[Antonio]

When writing a song lyric should you match syllable for syllable and accent for accent the first and second verse or should your change it up on the second verse.

Thank you, Antonio

[Boydie]

I personally feel that a little variation is OK but the general "rule of thumb" is to keep it the same to help create a sense of familiarity and structure

If every section is different a song can sound a little messy

As with everything in songwriting - there are no rules but there are definitely "norms"

[tone]

I don't know about accent for accent and syllable for syllable, but recognisably the same meter & melody should do the trick.

I don't think I've ever written 2 verses that match as closely as your question suggests, but they always turn out ok.

Use your ears and your common sense, and listen to other songs you consider to be well written. If something works, you'll find plenty of people doing it.

[onemanband]

I find that building off a strong melody line seems to be the best way to guide your writing. Once you have the melody the syllable count and accenting seems to take care of itself.

But it is important to have a few melodic options or else it becomes too linear and will not hold the interest of the ear.

Also, try to use atleast two different rhyme schemes in your songs, if its just going ABAB throughout they won't be as inclined to keep tuned into the song, because nothing new is happening.

Good luck

[Antonio]

Thank you....and just to clarify about the rhymes...are you saying verse 2 should have a different rhyme scheme than verse 1 or are you saying the rhyme scheme should match in both verses but should be done in a way to keep the listener's attention.

[onemanband]

There aren't any hard and fast rules to obey, I would suggest at first having one rhyming scheme for the verses and another on for the chorus. Then when you are more comfortable with structuring a song you can start experimenting with some different structures.

Good luck

[stavcoby]

I believe you should vary.  I particularly have trouble pulling away from the meter though. I always feel the need to be keep syllables matching.  Id like to pull a way from that if possible, I know a lot of my favorite writers are more flowing and less reliant on rhyme and meter.  Dylan said he wrote the lyrics then forced a way to fit it in the melody later.

[Bernd]

I haven't read the other responses fully.

My answer:
the verses MUST have the same meter (most importantly stresses) and should (strong 'should') have the same rhyme pattern;
meter and rhyming structure of the chorus should (strong 'should') differ from the verses;
the same applies to the bridge, which should differ from both, verse and chorus.

For variety add an upbeat note here and there in the verses (that's an unstressed first syllable/note that is sung before the first bar of the verse). Or insert two short notes replacing a long one.
=> Normally, this will happen automatically when writing the lines and trying to make sense ;-)

Check you words with either a tune (does the same tune match all verses?) or maybe by 'rapping' the text (can you make it the very same rhythm?).

Good luck!
Bernd

[dtrain1235]

I don't think the matters too much but you should have the syllable count pretty close but it doesn't have to be perfect for each line. I think you should have two different rhyme schemes in your song to seperate the verses from the chorus.