An automatic lyrics evocifier.

I got an interesting comment to my previous post on the lyrical analysis (of Nocturnal by The Black Dahlia Murder). The idea that was proposed went as follows:

• Would it be possible to build a tool that could take a (first draft) of the lyrics to a song and propose more evocative words, or maybe introduce certain figures of speech?
• Would someone want to use it?

My short answer would be: 

Build such a tool? probably yes. 

Would someone want to use it? it depends.

Let's dig a little deeper and see what such a tool could look like and what kind of features it might have:

1. A thesaurus: I would probably start with this. Easiest way of getting synonyms. I can envision a tool where you paste in your text, it gets analysed and you get a smart ui for displaying the results. Maybe the original text with possible word replacements in a different colour and when you hover over them, you get a pop-up with possible replacement words.
2. Smart replacement algorithms: You can't just blindly replace words in a song as the timing of the song needs to be respected. Therefore, you need more or less the same number of syllables when you replace something or you have to replace multiple words. You might need to take phonetics into account as well to make sure replacement words sound "correct" next to the other words.
3. Figures of speech: Now we get into more tricky territory. Working figures of speech into lyrics will be hard. Some of the more technical ones (like an alliteration) seem doable, even though you will be working on multiple words at once. But it doesn't take long before you need your tool to be able to understand the meaning of words, which brings us to...
4. Semantics: The joy and trouble with English words is that you usually have several synonyms for a word that mean more or less the same, but convey slightly different nuances of that concept. Unfortunately songs can be about anything, which means your tool needs to know about the general meaning of words as well. There isn't one specific domain that you could try to model. You basically have to do them all.
5. Automatic translation: There exist a lot of bands whose members do not natively speak English. If they could write in their mother tongue and have tool translate it correctly to English and introduce more descriptive words and figures of speech while all the time maintaining the underlining meaning and atmosphere... Killer feature, I'd say.

Looking over the list, I think it would be possible to build a tool that does 1, 2, and at least part of 3. Entries 4 and 5? years away.

Part of the problem is indeed also who would be using the tool. At least for metal bands, not all of them go the atmospheric way. If you're in a down-to-earth band with songs about real life and society, then you are going to want to use words like "bloody" instead of "sanguinary". And even if you would want to use such a tool, a lot of bands probably would not want to pay for it. You can find a thesaurus online for free, ask friend who knows English well to help out, and save the money for other stuff like instruments...

Nevertheless, I found it a cool thought expirement. Now it's up to you! Did I miss a cool other possible feature? Am I underestimating what is possible linguistically? Or if you're in a band and write lyrics, would you pay for a tool like this?

Lyrical Analysis: Nocturnal by The Black Dahlia Murder

I pay less notice to the lyrics of songs then I used to. Now, when I buy new cd's, I have a quick look through the booklet for the artwork, usually while I'm ripping them for my mp3 player. But for a lot of releases that is the only time the written lyrics pass by me. 

Once in a while however, a hear a song that does make me want to now what exactly is being sung. One of those is "Nocturnal" by The Black Dahlia Murder. There are some hooks in that song that made it interesting, certain parts that could be clearly heard that draw you in. I had a closer look at the lyrics and found more than I expected.

Let's do some analysis:

1. A minimalist booklet design: Apart from the front page, the booklet does not contain any artwork or pictures. Each song has its lyrics printed on a separate page in a light font on a dark background. With the lyrics before you and nothing to distract you, your own imagination will draw up visions of what is being sung about. This is a trick that horror writers sometimes use as well. Instead of meticulously describing every physical aspect of a monster, they stay silent on specifics. This way, the reader will imagine the monster as something which is particularly frightening to him personally.
2. Free flowing text: The lyrics of a single song are printed as a continuous sentence. There is no punctuation to break up the text. No indentation indicating the start of a chorus. It puts your brain into a higher gear because it is harder to follow the lines. But it also has the side effect of keeping you better focused on what is going. Your mind is less likely to drift away.
3. A dark ritual: I read from the lyrics the description of a dark ritual going on: a sacrifice, a forbidden book, the calling upon an unholy master, blotting out the sun, ... Good stuff!!
4. Figures of speech: The choice of words used to compose these lyrics was not done haphazardly. Serious effort went into provoking a sense of dread through vocabulary and style. 

Perfect for a closer look (lyrics are in italic):

between the lines of dead language tongues 

before the dawn our hearts they shall hunt 

the smell of blood excites the nostrils

at first cut the sanguinary worship of 

"sanguinary", not "bloody", but "sanguinary", excellent word.

red spraying punctures a sight so divine

clutching her carcass face frozen in time 

Here we have the first of a set of alliterations (clutching-carcass, face-frozen), more will follow

a distorted dialect for the draining of veins 

Like before, more repeats (distorted-dialect-the-draining)

to the flooding of bedsheets with sick crimson rain 

They could've gone with "reddish" maybe, but "crimson" has a more evocative feel.

a warped diction of scriptures befouled 

traditions steeped within disgraces reviled

father, unholy one, to your nightrealm we bow 

nocturnal majesty, sworn to black we'll always be 

damnation's diction, a deadly disclosure our poisons in their goblets drip 

More repeats (damnation's-diction-deadly-disclosure)

How perfectly hideous, so eloquently scribed each scripture so skillfully sick 

And more (scribed-scripture-skillfully-sick)

parchment scabbed over with plasmatic prose, prophesize permanent night 

And even more (parchment-scabbed-plasmatic-proces-prophesize-permanent), be assured, this is no coincidence. Writing lines like these takes time, effort and talent.

the words of sheer blackness paint ebony my soul and bestow me with infernal might

"ebony", another choice for a more evocative color than simply brown. And not to forget, a bit of rhyme (night-might). 

A warped diction of scriptures befouled 

traditions steeped within disgraces reviled 

Father, unholy one, to your nightrealm we bow 

nocturnal majesty, sworn to black we'll always be 

A call and an oath upon the dark one. It would indeed be unlikely for a cabal of cultists to request something from their master without them having to pledge themselves to him for eternity. I suppose, who knows what it's like to be a cultist these days...

hatred and persistance 

destined to see 

a complete eclipse 

of that hated sphere the sun

Blotting out the sun, a lofty goal... not so easy to reach...

by the light unspoken 

this language of brutality

enraptured I have become 

unholy night's arms welcome me

nocturnal majesty, sworn to black we'll always be 

hatred and persistance 

destined to see 

a complete eclipse 

of that hated sphere the sun