Page 61 - Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics - Simon Hawkins

Eternity.
2. This was an unusual song in that I started with the melody, which I'd written at least two years
previously, just waiting for the right lyric to arrive. This is one of the cool things about writing on your own: you can spend as much time as you like working on a song rather than needing to deliver something to your publisher at the end of a three-hour co-writing session. The reality is, I love writing both ways.
3. The melody already had an anthemic quality about it, starting on a high note and landing nicely on a low note for "nations FALL", all of which helped the emotional impact of the song (prosody).
4. Again, you can see how the Chorus is recolored by the Verses: lows and highs, battles and triumphs, storms and strength.
5. You can hear the final track and lyric video here.
Variations on Problem/Declaration
Biblical Truth/Declaration/Response – which Matt Redman crafts beautifully in "Holy." A point on structure: Worship songs sometimes repeat the first Verse (either with the problem or a buildup of Biblical truths) with a soaring declarative Chorus. If there's no Verse 2, then the Bridge becomes the response, which is a neat alternative in John Mark McMillan's "How He Loves." An unusually wordy worship song but it still works.
Problem/Declaration/Prayer – in the case of a Worship/CCM Problem/Declaration song, the Chorus can go to a prayer, the Bridge to a reference to Eternity. Perception/Declaration/Reality – which Taylor Swift so neatly crafts in her song "Shake It Off" on her album 1989.
Commercial examples of Problem/Declaration
Great examples of Problem/Declaration include:
Country
"The Climb" by Miley Cyrus–V1 superbly sets up the problem ("Voice inside saying you'll never make it, my faith is shaking") with the Pre-Chorus leading naturally into the Chorus ("gotta keep trying"). The Chorus resounds with the declaration "There's always gonna be another mountain / that I'll want to move." V2 is all about the solution ("despite it all / no, I'm not breaking") followed by a payoff in the Outro ("Keep the faith, baby"). The Chorus is more hooky than anthemic, but this is an excellent example of how this Map can be used to write a very commercial, highly cuttable song.
Pop
"Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift is another great example of this Map–V1 sets up the problem, which is actually what other people are saying she does (not reality). The Chorus is her declaration that she's just going to shake it off. V2 is her response (reality), which naturally leads back to the Chorus. The Bridge shows us what it means to shake it off when her ex-man brings his (freaking out!) new girlfriend.
Other Problem/Declaration songs include classic anthems like "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, "We Are The Champions" by Queen, "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer (classic anthemic, simple Chorus but we are made to wait for it - two and a half minutes into the song!), and "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid.
CCM