While melody is an important aspect of creating a memorable song that will resonate with your listeners, lyrics can’t be overlooked in the completion of a memorable song. Songwriters know they need to make their lyrics ‘sticky’ for listeners to easily remember them.
One way to achieve this is direct repetition of the chorus. Another method is making the words at the end of lines rhyme in patterns known as rhyme schemes throughout the song.
But a more subtle technique is to use parallelism (also known as parallel construction) within consecutive lines of a verse or a chorus. Let’s take a look at parallelism in songwriting, and explore examples to illustrate how it can be effective in writing lyrics that stick.
Parallelism seems obvious when it’s pointed out in songs, from nursery rhymes to Billboard hits. It helps the audience grasp and remember whole chunks of lyrics from the get go. As a device that creates a harmonious effect while also moving the story along, it’s a technique worth exploring in your songwriting.
Parallelism can have lyrics repeating at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of several adjacent lines. The repetition can either be exact, or use the same structure but individual word content varies. Check out the great egg Humpty Dumpty!
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again
The first two lines have the exact same words at the start (Humpty Dumpty) but the second half of each line has exactly the same number of syllables with similar types of words being used. Parallelism in consecutive lines…
...sat on the wall (VERB, preposition, article, NOUN)
…had a great fall (VERB, article, adjective, NOUN)
But have a look again at line 3:
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
This is parallel construction within a line and it’s just as useful. The line has exact repetition with a change in the content rather than the type of one word. The noun HORSES is switched out for MEN.
So the rhythm repeats, but the story progresses with the variation. That’s slick!
Parallelism also refers to using repeating forms to create lyrical patterns in a verse or a chorus. This helps to connect either similar or contrasting ideas. The words aren’t particularly repeated but the construction is - and it makes a lyric stick in the mind of the listener.
Have a look at Katy Perry’s entire chorus of her song Hot N Cold
You're hot, then you're cold
You're yes, then you're no
You're in, then you're out
You're up, then you're down
You're wrong, when it's right
It's black and it's white
We fight, we break up
We kiss, we make up
Each line is divided into contrasting ideas with a balanced structure.
Here’s Sting using it in his song Every Breath You Take, repeating the first and third words of each line exactly (every and you) but varying the rest of the line.
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you
Using parallelism in this way has a hypnotic effect. It creates a regular lyrical rhythm set up that keeps your attention with small but significant changes.
You can use in a title too, like the Notorious Mr Big in his twist on the cliche Mo Money, Mo Problems. You can hear it in the chorus hook too.
I don't know what they want from me
It's like the more money we come across
The more problems we see
You can also use parallelism across choruses and verses. Here’s Taylor Swift deftly using parallelism to kick off the choruses of You Belong With Me in a mix of exact repetition and structure but variable content.
She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
(chorus 1)
She wears high heels, I wear sneakers
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
(chorus 2)
A final example shows parallelism across the three verses in the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army. At the end of each verse is a line that starts with exactly the same words ‘And the’
They also have several words repeated exactly in the middle ‘coming from my’ but each line varies what is coming from where. The template or structure is set up in verse 1 and varies in verse 2 and 3 to echo throughout the song.
And the message coming from my eyes says leave it alone
(Verse 1)
And the feeling coming from my bones says find a home
(Verse 2)
And the stains coming from my blood tell me go back home
(Verse 3)
What parallelism means to you as a songwriter is you have a number of ways you can use repetition to connect with your listeners throughout your songs. Try them all out or layer them to reinforce certain lines to make them stay firmly in the hearts and minds of your listeners.
Need more songwriting inspiration with your lyrics? Check out How to make your lyrics sizzle using similes and How to build imagery in lyrics to support your song title.
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Charlotte Yates is an independent New Zealand singer-songwriter with a growing catalogue of seven solo releases and fourteen collaborative projects. She also provides a songwriting coaching service, Songdoctor.
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