SONGWRITING
BETTER POETRY IN THE AGE OF SAMENESS | Kevin MacDougall
THE MEANS TO MEANING question. Probably the biggest one—and some point in the song where the lyrics venture
It’s been said that creativity and genius are 1% especially so with church music and songs into more creative, imaginative directions.
inspiration, 99% perspiration. attempting to carry a “Christian worldview” in general. Cliché amounts to songs which are Beyond cliché, metaphor usage is another
It strikes me that when a songwriter shows indistinguishable from each other because they common obstacle to better songs. Whether
something they’re working on, and then says have so much that they do the same. The lack awkward metaphor that sounds accidentally
they “need to finish” the song, the vast majority of a unique approach suppresses poetic value naughty, or insensitive metaphor which treats
of the time, they’re referring to crafting and and can communicate inauthenticity, even physical realities like mere figurative things.
completing the lyrics. insincerity. People who’ve endured flooding or a hurricane
are not going to be as receptive to singing a
It would seem, then, that lyrics are the cause of There is often a widespread over-reliance on lot of songs with water metaphor. Likewise,
more of our perspiration as songwriters. typical phrases and devices rather than an people who’ve endured fires and lost homes
ethic of having any sort of thematic, poetic or can also be put in a strange place by much of
In my first column (April 2019), I talked about literary perspective to bring to the table. The what they hear on the radio or at church. I have
capturing the spark of creativity - preserving writer becomes less an artist with a particular a therapist friend who told me this exact thing
the moment which inspires a song. And in my wiring and vantage, and more a function of was taking place in church services around
second column (November 2019), I dealt with the general way things are done: An artisan northern California after the devastating fires of
the need for interrogating that same inspiration, reproducing what already exists as though last year.
and making sure we compose songs from a standing at an assembly line, with lyrics drawn deliberate posture rather than a default one. from the common stock of parts.
Mixed metaphor can also come across as
Where the first column was an attempt to
honor inspiration, the second was a plea for
sloppy. A lyric might say:
For example, let’s say I have a new lyric. It goes:
perspiration in the songwriting of Christians.
And particularly so when it comes to lyrics.
“Your love is a strong tower /
“You are here / In this place
That will lead us into battle”
You are worthy / I bless Your name”
In this column, I want to mention some
Which is it? Is it stationary or in motion? Is it
common obstacles and roadblocks to better Such phrases are interchangeable with a defensive or not? Such attempts as poetic
poetry. I also want to share some tools and million other songs. And while they may not be language fall flat because they aren’t consistent
considerations which have helped me in my evil, I’m still inclined to think we can do better in communicating much of anything. Instead,
own craft. more often than we might think. We can be they meander between pseudo-colorful ideas
more evocative. We can inspire more depth as disconnected fragments. Perhaps a deeper
WHAT GETS IN THE WAY OF GOOD LYRICS? of meditation and reflection. We can utilize question to ask of the lyric above is whether
When we fail to challenge or fully develop our thousands of colors within a spectrum, rather “battle” lyrics and the use of violence-adjacent
first instincts, what do we tend to put out there than only painting in primary hues. imagery is still something we should be leaning
into the world?
I would say cliché is a big answer to that
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into? Without mentioning it by name, there is
Even if a song features mostly these sorts of a wildly popular current worship song which
phrases and ideas, there should at least be features a lyric so violent that I refused to play
December 2019
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