Over the past few weeks I’ve been trading words with a few friends of mine.
When I say “trading words”, I mean to say that we send each other individual words with no aim at all other than enjoying the sound of the word itself. We’re using individual words as playthings, just saying them aloud to see what they taste like. Some words are especially delicious.
Plectrum.
Lunar.
Elixir.
Felicity.
Summerlong.
Opulent.
Labyrinth.
On and on and on. Each of these words is a little jewel all by itself; each has its own unique rhythm, its own resonance. Each one radiates connotations and imagery that no other word can quite manage.
Apricot.
Sapphire.
Dalliance.
Window.
Slip.
Fluent.
Caravan.
Lexicon.
Cellar.
You wouldn’t believe how inspiring this simple game can be. It tunes the ear to the sounds of language the way you might tune a guitar. Play this game for even a few minutes, and for hours afterward any fascinating word or combination of words that crosses your path will make your ears prick.
Possible sources of delicious words: a dictionary opened at random. A book you’re reading. A conversation you’re having with a good friend or collaborator. A poem recited aloud. A line of lyric from a song.
Let’s use the comments section below to play with lists of beautiful-sounding words. What’re your favorites?
(Thanks for trading words, Mya and Havi…)
Click here to return to The Songwriter’s Guide to Rhyme and Other Echoes
Great words. Amnesia and chandelier come to mind.
I think a good another good topic would be places.
Savannah,
Andalusia,
St. Augustine
R
Especially digging “chandelier”.
I’m so glad you wrote this — the SOUND of words, beyond rhyme and meter, is so often neglected by those who teach songwriting technique! Jason Mraz nibbles and skooches, he gets it. And so do you (no surprise — you often see what others miss).
Poetry and lyric writing are all about the sounds of language! Glad you dig it, Ruth; glad you get it.
Wine, drip, Flume, Brake, smooth, rush, bristle, sonic, ice, steel, embrace, settle, aqua, florid, gilded, sand, arrid, grease, chrome, rancid, sour, gleeful, steam
Since you mentioned “sonic”, I’ve got to say I love its sound-alike: “tonic”
Here are some words I like very much:
Ruse
Celluloid
Calibrate
Confidant
Dissonance
These are all great! “Calibrate” especially. I love all the forms of that one: “recalibrate”, “calibrated”…