Songwriting Tip: Ain't There an Ain't?

Developing Artist Production Tip

By Robert Dennis

There are two parts to a song, the lyrics & music. The trick of writing Rap or Song lyrics is to express ideas in few words and in a rhythm. Some of the things you learned in school may not apply!

There Ain't No Ain't

In my grade-school days a favorite lesson of the English teachers was that "ain't" is not a word that's in the English language. They would say that the "correct word" was "aren't, or sometimes isn't" Aren't is a contraction of the two words, "are not," was how the lesson went. Since "ain't" isn't a contraction of two words, it's just "wrong," and shows you can't speak English, the teacher would say.

For years dictionaries wouldn't include the word. Then they began to include it, but would say that it was improper. Today they will actually include it as a proper, but informal, word. Merriam Webster's AOL dictionary now says this about the word: Although widely disapproved as nonstandard and more common in the habitual speech of the less educated, ain't ... is flourishing in American English.

Well Don't Use "Aren't"

My advice to song writers and lyricists is to avoid the word "aren't" at almost all costs. Contractions are often used in lyrics because they use less syllables and can fit in to the lyric or musical timing better. "Are not" is two syllables and "aren't" is only one. Unfortunately, the word "aren't" can easily be misunderstood as "are." It seems that unless the singer really over-emphasizes the "t" it will usually be misunderstood and the lyric line will suddenly be heard completely wrong and exactly opposite of how the writer meant it. This well may be the reason why this "horrible ain't" has been part of the common-man's language since it was first used in 1778. Why use the "correct" word when no one gets what you're saying?

Examples of this could include lyrics in an anti-drug song. If you used the line "they aren't cool," it could easily become, to the listener, "they are cool" and now you have a pro-drug song. You could easily omit the contraction and say "they are not cool," but that can be awkward. Keeping formality, but making it understandable, can be accomplished by using "they're not cool." There's a lot to be said, however, about going with "they ain't cool." One thing is always true about this frowned upon word: "Ain't nobody going to misunderstand where you're coming from if you use the word ain't."

Although it often creates less of a problem, you should double-check the use of any word with the "n't" contraction. Wouldn't, shouldn't and couldn't, if misunderstood, could have a similar devastating effect on delivering your message to listeners through lyrics.


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