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Song Maps: A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics
Whether you're just starting out as a songwriter, you're an experienced songwriter or just looking for a new perspective on the beautiful craft of songwriting, Song Maps – A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics offers fresh insights to help you write your very best lyrics.
Does any of the following sound familiar?
- You worry that the lyrics you write just don't deliver their full potential but can't figure out why, even though technically they tick all the right boxes.
- You have great ideas but your finished lyrics somehow fall short of the emotional impact you wanted and, as a result, your songs get passed over.
- You have a busy schedule with limited time to write and have wasted too many hours chasing un-writable lyric ideas.
- You wonder how some professional songwriters always seem to get a particular dynamic in their lyrics, consistently writing songs better than 90% of what you hear on the radio.
- You are perhaps nervous about going into a pro co-writing session because you fear your ideas aren't worth bringing into the writing room.
- You know you have so many great titles waiting to be written but haven't found a way of systematically developing them into well-crafted lyrics.
- After writing an amazing hooky Chorus and a great supporting first Verse, you hit the dreaded wall that is “second verse curse”.
In Song Maps – A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, I deliver simple, logical, well-defined solutions to these issues and more: I give you seven well-developed professional templates for you to bring your lyrics to life. I also provide you with a tried and tested process for writing lyrics using Song Maps. And I'll reveal the songwriter’s secret weapon.
Much of this book contains new material. This is because, while I enjoyed building a firm foundation of knowledge about the craft from the songwriting programs at Berklee Music School and other sources, I discovered Song Maps afterwards, from my experience as a professional songwriter, writing either on my own or in the writing rooms of Nashville.
Having been signed as a staff songwriter at Universal Music Publishing in Nashville, being nominated and winning awards for my songs including Grammys, Doves and hymn-writing awards, and after spending many years studying thousands of techniques and developing them in my own songwriting and in the writing room, I've had the privilege of teaching the material in this book to hundreds of songwriters and seeing a step change in their writing. I have been blessed to watch them find their authentic voice in writing ideas to their full potential, helping them achieve their dream to move from writing flat 2D lyrics to fabulous High Definition full-color 3D lyrics.
As you assimilate Song Maps into your writing workflow, your songwriting will shift away from tentative, self-conscious, inhibited writing to strong, bold, intentional and vulnerable writing that does full justice to your original ideas, ultimately allowing you to make the impact you deserve as a songwriter.
If you implement the simple, easy-to-understand concepts in this book, I promise you your songs will be better crafted than 90% of the songs you hear on the radio. It will also transform your effectiveness as a co-writer. Importantly, no matter where your songs end up, you will be confident you have written a brilliant lyric and you have served your co-writers well.
Let this book help you transform your lyric writing by using Song Maps in your songwriting workflow and take your song ideas to their ultimate potential by writing your best, truly golden, spectacular songs.
Does any of the following sound familiar?
- You worry that the lyrics you write just don't deliver their full potential but can't figure out why, even though technically they tick all the right boxes.
- You have great ideas but your finished lyrics somehow fall short of the emotional impact you wanted and, as a result, your songs get passed over.
- You have a busy schedule with limited time to write and have wasted too many hours chasing un-writable lyric ideas.
- You wonder how some professional songwriters always seem to get a particular dynamic in their lyrics, consistently writing songs better than 90% of what you hear on the radio.
- You are perhaps nervous about going into a pro co-writing session because you fear your ideas aren't worth bringing into the writing room.
- You know you have so many great titles waiting to be written but haven't found a way of systematically developing them into well-crafted lyrics.
- After writing an amazing hooky Chorus and a great supporting first Verse, you hit the dreaded wall that is “second verse curse”.
In Song Maps – A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, I deliver simple, logical, well-defined solutions to these issues and more: I give you seven well-developed professional templates for you to bring your lyrics to life. I also provide you with a tried and tested process for writing lyrics using Song Maps. And I'll reveal the songwriter’s secret weapon.
Much of this book contains new material. This is because, while I enjoyed building a firm foundation of knowledge about the craft from the songwriting programs at Berklee Music School and other sources, I discovered Song Maps afterwards, from my experience as a professional songwriter, writing either on my own or in the writing rooms of Nashville.
Having been signed as a staff songwriter at Universal Music Publishing in Nashville, being nominated and winning awards for my songs including Grammys, Doves and hymn-writing awards, and after spending many years studying thousands of techniques and developing them in my own songwriting and in the writing room, I've had the privilege of teaching the material in this book to hundreds of songwriters and seeing a step change in their writing. I have been blessed to watch them find their authentic voice in writing ideas to their full potential, helping them achieve their dream to move from writing flat 2D lyrics to fabulous High Definition full-color 3D lyrics.
As you assimilate Song Maps into your writing workflow, your songwriting will shift away from tentative, self-conscious, inhibited writing to strong, bold, intentional and vulnerable writing that does full justice to your original ideas, ultimately allowing you to make the impact you deserve as a songwriter.
If you implement the simple, easy-to-understand concepts in this book, I promise you your songs will be better crafted than 90% of the songs you hear on the radio. It will also transform your effectiveness as a co-writer. Importantly, no matter where your songs end up, you will be confident you have written a brilliant lyric and you have served your co-writers well.
Let this book help you transform your lyric writing by using Song Maps in your songwriting workflow and take your song ideas to their ultimate potential by writing your best, truly golden, spectacular songs.
- GenresMusicNonfictionWriting
202 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 10, 2016
396 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 17, 2016
Excellent songwriter how to guide!
Being a veteran of many songs written, some easier, some harder, it is terrific to now have a system for doing this. It never occurred to me that I was actually following this format unwittingly, but apparently I was. And far expands the process that I had intuitively figured out. Very well written, extremely thoughtful book. Recommended!
Al D.
Being a veteran of many songs written, some easier, some harder, it is terrific to now have a system for doing this. It never occurred to me that I was actually following this format unwittingly, but apparently I was. And far expands the process that I had intuitively figured out. Very well written, extremely thoughtful book. Recommended!
Al D.
January 18, 2017
Song Maps are an excellent way for structuring one's creative energies into certain types of story songs. Having clear goalposts for each section and an overall plan can help writers take an idea to a catchy title and flesh it out into a nuanced work.
I had issues with how this book was structured, and for the inordinate amount of front-matter. The first three chapters of Song Maps made me feel like I'd stumbled into one of those too-good-to-be-true vacation resorts that turns out to be a hard-sell time-share. So much time and effort was spent trying to entice me into reading the book that I already had in my hands. Read on to learn how Song Maps are the most revolutionary thing since printed sheet music! I almost shelved this several times before any Song Map details were shared, as it seemed more like The Secret or Dianetics for Contemporary Christian songwriters instead of an actual book about writing.
This is basically a one-technique book and could have been better served with a more concise presentation, or at the same length with more in-depth discussion of example songs, preferably in other genres or forms.
I had issues with how this book was structured, and for the inordinate amount of front-matter. The first three chapters of Song Maps made me feel like I'd stumbled into one of those too-good-to-be-true vacation resorts that turns out to be a hard-sell time-share. So much time and effort was spent trying to entice me into reading the book that I already had in my hands. Read on to learn how Song Maps are the most revolutionary thing since printed sheet music! I almost shelved this several times before any Song Map details were shared, as it seemed more like The Secret or Dianetics for Contemporary Christian songwriters instead of an actual book about writing.
This is basically a one-technique book and could have been better served with a more concise presentation, or at the same length with more in-depth discussion of example songs, preferably in other genres or forms.
December 2, 2020
I am so grateful to the author for sharing his enthusiasm, his craft, his tools.
This is one long, poorly written, repetitive thesis that never once brings any supporting evidence to the table. Like a research paper that never synthesizes or follows thru with any of its claims.
If you aren’t a total beginner, this might help you find some organizational tools and methods. If you are a total beginner, you might be confused by the assumptions, assertions, etc implied by the author.
Also, I’m never gonna respond super enthusiastically to CCM-heavy books geared to the masses. But that wouldn’t bother me if any of the concepts here were actually fleshed out.
If you want a much better foundation with much clearer concepts, examples, and clarity, read Pattison’s book Writing Better Lyrics.
I would recommend Song Maps only as an ancillary resource to cull small pieces from.
This is one long, poorly written, repetitive thesis that never once brings any supporting evidence to the table. Like a research paper that never synthesizes or follows thru with any of its claims.
If you aren’t a total beginner, this might help you find some organizational tools and methods. If you are a total beginner, you might be confused by the assumptions, assertions, etc implied by the author.
Also, I’m never gonna respond super enthusiastically to CCM-heavy books geared to the masses. But that wouldn’t bother me if any of the concepts here were actually fleshed out.
If you want a much better foundation with much clearer concepts, examples, and clarity, read Pattison’s book Writing Better Lyrics.
I would recommend Song Maps only as an ancillary resource to cull small pieces from.
August 9, 2020
Another entry in the modern genre of "Books that could have been blog posts."
There are a few people for whom this book could be particularly useful:
1) Complete beginners who don't want to be bogged down by concerns about quality (I really don't mean that in a snarky way—you need to start somewhere!)
2) People who don't know how to finish their songs and are looking for an external framework.
3) Songwriters in the Worship and Contemporary Christian Music genres who just want to make money and pump out a lot of material.
The reason I bring up #3 is that one of the underlying messages of the book is that Worship and CCM absolutely are a business, and you can do well in them by following formula and writing as much as you can, with or without co-writers. I don't think this was the author's intention, but it's there in the subtext. The book's primary disappointment was using so many examples from these genres instead of examples of truly great songwriting. To be clear, I have no problem with people loving or enjoying these genres—entertainment and spiritual experiences are totally valid reasons to consume art. However, as a composer, lyricist, poet, and commercial musician who's worked in many genres—and as someone who grew up in church music because it was my dad's job—I can say without reservation that contemporary Worship and CCM are the two worst genres, on average, in terms of overall musical and lyrical quality. It's mostly due to the level of unexamined cliché. Again, nothing wrong with enjoying them in the moment if it's your thing, they're just the worst examples to TEACH songwriting.
At the same time, while he mentions Rap and R&B as good genres at the end of the book to find your own Song Maps, I guess I'm glad he didn't try to dig his white Britishness into them.
If you want a much more challenging and useful read, I'd suggest Pat Pattinson.
There are a few people for whom this book could be particularly useful:
1) Complete beginners who don't want to be bogged down by concerns about quality (I really don't mean that in a snarky way—you need to start somewhere!)
2) People who don't know how to finish their songs and are looking for an external framework.
3) Songwriters in the Worship and Contemporary Christian Music genres who just want to make money and pump out a lot of material.
The reason I bring up #3 is that one of the underlying messages of the book is that Worship and CCM absolutely are a business, and you can do well in them by following formula and writing as much as you can, with or without co-writers. I don't think this was the author's intention, but it's there in the subtext. The book's primary disappointment was using so many examples from these genres instead of examples of truly great songwriting. To be clear, I have no problem with people loving or enjoying these genres—entertainment and spiritual experiences are totally valid reasons to consume art. However, as a composer, lyricist, poet, and commercial musician who's worked in many genres—and as someone who grew up in church music because it was my dad's job—I can say without reservation that contemporary Worship and CCM are the two worst genres, on average, in terms of overall musical and lyrical quality. It's mostly due to the level of unexamined cliché. Again, nothing wrong with enjoying them in the moment if it's your thing, they're just the worst examples to TEACH songwriting.
At the same time, while he mentions Rap and R&B as good genres at the end of the book to find your own Song Maps, I guess I'm glad he didn't try to dig his white Britishness into them.
If you want a much more challenging and useful read, I'd suggest Pat Pattinson.
May 13, 2016
Learning from such a qualified expert was awesome! It is clearing laid out as you would expect from a book called Song Maps. As someone who is not in the profession but enjoys writing as a hobby, I found this book to be amazing.
May 15, 2016
Makes me think it's possible for (even) me to write songs.
April 26, 2025
definitely not a good choice for an audiobook, would have been a great short PDF outlining the ideas in a visual form.
July 16, 2022
Another non-fiction book that could have been a 3 page post. Does anyone really learn something from this book? It basically said, in 60 pages, that you can use tension/response and advancing time as lyric devices. Oh, and best of all, it spends 5 ENTIRE CHAPTERS talking about why use a "song map", and how, before explaining WHAT IS A "SONG MAP" with examples.
February 7, 2017
Truly Helpful
For those who have lots of melodic ideas but struggle with writing a strong lyric (or how to even start one), this is a great resource!
For those who have lots of melodic ideas but struggle with writing a strong lyric (or how to even start one), this is a great resource!
March 20, 2020
Good basic information for structurally sound lyric writing. The writing becomes monotonous as the book slushes onward.
July 15, 2020
Had some good ideas for writing songs/lyrics but was just meh for the most part. Some good chapters towards the end, but most of the book is explaining why you should read the book...
May 28, 2019
I really like the whole "Song Map" framework. It's a way of structuring your lyrics so that they always propel the song and story forward. Hawkins does a great job of laying out the basics and giving easy-to-follow examples.
None of it was particularly mind-blowing (I've been using many of the concepts in the book for years, but not naming them "Song Maps"), but it was extremely helpful in seeing some techniques more clearly, and being able to articulate the concepts in a way that others might understand.
The reason I took off one star was that I kept getting the impression that Hawkins is so far inside the Nashville/CCM world, that he is inadvertently snide or dismissive (or just ignorant) of music that comes from other places/genres. Though he claims that rock, rap, and electronic music aren't "lyric-driven" (and maybe that's true of some of it), I think songs in those genres could benefit from the Song Map structure as much as county, CCM, and pop songs.
None of it was particularly mind-blowing (I've been using many of the concepts in the book for years, but not naming them "Song Maps"), but it was extremely helpful in seeing some techniques more clearly, and being able to articulate the concepts in a way that others might understand.
The reason I took off one star was that I kept getting the impression that Hawkins is so far inside the Nashville/CCM world, that he is inadvertently snide or dismissive (or just ignorant) of music that comes from other places/genres. Though he claims that rock, rap, and electronic music aren't "lyric-driven" (and maybe that's true of some of it), I think songs in those genres could benefit from the Song Map structure as much as county, CCM, and pop songs.
February 28, 2025
Os primeiros capítulos são muito enrolados, meu deus… O autor fala que esse método vai tornar as tuas músicas tridimensionais, e só explica o que seria isso e como uns três capítulos pra dentro do livro. Ou seja, os dois primeiros capítulos são uma perda de tempo. Sem contar que o livro é bem repetitivo.
Respirando fundo e relevando esses aspectos, acho que é uma leitura válida pra tentar organizar melhor as ideias. Outro ponto interessante é que o autor traz várias referências pra quem quer escrever.
Respirando fundo e relevando esses aspectos, acho que é uma leitura válida pra tentar organizar melhor as ideias. Outro ponto interessante é que o autor traz várias referências pra quem quer escrever.
January 7, 2019
I read this over a period of a few weeks just out of interest...
It's interesting, I'll give it that. It taught me somethings, but I think anything in here is stuff I would only use if I had run out of ideas. Sure, part of the idea in here is collecting ideas; I'm not like an actual song writer, but anything I've written has come from just putting pen to paper and not worrying about anything formulaic. This is probably more helpful for someone who has to do this a lot and worry about results.
It's interesting, I'll give it that. It taught me somethings, but I think anything in here is stuff I would only use if I had run out of ideas. Sure, part of the idea in here is collecting ideas; I'm not like an actual song writer, but anything I've written has come from just putting pen to paper and not worrying about anything formulaic. This is probably more helpful for someone who has to do this a lot and worry about results.
March 9, 2019
A helpful and interesting approach to songwriting. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in writing better lyrics.
March 9, 2023
Great structure of songwriting book worth reading and referencing.
Maps are the structure of the verses and chorus the message time frame and geographical shifts each section can take
Maps are the structure of the verses and chorus the message time frame and geographical shifts each section can take
December 1, 2016
Very helpful
Providing a path to follow in crafting a song - straightforward, concise and simple. I find this book another useful tool.
Providing a path to follow in crafting a song - straightforward, concise and simple. I find this book another useful tool.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews