Examples of songs with word painting include “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks, where “low” is sung on a low note; “Smash the Mirror” by The Who, where each “rise” goes up a semitone; Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” whose lyrics describe its own chords; and Handel’s Messiah, where “every valley shall be exalted” climbs and falls with the words. Word painting, also called tone painting or text painting, is the technique of writing music that reflects the literal meaning of the lyrics.
The idea goes back at least to Gregorian chant. It became so common in Italian and English madrigals of the late 16th century that word-painting devices were nicknamed madrigalisms, and it flourished through the Baroque period. Here are 6 clear examples, from Handel to Queen.
1. “Every valley shall be exalted” (Handel)
In this tenor aria, Handel sets the text “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain.” “Valley” ends on a low note, “exalted” rises, “mountain” forms a peak and “hill” a smaller one, and “low” drops again. “Crooked” gets a rapid four-note figure, “straight” a single held note, and “plain” is stretched over several measures of long notes. It is the classic textbook example.
2. “Friends in Low Places” (Garth Brooks)
During the chorus, Brooks sings the word “low” on a low note. It is a simple, memorable example of word painting in country music, and once you notice it you cannot unhear it.
3. “Smash the Mirror” (The Who)
On the album Tommy, “Smash the Mirror” repeats the word “rise” over and over, and each repetition is a semitone higher than the last. The music literally rises with the word, which makes it an especially overt example.
4. “Hallelujah” (Leonard Cohen)
In the line “It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift,” the lyrics describe the song’s own chord progression as it happens. It is word painting turned back on the music itself.
5. “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (George and Ira Gershwin)
In recordings of this Gershwin song, Ella Fitzgerald and other singers deliberately sing the wrong note on the word “key” in the phrase “the way you sing off-key.” The wrong note illustrates the lyric.
6. “Killer Queen” (Queen)
Queen used recording technology for word painting: a flanger effect is placed on the vocals during the word “laser-beam” in bar 17, so the sound of the word matches its meaning.
What Word Painting Can Look Like
- Pitch direction: rising notes for words about going up, falling notes for words about going down.
- Rhythm: quick notes for busy or crooked things, long notes for calm or plain ones, as Handel does.
- Harmony: a deliberately wrong note, as in the Gershwin example.
- Production: studio effects that sound like the thing being described, as Queen did.
Why Some Composers Criticized It
Word painting has always had critics. Thomas Campion, writing in the preface to his first book of lute songs in 1601, called the habit of expressing every word in the notes “altogether ridiculous.” Composers still use it, but the best examples above use it sparingly, on one key word or line.
Final Thoughts
Word painting is one of the easiest music techniques to hear because it matches what the words say. Start with “Friends in Low Places” and “Smash the Mirror,” then listen to “Every Valley” to hear the same idea in the Baroque period.
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