Formerly titled Managing Lyric Structure
Berklee Press, distributed by Hal Leonard, January, 1992
Simply put, to know Pat's work is to revere it. He is the absolute master of the craft of lyric structure and it's consequential impact on the quality of a song. Period!
Instead of trying to deal with all aspects of lyric writing in a diluted overview, Pat instead, offers a very concentrated and detailed discourse on the aspect of song craft that seems to be most absent in most songwriters background...the deliberate use of structure.
The thing that Pat Pattison's books do better than any books out there, is make people write purposefully objective rather than aimlessly subjective. He does it in a way that channels creativity rather than controlling it and he does it with a sense of style and humor that is very engaging.
I can now see why the publisher decided to name this book, Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure because essential is just how I would describe it.
- James Linderman, The Muse's News, Canadian Musician Magazine, and Professional Musician Magazine
