Prosody is one of those terms that is very present in the songwriting world, but it’s not always clear what it means. Simply put, it’s how the lyrics and music fit together. We are all conscious of this, songwriters or not, of what comes across when we listen to a song and how all the elements come together, how that makes us feel.
We can’t really control how someone interprets our song—that’s what makes art subjective, of course. But since songwriting is a means of self-expression, a means of communicating a message or a feeling, there are ways that we can write our lyrics or melodies that do just that. Prosody allows for more effective songwriting.
There are a lot of tips here, and it can be tricky to do. The best part about prosody is that it can happen naturally and subconsciously, because conveying an emotion is a massive part of songwriting. But I would advise that you try to think of the following ways to incorporate prosody as something you do in the editing process, not necessarily in the writing process—at least, when you first start.
Start with the Key
The easiest way to start is to use a major key for your happy songs, a minor key for your sad songs. Goes without saying, doesn’t it? Consider what kind of chords you are using, maybe suspended chords for songs that are more reflective, perhaps modal interchange/borrowed chords for specific moments in a song that call for it. If you have the musical knowledge, you can use modes to create more complex emotions, but you don’t need to.
There is also something to be said for songs that have sad lyrics but quite “happy” sounding in its harmony. For example, the emotion that comes across in a song like “Hard Times” by Paramore is that she is smiling through the pain. Some of the lines end up feeling tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic, simply because of the major key.
Rhythm and Tempo
If you want your song to sound a bit angrier, an up-tempo song could do that. Maybe the angrier words land right on the first beat of the bar, which is the strongest beat, which ends up sounding “punchier”.
Or, for lyrics that are confused and unsure, you could use more syncopated melodies. Try listening to “Speak Too Soon” by Bebe Stockwell and Hans Williams: the lyrics are often off the strongest beats of the bar to convey that unsteady feeling.
Cadences and Deceptive Cadences
Cadences are natural progressions in chords that lend our ears to a certain expectation of how it will end. For example, ending a line on a V to I chord feels very solid and satisfying. But if you don’t end a chord progression the way it is expected to, you end up with deceptive cadences. You can use that non-resolution to create an unresolved emotion that feels complex.
Starting and Ending Melodies
Similarly, if you are using the tonic note (or “home” note) a lot in your melody, especially if you start and/or end with it, it does lean towards a happier or sad melody (depending on if you are in a major or minor key). Using the tonic more means the melody feels more conclusive, so try varying where the melody ends if you want the opposite feeling.
Stability vs. Instability in Lyrics
This is where things get a little more technical. In Writing Better Lyrics, Pat Pattison outlines the many ways that lyrics can be written to show stability or instability. There are several aspects to lyrics where we can do this:
Rhymes
Believe it or not, the type of rhyme you use makes an enormous difference whether the line feels like it ended stably. If you use more perfect rhymes, the section will feel more decisive (which works great for your hook). If you use imperfect rhymes (or don’t rhyme at all, like that one line in “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots), the section will feel like there’s more to the story.
Rhyme Schemes
If you’re using couplets (AA, BB, CC, etc.) and it’s a beautiful, steady, love song, that is the perfect context for this. The more varied your rhyme scheme is in a section (for example: ABAB, ABCB, ABAC), the less “satisfying” it feels when it ends, the less stable it feels.
Line Lengths
A lot of songs have the same length of lines, but if you balance a short line paired with a long line, it creates more instability. Check out “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley—how does that variation of the line lengths make you feel? How about that contrast between the first two lines and the last line?
Number of Lines
The more even your stanza is, the more stable it feels. If you have four lines, it will feel a lot more stable than a stanza with three or five lines. There are a lot of stanzas with four lines that vary the rhyme scheme and length of the lines, and that combination creates a lot more interest.
When to Use Prosody
Like I mentioned before, it will happen naturally, especially as you get more familiar with all of the different ways you can use prosody in your lyrics. But if you are overthinking the elements to express the feeling, you may lose what actual meaning you want to express.
Let’s say you’re writing a happy song and you decide to make every lyric as stable as possible, all of the musical elements “perfectly” resolved. It might work great, but it also might sound a bit inauthentic. It might feel like you’re trying to shove the song into a cookie cutter.
The real authenticity comes from trying to combine these aspects to create more emotional interest that is accurate to the entire emotional range of the song. Does the entire song have to follow the prosody “rules”, or can you choose a few of these aspects to enhance the more important emotions you’re working with? Can you focus on the lines themselves, rather than fitting into the prosody mold?
It also really helps to have others listen to the song and get feedback, because then you know if the prosody is working. It’s a tricky concept, so give yourself time to learn it and be sure to study your favourite songs to practice!
