What is a lyric?

A lyric is a line, or some of the words, from a song. It is actually a form of poetry. You may understand the associations between poetry and songs. Most songs are simply poems set to music. But in order for you to understand why a lyric works the way it does, you need to have some understanding of the way our minds interpret language. There are a number of studies that have been performed over the years, but most of them draw the same conclusions. In this brief article we will focus on the primary finding from these articles.

The mind understands language as a series of symbols. For instance, if you say the word "apple" you think about the image of an apple. There are two or more "symbols" being interpreted by your brain when you think of this word. First, you have the "symbol" of the sound of the world. You can say it out loud. Then, you have the understanding of the letters that make up that word. Each letter is a symbol on its own. Finally, the image itself is a symbol. All of these things combined will help to create the perfect lyrics.
You see, a skilled lyricist will create a lyric that takes advantage of your understanding of all of the symbols used for you to process that word. Now things get a bit more complicated when you are combining strings of words and emotional concepts, but it remains pretty similar in concept. A skilled artist will combine the sound of the word with the meaning of the word to create two or more lines that connect together in a symbolic fashion. When done skillfully you will have a series of words that your brain is able to connect together.

This is what makes a lyric "memetic." A meme is a concept that you are able to understand and pass on to another. This concept has been taken to the extreme with today‘s pop music. Britney Spears has several people who write lyrics for her music that are highly contagious. It is very difficult to hear one of her songs and not have it stuck in your head, even if you have only heard it once. Think about the song "Toxic" or "Hit Me Baby One More Time." I bet that you have one or both of those stuck in your head right now.

While the quality of a lyric is a subjective thing, the effectiveness of the artist can never be debated. If an artist is writing his or her songs in a skillful fashion you are going to get that song stuck in your head. So while you might not enjoy Britney‘s music, you can not argue that her songs get stuck in your head. This means that the writer of those songs has done a fantastic job at creating a memetic lyric. With a bit of time the song will not only be sung by millions of people, but it will become a part of our popular culture. That is what makes a great lyric.