Page 49 - Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics - Simon Hawkins

Chapter 5 - Seven universal Song Maps
In this chapter I will run through seven universal Song Maps that you can immediately apply to your songwriting. While I'm sure you will discover more, these seven Maps form a foundation for developing many variations by mixing and matching different elements and by introducing new ones.
Every time you listen to a song on the radio or on iTunes, there is an implied flow of ideas embedded in the lyric. I'd like to say every successful song is a great example of well-crafted lyrics but, of course, reality is not like that.
There are many reasons why songs appear on the radio. However, I'd go as far as to say any really successful lyric-driven song (which generally fall within the genres of Country, Pop, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), Southern Gospel, Worship, Musicals and Jazz) is more likely to have some strong lyrical development than not. And these can be plotted on a Song Map.
Again, I offer this approach not as rules which have to be followed but as tools which, with a little upfront investment in terms of time, will help you write your very best songs.
The seven universal Song Maps I'll run through here are:
1. Tension/Response
2. Problem/Declaration 3. Timezones
4. Places
5. Roles
6. Twist
7. Literal/Figurative
In each case, I will describe what the Map looks like, how to use it, and give an example of it as a writable idea and a draft lyric before looking at possible variations.