Porcupine Tree Writing Style

Through all my Lyric Writing Lessons, I plan to help you understand how good lyrics are written by showing you many different, but equally good lyrical styles.

In this lesson, we will examine how Steven Wilson from the band, Porcupine Tree writes some of his lyrics.

The style that I will describe today doesn't apply to every single song that he has ever written, but in my opinion is one of the more powerful techniques that he has used.

It's Called the "Feeling - Story" Technique.

After he has found what exactly he is trying to portray, he finds a way to paint the picture of this happening.

Now this often happens by him putting a more specific story into his songs.

Steven Wilson

For example, if he was trying to create the feeling of anger or hate, he might write a song from the perspective of someone who's wife had just been murdered.

To the untrained ear, you might just think the song is about Steven Wilson's wife being murdered, but if you look closer, he might put cues in the song to help you realize that the song is a metaphor, and that he is just trying to show his anger.

That is just an example that I made up. Now take a look at an actual example of Porcupine Tree's song, "Way Out Of Here".

After reading that, you need to ask yourself, "What is the #1 point that he is trying to make in this song?".

I know what I think it is. I think that he is looking for a way out of his life. I would believe that this is most likely because of a breakup, or having his heart broken.

Porcupine Tree - Way Out Of Here

He wishes he could just be in someone else's shoes, so that he doesn't have to deal with the pain that is related with having your heart broken.

What Cues Did Steven Wilson Use?

Lets take a look at the first 2 Verses.

On top of that, he isn't in school either. Automatically we know that this portion of the song is either:

1. Not About Him
2. Is A Metaphor to show the feeling of needing a way out

Now, let's examine Verses 3,4, and 5.

Now this seems more like it. You can tell that it no longer seems to be a metaphor, or about someone else, but shows a true situation that Wilson may have gone through.

These Verses focus mainly on what happens after you lose someone you love and have your heart broken. You "Burn all their pictures" or "Cut out their face".

The Chorus

Now the Chorus is really important. For the Chorus, you want to narrow down as much as you possibly can, and tell the listener what your main idea is.

For Example, the main idea of this song was that he was looking for a way out of his life. So what are the lyrics of the Chorus?

Way Out Of here.

A Chorus...Get it?

You don't have to tell them plainly, but if you decide that you want to use metaphor, spend some extra time on it to make sure it is a well-thought out Metaphor, so that it will be powerful, rather than a weak attempt at using language.

Bringing the song together.

So in the first section of the song, we saw a fictional story about a young boy who has trouble in school and wants a way out of life.

This part is not a story about Steven Wilson. It is either meant to be a Metaphor, or is about someone else.

Now in the Second part, he tells his own story. His story still has the same purpose...that he needs a way out.

As you can see, this can be a very powerful technique if you decide to incorporate it into your own writing style.

1. Find a Main Idea or Feeling you want to get across.
2. Look for different aspects on the idea. If it is a feeling, make a list of all the different situations that could cause someone to feel this way.
3. Take your list, and choose 1 or 2 of the situations.
4. For each situation, try and get in the head of the person the situation would be happening. Your lyrics are your own, but for me, I would just write down the types of things they might think, or feelings that they would have.
5. Optional: Now take your own, real life situation, and try and write down the feelings that you have, any specific situations you might have had.
6. Spend Extra time on the Chorus to tell the listener what your main idea is.

If you haven't done so already:

(That's A Clue!)

-Andrew Muller, Editor (Thursday, August 27th, 2009.)

Return from Porcupine Tree Writing Style to Writing Song Lyrics

Return from Porcupine Tree Writing Style to Home Page

New! Comments