Songwriters employ 'and' and 'but' and 'Because' or the abbreviated ' 'cause' to tie lines/thoughts together. It helps them conceive the storyline in a coherent way.

But the listener may not need those words. They 'get' the story and the connections without them. The singer can omit them as extra words they don't have to fit into the space allotted. Sometimes they're needed to make the lyric hit the beat properly.

The word 'and' is often poorly enunciated by singers, dropping the 'a' sound, leaving 'nd' to slur into the next word sung. "And I" becomes 'ndI' sounding like 'die.' As the line continues the listener can straighten out their initial misperception. But that means they're not paying full attention to the ongoing story of the song. You want them attentive, not distracted.

You can decide whether the song needs those 'and's or 'but's or 'because's for meter or meaning, or whether some or all of them can be eliminated and improve the song.

On the written page, misspelled or misconstrued words have the same effect. The reader has to go back to see that you meant 'You are' or 'You're' when you wrote 'Your.'

'There' and 'They're' and 'Their' are commonly misconstrued for one another, changing the meaning the reader gets first, even if they sort it out as its use in the context of the line or verse makes it clear what was intended. The distraction robs the lyric of its full effect.

Rhymes? Some words have only a few rhymes you can logically express your storyline with. 'Heart' is a good one to avoid. You end up stuck with 'torn apart,' used a million times by amateurs and professionals alike. The line needs to be very clever indeed if it's going to rhyme those two. Run through the alphabet and see how many rhymes you can find, Bart, cart, dart, and imagine how you're going to find a line to use them in a logical storyline with 'heart.' (Please don't use Wal-Mart!) There aren't many are there?

Sometimes you can flip a line around a bit, taking the hackneyed rhyme away from the end, putting it in the middle of the line somewhere, and giving yourself a rhyme word to end with that has many more possibilities.

You broke my heart

My heart was broken

But you don't have to mention a broken heart at all. If you can express the sorrow the singer-character feels without mentioning their heart, the listener gets what you mean, and maybe it has a better effect.

There will always be another song to be written. Someone will write it. Why not you? www.garyeandrews.com