Page 74 - Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics - Simon Hawkins

place to somewhere more general, such as moving from a room in Verse 1 to a town/city in Verse 2. Or you could go from a specific place in Verse 1 to a general global perspective in Verse 2.
It is also possible to apply Places in a slightly difference sense–such as moving to different emotional places, spiritual places and use this as a way to develop your lyric–e.g. from sad to happy, from broken hearted to falling in love, from a place of loneliness to a place of feeling loved or from a place of doubt to a place of faith. The only limit on how far we take Places is the limit we put on our own imagination.
Commercial examples of Places
There are some great examples of using Places across all genres. Examples I'd highlight include:
Country
"My Town" by Montgomery Gentry–lots of "furniture" in all three Verses and a lot of detail and color in the Chorus underlining the central theme of the ups and downs of living in a community. Also an element of Timezones, with subplots around the water tower and tractor. V3 is where we get a lovely set of payoffs with the rusty tractor in V1 now painted up and in the front yard, and Jenny, whose name was painted on the water tower in V1, now with a kid and going to church with the singer.
Another great modern Country example of Places is "Fly Over States" by Jason Aldean.
Pop
"Love Story" by Taylor Swift–some really nice storytelling and plot development here: the geographical position isn't a different country or city, but different geographical places in the same residence or town. The lyric moves from the balcony in V1 to the garden in V2 and then to the outskirts of town in the Bridge, ensuring that the story develops along with the movement of the characters in the lyric. By the end of the song both characters are ready to run away with each other because they have moved both physically and emotionally. Very nice crafting.
Incidentally, it's great to see such lyrical crafting in a Pop song. I'm thinking Taylor's Country, lyric- driven roots helped her with this as a crossover artist.
Other classic pop lyrics you may like to look at include "Amarillo" by Tony Christie (which, despite its comedic association with Peter Kay, is actually well written), "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn/Cher, "Never Forget" " by Take That, which uses Places in a more metaphorical sense–in V1 the singer is yearning for stardom, in the Chorus the singer is valuing where they came from, in V2 the singer appreciates the journey.
CCM
"You Thought Of Us" by Kyle Matthews is a brilliantly crafted Places/Timezone song, which tracks the Easter story in a series of vignettes from Judas' betrayal, the crucifixion, and the resurrection all told in a brilliantly lyrical way.
Southern Gospel
"Sometimes It Takes A Mountain" by the Gaither Vocal Band– moves through different places of a metaphor, from facing a mountain in V1 to a place of surrender in V2 and the acknowledgment in each Chorus that sometimes that's what it takes to "get a hold of me." Good job.
Worship