A great love song begins with a full heart. If you’re not in love, you can still pen beautiful words, but actually being in love makes heartfelt expression so much easier.
Perhaps you’ve never been a songwriter, but don’t worry. Musical inclination has little bearing on the most important element of a love song—the lyrics.
You don’t have to play a musical instrument to write great lyrics. You do, however, need a willingness to write without fear. Many worry that the words they commit to paper might be corny, not good enough, or just plain stupid. But that fear is not worth your time. Meaning what you say is what matters. If you’re writing love song lyrics as a gift to someone you care for, that someone is going to cherish your effort no matter how the words are strung together.
What is a Love Song?
Love song lyrics are not just about lines of words. They are about the feeling the words generate.
A song about lust is not a song about love. A song that hinges on emotions like anger or dominance is not a song about love. If the essence of love is tainted with words that may sound hip or cool but have nothing to do with what love is, your effort to write a love song will fail. Even if you use the word “love” a dozen times, if inappropriate words cause the song to veer from that certain recognizable feeling you get when you hear a true love song, you may have written a song, but it won’t be a love song.
Allow yourself the freedom to consider only love and nothing else when writing your lyrics.
7 Easy Steps to Writing Love Song Lyrics
Following seven simple steps will help you organize thoughts of love into lyrics.
- Write down how you feel about that special someone. Don’t try to conform the writing into any special format. Just write. Describe your feelings. Remember a shared event. Remind yourself what makes your loved one happy. Write anything and everything about your relationship.
- Once you’ve written all you can think of, read it aloud and listen for key words that stand out. The words can be anything that instantly sparks a memory or brings a thought to mind. For example, you may have written about that special summer beach trip where you shared kiss in the ocean. The words summer, beach, ocean, and kiss, would be key words. But substitutes work, too, like “waves” or “water” instead of ocean or “sand” instead of beach.
- Find all the key words in everything you’ve written. Make a list of those words, and suddenly you have the foundation for lyrics.
- If you want your lyrics to rhyme, use a rhyming dictionary or an online rhyming search to help you combine words that sound good together. Lyrics don’t have to rhyme, but they can. Or you may choose to rhyme some words for effect while not rhyming others. Not everything has to be “love” and “dove,” for example. But rhyming for emphasis can add extra lyrical flavor.
- If you want the lyrics to sound like lyrics, write them with a beat in mind. The easiest way to do this is to march in place. As you pick up and lower your feet, read the lines you’ve written, matching syllables and pauses to the steps. It’s rudimentary, but it’s a great starting place. Soon you’ll be able to write in rhythm without any kind of physical movement.
- Song lyrics do something that poetry rarely does. Lyrics repeat phrases. That’s how a song’s chorus is built, so feel free to repeat phrases that matter.
- Work on your lyrics then set them aside. Return later and look at them with a fresh perspective. Most great writing begins as “okay” writing. It doesn’t get great until the rewrite.
Love Song Lyric Samples
Let’s take the scenario of the kiss at the beach and look at some lyric examples.
First a rhyming one:
Do you remember the sand and the sea
The way I blushed when you held me
Do you remember our first long kiss
Riding the waves of the ocean’s abyss
Note that the first two lines have “perfect rhyme,” meaning that the last words of the lines, sea and me, match in sound and syllables. The last two lines, however, reflect “imperfect rhyme.” Kiss and abyss are close but not exact. Either rhyming method is fine.
Now, a semi-rhyming version:
Do you remember the sand and the sea
I blushed at your touch, but didn’t pull away
Do you remember our first long kiss
Atop rocking waves that begged us to stay
Note that only the last words of the second and fourth lines rhyme.
And finally, a non-rhyming version:
Do you remember the sand and the sea
I blushed at your touch, but didn’t pull away
Do you remember our first long kiss
That night began a journey that will never end
Note that none of the final words of the lines rhyme.
Your Love Song – Do It Now!
All three lyric examples tell the same story of a meaningful kiss at the beach. And their differences highlight the beauty of lyrics. Lyrics can be whatever you wish them to be—rhyming, semi-rhyming, or non-rhyming.
So why not give it a try? Just write what you feel, pay attention to a simple beat, and weave your lines around important key words. You’ll be a lyricist before you know it!