics by Pattison, Pat (2010) Paperback Paperback – 28 Feb 2010

First of all, let me say that I am not a musician but have a friend who is an accomplished guitar player and has, for many years, performed on the local folk circuit. For ages, he has ask if I could come up with some lyrics for him because, although he finds it easy to compose the music, he sometimes struggles with writing the words. I think he assumed that my worldly travels, combined with my love of reading would translate into me having plenty of 'ideas' for songs. The truth is I did have a go (many times) but failed to come up with anything that I thought worthy of passing on to him. Then one day I was inspired to write a poem that dealt with the simple pleasures I experienced as a young boy. I passed this poem on to my friend who produced a really good song from it. That set the ball rolling! We have gone on to write several more songs together - and I have many more that are 'works in progress.'However, I still thought there was room for improvement and, as I have never taken any formal lyric writing courses, I thought I should at least invest in a book that might help and inspire me. There's a lot of publications out there but after reading all the reviews, I opted for this one by Pat Pattison. As another reviewer has already pointed out, this is an American author, so the book is slanted more towards the US market - hence some rhyming words may not work when British pronunciations are used. However, for me, it's all about adapting what is being taught. I'm so pleased I got hold of this book because it's provided me with the techniques that I previously hadn't considered - and I've already finished off a couple of song projects that I'd temporarily abandoned! Can't say much more than that really - other than to give this book my seal of approval.

I'm always wary of books like this as a few I've dipped into come across as rigid formulas rather than flexible techniques. I like the way it made me think about my own lyric written and, even though the examples sometime look a bit cheesy and hokey-cokey, they are presented in a way that allows you to analyse and practise the techniques involved. This allows you to quickly use the tools in your own writing, and see with fresh eyes why some of your earlier examples worked and why others didn't work so well. The book also allows you some breathing space to not be afraid to write, in the author's own words, "crap" in order to free up your mind for the good stuff. Something that stuck with me from early on was (paraphrased): "Did the writer know of the effect of line length and phrasing when they wrote it? Maybe, maybe not, but that doesn't mean you can't". It puts the idea in your head that you can make happy accidents part of your arsenal to create better lyrics. Lovely stuff!The author's own experiences and anecdotes are also peppered throughout, which adds a nice personal aspect to the whole thing. I'd advise readers to try all the exercises as soon as they come across them - I didn't initially but found them very useful. This could be one of those key books that unlocks some of the mystery of songwriting by framing it in good technical processes.

My impression is that the ideas presented are too complex and difficult to actually apply. It was a book my son recommended but had no songs to show that it had been helpful to him. There will be better books on the subject.

I found this book interesting but it's information not for todays pop song writers. Some of the content referred to longer lyrics, these are more aimed at the ballad writing.(or maybe I'm missing the point it's trying to make) comments from others would be appreciated. Thank you.

I bought this book after finishing a free songwriting course by Pat Pattison on Coursera. As he says, there are "no rules, only tools", and he offers a great deal of songwriting tools in this book. Written in a laid back, easy to understand language, it teaches some useful techniques that I have been using since.

This is a much more in-depth look at lyrics than the Berklee Songwriting course that Pat runs on Coursera. It's a study of the use of language and I found it very helpful and challenging. It talks about descriptive writing and the use of metaphor as a means of moving from simplistic narrative towards more intriguing ways of saying things. Very good!

Pat pattison is a great teacher. He can be seen on youtube teaching one of his classes. Will give you an insight into his style. The book itself is an interesting read and highlighted many things I had never even thought about before. It has many examples and goes over many different ideas to help you understand.. I recommend this book to anybody interested in writing bett........

I am still working my way through the book but already have found myself inspired by the excercises. I tended to take the view that you either know how to write or you don't and I was a bit sceptical that a book could teach me anything - very arogant of me but that is how I felt. I read extracts before I purchased the book and got the feeling that this would be a good purchase and I was not wrong. Now "all" I have to do is write a hit song .