Songwriters – Should You Use A Rhyming Dictionary?
December 28th, 2009 by Lior ShamirIn his book Songwriting: Essential Guide to Rhyming, author Pat Pattison writes:
Occasionally when I’ve asked writers what rhyming dictionary they use, some have been indignant, as though to say, “I do not cheat. I am self-sufficient.” Others have looked at me sadly, as if hoping that someday I will abandon my artificial crutch and get in touch with my creative inner self.
Use a rhyming dictionary. This is one place where self-reliance and rugged individualism is silly. Finding rhymes is almost never a creative act. It is purely mechanical search. On those few occasions where it is creative (finding mosaic rhymes, for example), a rhyming dictionary can still stimulate the creative process.
The self reliant writer who thinks rhyming is a spontaneous expression of personal creativity can usually be seen gazing into space, lost somewhere in the alphabet song, “discovering” one-syllable words. This “alphabet process” is certainly at least as artificial as a rhyming dictionary. Nothing about it is creative or pure, nor is it spontaneous. The worst part of it is its inefficiency.
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December 29th, 2009 at 3:22 am
You should write from the heart and if by some chance your words happen to rhyme then …it is what it is. but never force something to rhyme or go searching for words that rhyme. that makes lyrics cheezy and cliche.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Any creative work may be the ONLY creative work by that artist that a particular person may experience. That work, then, should give some measure of the artist’s inspiration and abilities. In the main, song lyrics match music better if they rhyme – a rhyming dictionary can be an aid to this; but don’t let ANY tool over-ride inspiration! In one of my songs (Mind Control) I rhyme “As the sound intensiFIED, A throbbing pulse – with a kalEID – oscope of colours…” Every work is unique, and has it’s own rules. But the only generality I tend to believe is that generalities are not true…. !
December 31st, 2009 at 8:22 am
Tim C. makes a great point about internal rhymes and both Tim C. and Stephen C. are right to hit on the importance of creating from the heart, but rhyming dictionaries are just a tool — and a good one. They won’t help you write a great song or even a better song, but they will help you get to your good ideas a little faster, and that’s worth a lot, I think.
Jeff
December 31st, 2009 at 7:27 pm
“Spontaneity” is not a synonym for “creativity.” Nor is it a synonym for “inspiration.” Don’t be afraid to think. Use all the tools you have. Writing your best is difficult enough, and requires your full presence at the writing table, including both your heart and your brain. Over-reliance on either one will usually result in inferior work.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Oscar Hammerstein II, in his excellent book, LYRICS, says, “I do not open mine until I have exhausted my own memory and invention of rhymes for a word.” Have a laugh at rhyming gone wrong here http://bit.ly/4CBoQY