Lesson 3: Adding Rhythm To Your Lyrics

The simple, regular rhythmic pattern

This pattern is a very basic one. Advantage of this is that it's rather easy to use. But the big disadvantage of this one is that your lyrics may become quite boring and predictable when you misuse this pattern-form. This pattern can be described as words written in a very steady, regular rhythmic pulse. Rap-artists really love this pattern and use it a lot. If used correctly it can achieve a very hypnotic or hectic effect. It can make your lyrics sound like a machine-gun! Therefor, this pattern is used most commonly for uptempo songs and/or lyrics, like rap. But it can also be used for less fast songs.

The regular, but broken rhythmic pattern

As I said before, you must take care with using the regular pattern too much. You might begin to sound predictable when you use that pattern too much! This is where you can start using the regular, but broken rhythmic pattern.
Basically it's the same as the pattern we discussed first, but it's kind of cut in pieces. The lyrics use a regular pattern but every now and then rests, accelerations and stuff like that are built in. The trick is not to do it too much so that the lyrics sound as if they don't have any rhythm at all. The effect, if done properly, is that you keep a very rhythmic songtext that doesn't sound to dull or stiff.

The sluggish, loose rhythmic pattern

The third pattern is different from the first two in a way that this pattern sounds rhythmic in a more poetic way. The rhythm seems to flow along the lines and is already very obvious while only reading the lyrics, as is the fact with good poetry. This pattern tends to be more connected to the melody and feel of a song rather than the rhythm of the music. It's often far less mechanical and much more fluid, thus demanding fluid, less harsh music.
As I stated before, you can find rhythm in everything and so also in poems. While reading a poem you actually are forced to read it in a certain manner, a certain rhythm. If you ignore that "force" the poem sounds very clumsy. This is also the case with the sluggish, loose rhythmic pattern. Because it's rhythm resembles that of a poem, it forces you to obey to it's rules and follow! If you don't, the lyrics will sound hopeless out of pace with the music...

This kind of rhythmic pattern is best for improvising. Because of the loose feel of it the singer/reader can feel invited to give the lyrics his own interpretation. A good improvisor can thus give the song an extra dimension. But it's very important that the improvisor doesn't loose track of the pattern.

 To make things more clear I've made a table where you can see most of the information about the most common rhythmic patterns I've given you in this lesson at a glimpse.
 
 

Common Rhythmic Patterns
Type of rhythmic pattern	Advantages	Disadvantages	Remarks
Simple, regular	Easy to use	Danger of becoming boring and predictable	Suitable for fast songs. Hypnotic, mechanical and tight effect
Regular, but broken	Not too difficult to use, refreshing	If used too much rhythm disappears	Creates illusion of different patterns while using just one
Sluggish, loose	Pattern already interesting without music, good to improvise on	Pattern possibly difficult to interpret by reader	"Takes over" the song; music must follow the lyrics

Finishing the rhythmic feel of the song

After all your efforts to build rhythmic patterns in the lines of your songtext, you definetly don't want to ruin it by loosing track of the overall view of the lyrics. Rhythmic patterns are very important but they don't stand to themselves; they are part of the total lyrics and they can only play their role if you manage to organize all those patterns in such a way that all those rhythmic pieces come together.
As I stated before mirroring can come in very handy when writing lyrics without knowing the music yet. But mirroring is also a useful tool to give your song that finishing touch when it comes to rhythm.
It's very important that the audience recognizes parts of your song. Most of the time they will hear your song for the first time or during difficult conditions, for instance during a concert or a noisy party. So if you bomb them with pattern after pattern they will soon loose track! Mirroring your verses can help avoiding this. When you build a pattern in the second line of the first verse, and you use the same pattern in every second line of the other verses, the audience will recognize it and thereby get the chance to appreciate it more.
Using this technique brings a distinct structure to your song. This structure is very important to make your song actually a song instead of a collection of lines, rhythms, riffs etc. etc. This structure is also important to make composing the music easier; a songtext which lacks a certain structure is a horrible thing to put on music!

Conclusion

As we saw in this lesson rhythm is very important in lyrics. It can give a song a certain feel and bring structure to it.
Don't make the mistake to think rhythm is only a matter of music; lyrics do play an important role when it comes to putting rhythm in a song. Remember: not only drummers need to be rhythmic. As all other musicians, singers and songwriters need to be rhythmic as well!