Hi floyd,

This sounds as professional as anything I've heard that's come out of demo studios in Nashville. It's radio material through and through – brilliant writing, brilliant singing, brilliant production.

There's nothing quite like the discreet use of hyperbole to raise the bar of emotional intensity in lyrics.

  • According to here on Wikipedia, hyperbole is defined as "the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.”

An example that springs to mind (where exaggeration has been used to boost lyric intensity) is Fred Ebb's B-section for “New York, New York”.

Originally Posted By: ”Fred Ebb”
I want to wake up in a city
That doesn't sleep
And find I'm king of the hill
Top of the heap

Being "King of the hill" and "Top of the heap" strikes me as hyperbole. Fred then revisits this and gives it a vitamin shot by (a) repeating it and (b) exaggerating it even further saying …

Originally Posted By: ”Fred Ebb”
New York, New York
I want to wake up in a city
That never sleeps
And find I'm "A" number one
Top of the list
King of the hill
"A" number one

Liza Minnellli shows the nuclear power of hyperbole when she performs Ebb's words at this concert. She also uses the repetition and further exaggeration to set up a megaton performance explosion into what can only be described as a Mt Everest of finishes.

Personally, I find hyperbole a powerful songwriting tool and I always keep it in mind as a lyric development device. For this reason, I tend to use it later in a song's lyrics: often verse 2 or the bridge.

You've employed it way up front in the chorus! It's never occurred to me to do that. To my ears, your use of it was very effective. I thought that using the exaggeration of...

  • around every corner, on ev'ry face i meet
    on ev'ry cobblestone of every street

...was a very skilful way of showing us just how much this woman was inside the head of this guy and how this has trapped him in a web of misery that's pretty much impossible for him to escape from. It set-up the phrase "over-crowded memories" perfectly! The lyric sequence worked for me smile

Really, really terrific songwriting.

More please!
Noel

P.S. Great key change!

P.P.S. I've just seen that David Cuny also talks about "cobblestones" from a different perspective. It's good to have multiple views on things!

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2024