The Emotion Inside Your Rhymes

One of my longtime mentors, Pat Pattison, recently shared a beautiful article with me called “Sound in Motion.” It’s one of those pieces I wish every songwriter could read. Not just once, but often. Pat reminds us that our job as lyricists isn't just to say things well, but to give singers the right sounds to sing.

"As your song moves out through the air, its sounds can create patterns. Patterns create expectations. They make you feel something.”

This conversation of lyrics carrying meaning due to their sounds, not only the message in the words, is critical for those of us who are writing more abstract lyrics. We sometimes wonder how to gauge the quality of a lyric when the lyric doesn’t tell a story, concrete and grounded.

But using this idea of ‘sound in motion,’ it gives us more esoteric songwriters a way to understand what we’re trying to create, and what it will look like when the song is ‘done.’ Let me walk you through some of my favorite moments from his article.

Rhyme Scheme = Emotional Texture

Using James Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James,” Pat breaks down how even tiny changes in rhyme can shift the emotional tone of a lyric.

Here’s the original verse with an abba rhyme pattern — an unstable form that doesn’t resolve:

There is a young cowboy, he lives on the range (a)
His horse and his cattle are his only companions (b)
He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons (b)
Waiting for summer, his pastures to change (a)

Notice the deception line three creates by rhyming with line two rather than line one. That unexpected link makes the cowboy feel lonely, a bit unmoored. Now compare it with abab, a more stable form:

There is a young cowboy, he lives on the range (a)
His horse and his cattle are his only companions (b)
He’s waiting for summer, his pastures to change (a)
He works in the saddle and sleeps in the canyons (b)

Suddenly it feels more confident, like the cowboy has a handle on things. Or try aabb, the most solid of all:

There is a young cowboy, he lives on the range (a)
He’s waiting for summer, his pastures to change (a)
His horse and his cattle are his only companions (b)
He works in the saddle and sleeps in the canyons (b)

Here, I notice the ‘nursery-rhyme’ feel. Same content, but it comes across lighter, perhaps even somewhat insincere. The motion has a great deal of impact on how seriously I take the character.

Internal Motion Matters Too

Pat also points out how internal rhyme and line order affect emotional movement. Even if the words stay the same, rearranging them can totally alter the vibe:

His horse and his cattle are his only companions.
He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons.

Versus:

His horse and his cattle are his only companions.
He sleeps in the canyons and works in the saddle.

That small flip shifts from stable to off-kilter, just by reversing the line’s sonic direction. Both stable and off-kilter are entirely viable ways to write the lyric, however, one may be more in line with how the character is feeling and who they are. That is the ultimate point to any structure we choose.  Structure should always reflect and enhance character development.

Assonance and Alliteration: The Movie Score Beneath Your Lyrics

Pat also dives into two more tools:

Assonance (repeated vowel sounds)
Alliteration (repeated consonant sounds)

Each creates a feeling, especially when arranged in rhyme schemes like aabb, abab, or abba. Take these lines, an aabb-style assonance rhyme:

Free and easy

love’s enough

It feels light and declarative, like a truth you don’t need to question. Now flip it to:

Easy love 

is free enough 

That abab pattern softens it, gives it a thoughtful touch.

Love that’s easy 

is free enough 

This, now, is an abba structure, which Pat calls our “unstable friend.” It feels dreamy and unresolved. Even this line from a student of his (Genevieve Graveldrolet) reveals how sound can shape meaning:

Helpings of easy breezy heaven

Here, the h’s alliterate, and the e’s assonate, and you can almost feel the clouds.

The Takeaway

Pat closes with this:
"You’ll be spending your entire songwriting life looking for the right words. While you’re doing it, pay attention to the way your various options connect to each other’s vowels or consonants… Those patterns of sound can make your ideas land harder, mean more."

It’s a masterful reminder. And one I believe is the key to the mystery and mastery of songwriting.

Stay creative,