Killer

The elusive “killer line”. A songwriter’s dream.

What am I talking about? It’s a magical phrase in the song’s lyrics that seems to come out of nowhere and makes you gasp at how profound, touching, clever, funny or wise it is.

Great songwriters I admire seem to have an abundance of killer lines. Sometimes they build an entire song around the line; other times they insert one in so stealthily that you feel like you’ve just slipped on a cosmic banana peel. 

Here are some examples:

Their small-town eyes will gape at you in dull surprise when payment due exceeds accounts received at seventeen ~ "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian

Sunset is an angel weeping, holding out a bloody sword ~ "Pacing The Cage" by Bruce Cockburn

We sit here in our storm and drink a toast to the slim chance of love's recovery ~ "Love's Recovery" by Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls

Now I can't walk on water, can’t part the sea. The only miracle that I’ve seen is you walking down the aisle to me ~ “I Ain't No Jesus” by Ellis Paul and Jamie Kent

Some teenage dreams are forgotten like seashells in autumn, left on the shore ~ “Joni And The King” (soon to be recorded) by yours truly. (OK, I’m kinda proud of that one!)

In my experience, as a lyric writer, you can’t “create” a killer line. It comes to you. Out of the ether. Delivered in a scented envelope by a Muse. You can choose to ignore this gift at your peril. Or you can write the song.

Please, for the love of Cupid, write the song!

ONE KILLER LINE can elevate an entire, otherwise “meh” song. I’m not kidding, folks. The earlier in the lyrics that the killer line comes, the better. It gives the whole song a lift. The killer doesn’t have to be in the chorus, unless it supports the chorus/refrain concept of your song. But when it is in the chorus, that’s where the killer line’s superpowers are most effective.

So, frustrated songwriters (BTW, I’m a charter member of that club) - how does one find a killer line if you don’t cogitate it into being? Well…  be ready. Be open. Do your creative homework, your slogging-in-the-trenches writing every day, make sure you get some child-like wonder and play time in, too.  The Muse will then know you are serious about songwriting.

Go answer the doorbell… it’s for you.