Lyric Writing Tools #4: Symbolism

It’s day 4 of our Week of Lyric Writing Tools. This time, we’re going to look at utilizing symbolism in lyrics.  

Symbolism

Symbolism is the ultimate way to open up a song to interpretation. It allows an open-endedness that will result in more people relating to it- because they will interpret the lyrics through the lens of their own life experiences.

Maybe you meant to be doing commentary on the sorrow of losing your dog. But the open-ended symbols for your sorrow allows a person who just had their fiance break it off relate. They may feel the song is specifically about their situation.

If you talked about how good ol’ Rusty barked at his last squirrel, no one is thinking “Dang, it’s like he’s talking about my fiance leaving me!”. Symbolism is beautiful. 

Here are some movie examples of symbolism:

Frozen: Elsa’s gloves representing her freedom and choice to be herself.

The Lion King: Scar’s dark mane and Scar being the only Lion to always have his claws out.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Aslan being the most obvious Jesus figure ever. 

You thought I wouldn’t bring up a Star Wars example? Luke is dressed in all black for the entirety of Return of the Jedi, representing his possible fall to the dark side. Well, until he chooses the light, not giving into the Emperor’s temptation. 

While he is suffering the Emperor’s force lightning assault, the flap of his jacket opens, revealing a white interior– he was a Jedi the whole time and that wasn’t going to change. 

Breaking Benjamin’s Dance With The Devil makes great use of symbolism as the song is about trying to help someone resist committing suicide. 

The chorus says:

Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil tonight

Don’t you dare look at him in the eye

As we dance with the devil tonight

The devil here represents death, and dancing represents his temptation towards suicide. Not only is this a beautifully haunting image, but it adds layers to the meaning that wouldn’t otherwise be there. 

Not to mention this is a much more eloquent way to say “resist the temptation to end your life”

Another example of a great use of symbolism is Save Me From Myself by Vertical Horizon.

The verse lyrics use a symbolic story to illustrate the main point of the song. The main point is found in the chorus:

Save me from myself

I can’t relate

We’re mouth to mouth

And still I suffocate

There’s nothing left

Inside for me to break

Save me from myself

Basically, he’s self destructive despite all that others do to help him. And he’s hit rock bottom, as “there’s nothing left inside for me to break”.

The highly symbolic verses are what really fleshes out all the little details of that. 

The clouds are rollin’ in

Who will watch them?

The waves are strong

The boat is gone

I hope they’re swimmin’

Little boy lost in woods

Where’s the clearing?

The town is out

They’re calling loud

But he’s not hearing

The bullet in the yard

Slowly rusting

The bottles crack

The kids come back

And I’m just lookin’

The wine is on the floor

The candles flicker

Your eyes fall

And I’m appalled

It’s all just cinder

The sailors never left

They knew the weather

When they were found

They were having drinks together

They found the little boy 

In the grocery

Happy endings all around

And still they haunt me

I’m not even going to pretend to know what all those symbols represent. Nor will I pretend like I understand every line. 

What I do know is that there are at least 2 symbolic story arcs at work here. Both of them work to flesh out the idea of “Save me from myself”. 

There’s the story arc of the lost boy, and the arc of the missing boat. A storm is coming, and a little boy is lost in the woods. While the storm is coming in, the writer also believes that the boat has sunk. He muses that he hopes the sailors survived the theoretical sinking (“I hope they’re swimmin’”).  

By the end of the song, it’s revealed that the sailors actually never even left, as they knew the storm was coming. We also find out that the boy was found. But, after all this, “Happy endings all around, and still they haunt me”. 

We could dive into each symbol and each part of these stories to guess what each symbol represents, but that would destroy a part of the point of this symbolism.  

The fact that it’s vague is what allows me to ascribe certain meanings to certain symbols that most fit my life. And it allows you to fill in the meaning based on your experiences. 

Even if our meaning is quite different than the writer’s, the symbolism allows us all to relate on some level. Not only that, the symbols have a way of deepening the meaning.

Being alive on the planet, I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “A picture says a thousand words” a half billion times. Symbolism is simply using words to create a picture that says a thousand words. 

It allows you to get incredible “meaning-per-word” in your song. Getting fewer words to say more is an amazing songwriting tool. 

Be sure to use some symbolism in your songwriting!