Hyphens in Lyrics
When you’re hyphenating lyrics, you can’t always use the syllabification in a dictionary, because dictionaries often divide a word by underlying units of grammar, whereas lyrics call for divisions based on sound.
For instance, look at the word “legend.” A dictionary would divide it after the G, resulting in a lyric which would be pronounced LEG end. A lyricist, hyphenating for sound, would hyphenate after the first E — le-gend.
Dictionary: LEG end
Lyricist: le-gend
There are a few basic guidelines which a lyricist can use for the majority of situations:
Hyphenate between double-consonants. (fun-ny, not fu-nny)
Try to split a syllable so as to elongate the vowel (wa-ter, not wat-er)
Between differing consonant sounds (vec-tor, not ve-ctor)
Make exceptions for reasosn of clarity (book-ing, not boo-king)
These guidelines won’t cover every situation. Look, for instance, at the woman’s name CALLIE. The guidelines would lead you to hyphenate that as either Cal-LIE (which second syllable rhymes with BYE), or CALL-ie (which first syllable rhymes with SMALL). And Ca-llie isn’t right either. Cal-lie is probably your best choice, but it isn’t clear.
Some examples:
HYPHENATE BETWEEN DOUBLE CONSONANTS
| Correct | Incorrect |
| real-ly | rea-lly |
| run-ning | ru-nning |
| rub-ber | ru-bber |
| mom-my | mo-mmy |
| lamp-post | lam-ppost |
SPLIT A SYLLABLE SO AS TO ELONGATE THE VOWEL
| Correct | Incorrect |
| che-mi-stry | chem-i-stry |
| fa-ther | fath-er |
| wa-ter | wat-er |
| hea-then | heath-en |
| Pe-ter | Pet-er |
| Mo-narch | Mon-arch |
HYPHENATE BETWEEN DIFFERING CONSONANT SOUNDS
(note how these words violate the previous guideline of elongating the vowel)
| Correct | Incorrect |
| at-ten-tive | at-te-ntive |
| bron-chi-al | bro-nchi-al; bronch-i-al |
| cen-tral | ce-ntral |
| mar-ker | ma-rker |
| At-lan-tic | A-tla-ntic |
Some words to practice/stew over:
badger
ranger
usually
consonant
following
syllable
figure
vowel
singly
Halley
Jimmy Fallon
kissing
telling
fire (a single syllable; doesn’t get a hyphen)
liar (two syllables)
looking
bartering
battering
barbering
altering
agonize
To summarize: Four general principles of hyphenating lyrics: HYPHENATE: 1) Between double-letters (fun-ny). 2) Between differing consonant sounds (cen-tral, not ce-ntral). 3) Elongate vowels (che-mi-stry); 4) Make exceptions, however, for clarity (book-ing, not boo-king). Dictionaries aren’t the authority here; your ears are.