In a song, music, especially melody, almost always carries more weight than words; especially when the music is  doing something interesting. Music is just that powerful. Great lyricists understand this. So, when the music is eloquent, often the best lyrics are simple and direct… And simple and direct is a lot harder to do than it sounds.

This is a big part of why lyricists are often less well-known than their musical partners. People talk about ‘a Gershwin song’ (meaning George) or ‘a Bacharach song’, often not realizing that there was an Ira Gershwin or a Hal David who wrote the lyrics that played an indispensable part in the success of the songs. Words that sat perfectly with the melody… not too heavy, not too light… but just right.

I’d like to discuss another example (victim?) of this ignore-the-lyricist syndrome – Gerry Goffin. Carole King is deservedly one of the most famous and successful songwriters who’s ever lived. And yes, she wrote music and excellent lyrics for her classic songs from the 1970s on. But the foundation of her success was songs written before then, songs that are still well-known today, with her writing partner and then-husband, lyricist Gerry Goffin.

Goffin was a great lyricist. As Carole said after his death in 2014, “”His words expressed what so many people were feeling but didn’t know how to say”. He was a skilled and inspired craftsman, an artist whose soulful musical words were the perfect match for Carole King’s music (and others’, later on).

Goffin/King’s first hit was ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’:

Tonight you’re mine completely
You give your love so sweetly
Tonight the light of love is in your eyes
But Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Come on. That’s perfect (down to the tonight/light inner rhyme).

‘Up On The Roof’:

When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space

‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’:

Looking out on the morning rain
I used to feel uninspired
And when I knew I had to face another day
Oh it made me feel so tired

Gerry Goffin’s lyrics don’t draw attention to themselves so they’re easy to take for granted. You don’t think about how clever the words are, you just feel the thought. Which is what another great lyricist, Yip Harburg, said songs are supposed to make you do.

This is also because the words are so musical. Read any of the first verse lyrics above. Most of us have heard the songs, so of course they come to mind. But even if we hadn’t heard them, those lyrics cry out for music. Any pop song composer would salivate at the opportunity to be the first to get their hands on them – even now, some 50-60 years later.

There’s always too little of this level of plainspoken yet deeply expressive lyric writing around, and those of us who practice the songwriting craft would do well to attend to the art of Gerry Goffin and the few who can write them like he did – simple, direct, with deep musical feeling… just right. Musical words.

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