prosody and a rainbow

Musical meter and the rhythm of the lyrics - their prosody - must match to make a song. Stresses are more important than the numbers of syllables. An example:

if my dreams came true

...
out of the blue

Both lines (can) match the same meter or tune. The first line begins with an upbeat - its first syllable (note) is sung one beat before the next bar begins, the second line begins on the first beat of the bar:

- X - - X

X - - X

('X' means 'stressed')

Even more important than the beginning of lines and the prosody WITHIN lines is how they end:

if my dreams came true
if thoughts could move mountains
out of the blue
there'd be gardens and fountains

Here, the first and third lines end with a stress, whereas the second and fourth lines end unstressed. Simply try to invert that pattern to see how awkward that would sound.

When I write lyrics I nearly always have a tune in my mind. I couldn't even tell which comes first. I seem to come up with words that 'by chance' match the melody in my mind - or vice versa. I wrote the following text during my lunch break. Only after completing it did I notice that I had inverted the meter of the verses in the chorus:

its lines end:

X - (unstressed)

X   (stressed)

X -

X

versus the pattern I use in the verses:

X   (stressed)

X - (unstressed)

X

X -

The rhyming pattern in the chorus also differs slightly from the one I use in the verses:

X A X A

(here 'X' means: 'no rhyme')

versus

A B A B

Check the text to see what I mean:

VERSE

if I were in charge
if I had the power
I would at large
turn weapons to flowers

if I had the might
I would wait no longer
I'd put things right
and vanquish all hunger


CHORUS

let us climb up the rainbow
let us rest on its crest
let us look 'cross the country
from east to west

let us make up a future
no-one could resist
let us pour out bright colors
let us banish the mist


VERSE

if my dreams came true
if thoughts could move mountains
out of the blue
there'd be gardens and fountains

I would quench the thirst
in the most hopeless desert
I would be the first
I would spare no effort

CHORUS
...

BRIDGE

are you with me, are you game?
do you have doubts? all the same
while pursuing our dream
we must never give up
injustice and pain
must not make us stop

CHORUS
...