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THE ANALYSIS OF LYRICS AND ITS

RELATIONSHIP WITH MELODY AND
CHORD PROGRESSION


 

 


 


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The title of my report topic: The Analysis of Lyrics and Its

Relationship With Melody and Chord Progression - focuses on the

techniques of writing lyrics, melody and chord progression and the

relationship between them. The extent of this report encompasses a

well-known Indonesian Art song: Malam Merana by Syafei Embut; where I

aim at looking into the following three main focuses of interests

which is the explanation of story/ message behind the lyric, links of

lyrics to melody and chord progression and how well composers deliver

the message using his composition.

A song is a compilation of feelings, emotions, ideas or

messages; it is expressed in the form of words and accompanied

with music. Music is the essence of a song. However lyrics play

and equally important part in conveying what you want to say.

Now days, lyrics are provided after the tune for a song has been

composed, an appropriate selection of words to create a lasting

impact on your listeners, but a poorly written lyric will ruin

any song. In some genres of music, like country, folk, gospel

and rap, the lyric is often important in influential a song¶s

success, Dave Novik, Senior Vice President of A &R at RCA

Records in New York, says that

³A lyric is 50 percent of the reason why a song works-often

more. A personal statement here, a story song there, but a

lyrics that is universal and can touch someone¶s heart or cause

their life to change, that¶s the power of good lyrics, in any

genre of music, be it pop, adult, urban or hard rock.´

!" #



Although Malam Merana is recognized by public and people of vocal

classical, it is unfortunately the other way around about the

composer/writer of the song. Syafei Embut was only known as the other

Embuts brother. He was over shadowed by his brother Mokhtar.

His name only appears as the member of the famous strings quartet

alongside with Mokhtar, Theo Djin-tjin and Hasan Embut, and a

secessionist violinist for album recording. Besides that, he is a

professional pianist and a composer. The other famous piece he

composed is Chempaka Kuning.

 
  

Known as ³Seriosa Song´ to the Indonesian, Malam Merana has

become one of the most famous repertoires for study in classical

vocal in Indonesia and Malaysia. Write and composed by Syafei

Embut, the other famous half of Embuts brothers, Malam Merana is

known as very dramatic song either in its melody or lyric.

Verse:-

Malam lesu terdampar merana

Membisu kata tiada berdaya

Senja lah jauh di balik bumi

Meninggalkan alam sendiri.

Chorus:-

Bulan dan bintang turut sinar

Lupa kah akan tugasnya

Tiada bunga membawa harumnya

Membiarkan malam merana

$"  % "&&

*The art of shaping words to a music, it is best

accompanied by discipline, the best lyricists,

whether they¶re aware of it or not ,are using

elements of honetics, linguistics, grammar,

semantics, merics, rhyme, rhythm, poetics,

phonology, communications, sociology and even

psychology of verbal behavior´

Sheila Davis

Music is a compilation of emotions, feelings, ideas or messages; it is

expressed in the form of words and accompanied with music. A song can

evoke powerful emotion and physical reaction, *There is something

about music that evolves over time, as do emotions. When we hear the

song we re-live the emotional sequence that happened when we first

heard it,´ says Professor John Sloboda of Keele University and author

of Music and Emotion, These days, popular songs can give those types

of effects to a lot of people. It almost seems like these songs are

able to speak to the listener.

In every songs, there¶s a lyric created, there¶s an optional

choice of writing lyric whether writing lyrics before the music,

or to do it the other way around, and while some of them would

write the lyrics and music at the same time, as a conclusion, it

doesn¶t matter which technical methods we used, the most

important aspect of all is the meaning that should be understood

by the listeners. A good lyric should be memorable and simple;

and it needs to capture the listener¶s attention and emotion.

According to Sheila Davis the author of The Craft of lyric

writing, it is said that they are five elements frame every

well-written lyric, it should contain a genuine ideas, a

memorable title, the appropriate form, knowing what it is you

want your audience to feel, and the last one is a strong start,

for example, the first few line should begin with who, why,

when, and where.

From the lyric of Malam Merana, the verse is telling us about

Malam(who) the main character of the song. As the lyric

continue, it opens up to the story of Malam (why). ³lesu

terdampar merana, Membisu kata tiada berdaya´ explaining the

situation of Malam suffering and feeling sad. ³Senja lah jauh di

balik bumi,´ describe the the time of the story (when) which is

between dusk and night and ³Meninggalkan alam sendiri´ complete

the cycle by telling about leaving his own world as if entering

his dreams(where).
The key word or of this text is Malam, a name of the character

which also means night time. The main character itself is

written as metaphor which mean that its dark and we can simply

visual dark as being sad, trouble and misery.

Malam Merana only contains one verse and chorus. Surprisingly

that is how most of the seriosa song is created. Inside chorus,

writer always create a contrasting element from the verse.

Chorus usually contain complete summarizes of central idea. It

is the central section of the lyric and typically the most

balances section. Thus, it stops the forward motion of the

lyric. Usually the punch line and repetition of song title

appear in chorus as well.

At the end of the verse, Malam has entered a dream world. By

using a metaphor of the moon and stars in the first line of

chorus, it describe Malams dream. As to balance up the story of

chorus, it bring back Malam to the reality by reminding him

about his responsibility in line two.

According to Pat Pattison the author of Writing Better Lyrics,

it its most basic form, metaphor is a collision between ideas

that don¶t belong together. In the chorus of this song, the

writer also used a writing technique called metaphor which is

quit common. Because Malam Merana is an art song, instead using

metaphor for one word, the writer used full phrase of metaphor

to describe the situation. In line three of chorus, ³Tiada bunga

membawa harumnya´ explaining the reality of Malam life in

metaphor by using flower that have no scent describing the

ugliness of his real world. The final line completes the story

about Malam cruel life by leaving Malam in misery. The last

line, the title of the song appears and it is quit commonly

acknowledged in the chorus to hook the listener to the song.

!" 

From the book title You Can Write Song Lyric the author stated

that rhythm of a lyric line is determined by meter. Meter is

determined by the repetition of accented and unaccented

syllables in each lyric line, which establishes a consistent

pattern. Accented lyric syllables are the stressed and/or strong

syllables that usually fall on, or play off on strong beats in

the music. Most pop songs have a 4/4 time signature, and the

accented lyric syllables coincide with the strong downbeats,

which would be beats 1 and 3. Unaccented lyric syllables usually

fall on the weak beats (2 and 4), or serve as pickups to the

downbeats. When an unaccented lyric syllable is sung to an

accented musical syllable, the result can be a little awkward,

because it does not sing like it would be spoken. On the other

hand, it could possibly be more interesting and memorable. The

author referred to as ³ear painting´, he imagine on how painting

pictures can turn into words. he shares the technique of

painting the ears with adjectives and adverbs, simile, metaphor

and personification.

A good lyric could be created by balancing the syllable of each

phrase.

Verse:-

Malam lesu terdampar merana««««««««««line 1

Membisu kata tiada berdaya«««««««««««line 2

Senja lah jauh di balik bumi««««««««««line 3

Meninggalkan alam sendiri«««««««««««««line 4

From line 1,2 and 3 we can see that the total syllable used are

ten each while the fourth line is 9. We can see that syllable of

the verse are 99% balance. When we link the text to the melody,

the composer used the same motive repeatedly in each bar of

verse and the balancing of text fit perfectly to the melody.

Chorus:-

Bulan dan bintang turut sinar««««««««line 5

Lupa kah akan tugasnya«««««««««««««««line 6

Tiada bunga membawa harumnya«««««««««line 7

Membiarkan malam merana«««««««««««««line 8

The phrases in chorus are more shorter then the verse. Line 5

contains of nine syllables and line 6 have only eight. Line 7 is

similar to the line in verse and contains 10 syllables while the

last line contains nine.

"

r ford Dictionary of Music define melody as a succession of notes,

varying in pitch which have an organize and recognizable shape. Melody

is horizontal, which means; we can here the notes consecutively,

whereas the notes in harmony are audible simultaneously.

*Melody is the main idea of a song. It is the melody

that helps people differ one song from the other. The
two basic elements that define melody are pitch and
rhythm. Melody is a succession of pitches in rhythm. The
melody is usually the most memorable aspect of a song,
the one the listener remembers and is able to perform´.

Jack Perricone

Melody is the most memorable aspect of the song and is defined to two

basic element, pitch and rhythm. Melodic writing differs from lyric
writing, for the reason that there is a significant consideration

pertaining to pitches and harmony whilst writing a melody.

Furthermore, there are other elements to consider, such as; rhythm,

articulation and phrasing in melody writing.

' 

Pitch is the relative highness and lowness that we here in the sound.
The frequency of its vibrations defined the pitch of the sound such as
the faster the vibration; the higher the pitch, but when the vibration
is slower; the lower the pitch. In Western scale system which consists
of major and minor scales, there are eight series of pitches in
sequence.

*All tonal systems are built in hierarchical structure.

There is always one tone, the tonic, which is the most
stable. rther tones having a good relationship to the tonic
are also labeled stable. The most stable tones are 1, 3 and
5; 1 is the more stable than 5, and 5 is more stable than
3. rther tones that have a more distant relationship to the
tonic are labeled unstable.´

Jack Perricone

Degrees of Stability in Major scale:

 (Perricone, Jack. Melody in Songwriting. 1994)

1
Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation (2004), page 6.

Unstable tones tend to resolve in a downward direction to a stable

tone. Thus, supertonic (II) resolves to tonic (I); subdominant (IV)

resolves to mediant (III); submediant (VI) resolves to dominant (V).

However, leading tone or subtonic (VII) tends to move upwards instead,

and thus resolves back to tonic (I). Melodic phrases that end on a

stable tone are tonally closed. Melodic phrases that end on an

unstable tone are open with the greatest openness which supported by

the leading tone.

The key of this song is in D minor. After intro the first phrase

begins with a pickup in the fourth bar, where it ends on unstable

note, E(supertonic). The second phrase begins on the fourth beat, pick

up from the last bar of first phrase which is the same as the

beginning, and ends on a D note(tonic). The third phrase which is the

starting of chorus begins exactly like the second phrase. The first
phrase in chorus ends with G note(subdominant) while the second ends

with C#(leading tone). The last phrase ends with D(tonic).

 "


Music takes place in time. It is with the control of time that players

or composers prove their strength. Musical time is measured by pulses

or beats, meter and rhythm. Pulse is a series of undifferentiated even

beats. All pulses in a series are by definition exactly alike. Meter

is a measurement of the number of pulse between regularly recurring

accents. Thus, meter is the grouping of these pulses. And accordingly,

rhythm is the most basic and important structural element.

In Malam Merana,the tempo indication are in Allegro, which mean fast.

Although the song sounds very dramatic but most of the note value in

melody are quarter note. It indicated that the melody rhythm is

accelerating.

(


Form is the structure and design of a composition. The two most basic

forms in a compositional structure is binary and ternary form. A

binary form is when a piece or a song is composed of two different

sections; mostly marked as µA¶ section and µB¶ section. While a

ternary form is when a piece or a song is divided into three

dissimilar sections; where each section is categorized as µA¶ section,

µB¶ section and a µC¶ section.

In popular music composition or popular songs, sections are divided

into verse, chorus and bridge. The verse is the section that begins

the song or the introduction of the song. The chorus is the section of

the song which contains the central statement or the main idea of the

whole song. Most often, the chorus is being repeated in order to make

the song more memorable. The bridge is a section that connects two

other sections. It may also provide contrast within a song, and also,

a good place for an opportunity to modulate the song to a different

key

Malam Merana are in ABAB form. It started with the verse followed by

chorus. Towards the end of chorus ritardando appear as preparation for

the chorus to end until it reach sign then the song continued by

repeating the verse. Then it enter chorus again and continue until

coda to jump to the final ending.

' &


There are two types of phrasing in songs which is lyrical and musical.

Phrasing is defined in the dictionary as "a sequence of words intended

to have meaning´. In musical language ³the motive ex-panded and

completed´, or the length in which a singer or instrumentalist can

play in one breath. In lyric writing, phrases are introduced as

µlines¶ or sentences in each line of every section of a verse, a

chorus, a bridge or a refrain. The speed of the song depends on the

length of the phrase. According to author Sheila Davis Succesful Lyric

Writing, it is said that the shorter the phrase, the more acceleration

it creates to the movement and to the overall momentum of the section.

Longer phrases would slow structures down.

Since Malam Merana only have one verse and chorus, it means that this

song have only a few phrases. When we look at the verse it has only

two phrases with each phrase have two sub-phrases. Both phrases in

verse contain of four bar each. And each phrase of verse have the same

motif of the melody rhythm.

Then we take a look at chorus. It only has three phrases. But the last

phrase has a similar melody to the verse which it content of two sub-

phrases. The first two phrases contain of two bar each and the last

phrase has the exact similar number of bars and motif.

   ) &&

Chords are group of three or more notes played together that have

spatial and tonal relationship to each other. Besides function as

accompaniment to the melody, chord progression can play a strong part

in delivering the message behind the text or lyric.

Chord such as Major usually refer to bright and happy while

minor chord refer to feeling sad and dark. Diminished chord

however refer to tension and danger because of the clashing

sound between each chord notes which is minor second and

diminished 4th.

Verse:-

D- E-7b5

Malam lesu terdampar merana

D- G/C D- A

Membisu kata tiada berdaya

D- E-7b5

Senja lah jauh di balik bumi

D- D-

Meninggalkan alam sendiri.

Malam merana start with its home key, Dminor. It create the dark

and sad mood to the song. Then the second chord,E-7b5 fall on

word µmerana¶ which mean sad and that chord definitely pictured

the situation. Continued with second line in verse with D minor,

it ends with chord A, V of the tonic chord. This cadence gave a

feeling of hanging. Resolve back to D minor on the third line

and followed with E-7b5, its end with D minor on the last line

of verse. By maintaining the same chord on the last line of

verse, it gives a static motion and sad mood.

Chorus:-

Dmaj G- C

Bu-lan dan bintang turut sinar-

Bb Bb7 D-7 A7

Lupa kah akan tugasnya

D- E-7b5

Tiada bunga membawa harumnya

D- A7 D-

Membiarkan malam merana

Starting out the chorus with major chord, is the way the

composer describe the beautiful situation in Malam¶s dream.

Continued wit G minor and ends with C, the enter the second line

with another major chord,Bb followed by Bb7, D-7 and V7/I,A7,

another half cadence. As the third line continue, the

progression of chord returd to mood sad as this line similar

with the verse and it start with D minor followed by E-7b5. At

the last line it used a perfect cadence of V to I with A7 to D

minor.

* 
&

Lyrics are as important as the melody. The construction of lyrics does

require extensive consideration of rhythm, rhyme, form and phrasing.

Most of all, lyrics should equally be meaningful and are able to

capture the listener¶s attention and emotions. Good lyrics should hit

the common attributes of the listener so as the listener will be able

to appreciate and take pleasure in the meaning of the song. In order

to be able to write structured and meaningful lyrics, a songwriter

should learn the essential tools to good song writing, taking into

account that lyrics and melody complement each other. Not to forget

that the right use of chord progression chosen will give more impact

to a good song. For instance, an energetic up-beat melody is less

suitable to a melancholic lyric and/or viceversa.




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,  

Rooksby, R.(2006). Lyrics : writing better words for your songs. San
Francisco,USA :Back Beats Book.

Cox ,T.(2000). You can write song lyrics. Ohio, USA: Writer¶s
Digest Book.

Davis, S.(1985). The craft of lyric writing. Ohio, USA: Writer¶s

Digest Book.

Kamien, R.(2004) Music: an appreciation. UK: McGraw-Hill Companies

In.

Citron,Stephen. Songs Writing

Pattison, P.(1991) Songwriting: essential guide to lyric form and

structure, Boston, MA,USA: Berklee Press. (1991).