Emotions through words can be found in all types of works. Poems, books, articles, and of course in song lyrics. Sometimes emotions come out even when we don’t realize it! When you are attempting to write lyrics to a song, you need to think about what emotion or emotions you want to convey through your writing.

Once you know what emotion you are trying to express, it will make it easier for you to write lyrics. Let’s do a little exercise. For the purpose of this exercise, we are going to focus on the three major emotions: Happy, Sad, and Angry. Think about some songs that display these three emotions.

Here are some great examples of song lyrics with happy emotion.

• My Beautiful Child - A YourSongmaker Production

• Shine - A YourSongmaker Production

• Happy by Pharrell Williams

• Don’t Worry Be Happy by Bobby Mcferrin

Here are some great examples of song lyrics with sad emotion.

• Broken Heart- A YourSongmaker Production

• Saturday Sunrise Rides- A YourSongmaker Production

• Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie

• Walk Away by Ben Harper

Here are some great examples of song lyrics with angry emotion.

• Life Without Regrets- A YourSongmaker Production

• Can’t Make You- A YourSongmaker Production

• You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette

• Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine

Use our downloadable worksheet to help you with this next part. Think about which of these emotions you are most drawn to right now. Using that emotion, start thinking about words or phrases that are related to that emotion. Write them down. It’s ok if you don’t use all of these words or phrases in the end, but it’s a good place to start when you are brainstorming powerful words that will tie into the emotion you are trying to express. Once you have that list together, you can begin putting your song lyrics together.