This summer, I had the opportunity to write lyrics for a children’s musical. It was a huge honor, but there was one problem – I had never written a song in my life! Sure, I like to make up little tunes as I walk around the house, but lyrics? That was a whole different ballpark. I wasn’t sure where to begin, so I did my research.

I learned writing great songs for a children’s story is tougher than it looks! The lyrics of a song are important; they must reflect a story’s characters and plot while also being easily singable and catchy. Children’s music in particular is very singable and catchy. That doesn’t mean all songs are created equal! (Here’s looking at you, Baby Shark…) A great children’s song should be a great song, period. It should have the same elements as a song for grown-ups. However, a children’s song differs because there’s more room for an artist to have fun. If they want to sing about getting the mail or losing their hairbrush, they can. If they want to use clever wordplay and rhymes, they can. Heck, if they want a rapper to “break it down”, they can!

If you’re like me, you might be a bit intimidated by all the amazing children’s music out there. How will your song stand out from the crowd? Here’s a few things I learned while writing lyrics for the first time:

Picture the story beat. Your song should fill a purpose in your story and move the plot along. Think of your story’s pacing – you wouldn’t sing an uptempo dance tune during a character’s dark night of the soul. What emotion will your song convey? Sometimes, like a Disney movie, your song can include dialogue that advances the plot. Think of this sung exchange in Frozen – “I get the feeling you don’t know.” “What do I not know?” “Arendelle’s in deep, deep, deep, deep…snow.”

Learn from the best. My mom found an excellent interview with Alan Menken, the famous Disney composer, and I took his advice as I wrote. I also found inspiration listening to songs from Phineas and Ferb, VeggieTales, and The Backyardigans, some of my favorite kids’ shows which are known for their excellent music. I also chose them because of their wacky humor. My musical featured silly characters, and I wanted to write songs that were emotional but made children laugh. Listen to songs that fit the genre of your story. Study the lyricist or composer’s lyrics. Do the lyrics “agree” with the tune or clash against it? What does the rhyme scheme look like – are there mid-word rhymes or traditional rhymes at the end of each verse? How many words are in a verse, and are the words the best ones for the job?

Use “easy” rhymes. I borrowed this from my children’s writing class with Michelle Medlock Adams. Adams is a rhyme queen! For her rhyming picture books, she works with words that are easy to rhyme; “phone”, “bone”, “car”, “far”, etc. This may seem like a cop-out, but believe me, it’s a lifesaver. These easy rhymes keep you from rhyming longer, clunkier words. Wait until you try to rhyme a word like “orange” and you’ll see what I mean!

Find a rhyming dictionary. My sister and I bought my Mom a rhyming dictionary when we were kids because Mom thought it was the best thing ever. Her days of searching for a rhyme had ended! Little did she know I’d grow up to be a writer, still searching for rhymes as I wrote song lyrics. If you don’t have a rhyming dictionary, try the good folks at rhymezone.com. Search their site and you’ll find lists of rhymes and near-rhymes. Note: if you can help it, don’t settle for a near rhyme. If you do, you’ve committed a rhyme crime. 😉

Read it out loud. Your song must be singable! Even if you don’t have a tune in mind, reading your song aloud will help you catch errors that you might’ve missed in print. Do your lyrics roll off the tongue? Are the rhymes forced? Is the meter steady? Does the song make sense in this particular scene? Remember, you don’t have to be a great singer to do this.

Repeat! Repeat…repeat…sorry. The great thing about writing lyrics is you can repeat a chorus and no one thinks anything of it. Songs are meant to be catchy, so if there’s a particularly good verse that brings the point of the song home, repeat it. Don’t do this for the whole song, of course, but if you can write an amazing chorus, then half your work is done!

Have you written song lyrics in your children’s story? I’d love to hear about it in the comments! 😊

Image Credit: Marco Verch, flickr