One of the most common problem areas in lyric writing is the use of the words ‘it’, ‘this’, ‘that’, and ‘these’, when the listener doesn’t know exactly what these words refer to. By their nature, these words need to point to another noun.

The dangling, stranded ‘it’ is so common in Songwriting that I’ve heard it referred t as “It-osis”.

The great Paul McCartney’s ‘It’s Getting Better’ is probably an example of what us mere mortals should avoid. In this song, we assume that ‘It’ refers to the way the singer feels, or to his life in general (‘It’s Getting Better… all the time… since you’ve been mine’),  but exactly what ‘It’ refers to is not clear. I don’t think this stops it from being a very enjoyable song, but I also don’t think the vagueness helps it either.

As a positive example of how to make these words work, when John Lennon sang “This happened once before/when I came to your door – No Reply”, he was using ‘This’ to make the listener ask a question – ‘what is he’s referring to?’… and the listener’s curiosity is satisfied seconds later:  ‘This’ = No Reply. That works.

But less experienced Songwriters make the mistake of saying, ‘It’s got to stop’, of referring to ‘this way’, ‘that road’, ‘these times’, ‘these changes I’ve been going through’, etc., etc… it’s easy to use these kind of phrases as a lazy shorthand.

The question to ask about using the words we’re discussing is simple (and the same as what you’d ask in writing prose): Do the words refer to a specific person, place, or thing. either immediately before or after their use?

When you see any of these words in one of your lyrics, take a minute to check if their meaning is clear.

Occasionally you can get away with it (“This is The End…”, “What’s it all about, Alfie?…, maybe even ‘It’s Getting Better”…) but most of the time it’s better to tell us exactly what’s on your mind.