The great American author and humorist Mark Twain was not known as a songwriter, but he offered some words of advice that all budding lyricists should bear in mind. “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter,” Twain wrote in 1888. “’Tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
Writing song lyrics is a tricky business. Done well, it can produce poetry with the power to move a person to tears. But choose the wrong word, or even just the almost right word, and your song will only move people to want to turn it off.
