Page 100 - Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics - Simon Hawkins

Altering a Song Map
Altering a Song Map can be just as rewarding as combining Song Maps. As I said earlier in this book, all we are doing in the process of Song Mapping is assigning ideas to song sections to make sure the lyric moves forward.
It's therefore very simple to modify a Song Map with a totally new element, which is not necessarily part of the original (or any other) Song Map. What is critical, however, is that any new element introduced has the impact of moving the plot forward. In other words, for a VCVCBC structure,
Wherever we were in V1, the Chorus needs to move us to a new place Wherever we were in the Chorus, V2 needs to move us to a new place Etc.
For example, Taylor Swift's song "Shake It Off" from her Grammy-winning album 1989 was brilliantly crafted by writers Swift, Martin and Shellback around a variation of Problem/Declaration: Instead of writing Problem/Declaration/Response they write Perception/Declaration/Reality.
In this format, they move the lyric from what people think in V1 to the declaration (also a response) in the Chorus to setting out reality in V2.
Altering a Song Map can not only introduce fresh elements into the Song Map, but it can also be an effective way to help develop the lyric and move the story on. Examples of fresh elements that can be introduced into a Song Map include:
States of mind (historical, now, future) Times
Generations
Fears, hopes, aspirations, reality
What I've done, what I will do now
Signal what's coming, my response to knowing what's coming Knowing, telling
The lesson
The solution
The conclusion (meaning)
How I feel about the lesson/solution/conclusion Remembering
The future
Eternity
Everything's going to turn out alright
Any of these could be applied to any section of a song to provide some fresh perspective for the lyric.
Exercise
If you have a copy of the Song Maps Workbook, this would be a good time to complete Exercise #11 -