Writing Song Lyrics and Poems in a Text Editor
Why a plain text editor suits lyricists and poets, and practical ways to organise verses, revisions and ideas.
Lyrics and poems are made of line breaks, and a plain text editor respects every one. There's no auto-formatting to fight, so you can focus on the words.
Why plain text suits poets and lyricists
- Line breaks stay as you typed them.
- No auto-correction of layout, indentation or capitalisation.
- Fast capture. Ideas for a line arrive at odd times.
- Versions are easy. Copy the file and try a different ending.
- Portable. You can open your work anywhere.
Structure your song
Mark sections clearly:
[Verse 1]
Line one of the verse
Line two of the verse
[Chorus]
The hook goes here
Sing it twice
[Verse 2]
...
[Bridge]
...
Square-bracket labels are easy to see and search for.
Poem layout
For poems, use blank lines between stanzas and keep line breaks exactly as you want them. Indentation with spaces can show a shifted line.
Keep a lines file
Have a separate file for stray lines and ideas:
"the kettle sings before the rain"
a rhyme: window / shadow?
title idea: Salt and Light
When you start a new piece, browse the file for something that fits.
Rhyme and rhythm
- Read aloud. Your ear catches what your eye misses.
- Count syllables if you want a regular rhythm.
- List rhymes in a note beside your draft.
Revising
- Save a copy before a big rewrite.
- Name versions: song-v1.txt, song-v2.txt.
- Keep notes of what you changed and why.
- Read the final version aloud once more.
Other languages and scripts
A text editor with Unicode support lets you write lyrics in any language, including scripts such as Devanagari, Arabic or Chinese.
Marking lines
In drafts, you can use symbols as markers: a star for a favourite line, a question mark for one to fix.
Sharing
Copy the text into a message or a document when you're ready to share. Plain text pastes cleanly.
A place to play
With nothing to distract you, a plain editor is a good place to play with words.
Notepad+ Text Editor
A fast, advanced text editor for notes and code, with emoji support
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