Sam Inglis has a great multi-part article
series in Sound on Sound a few years
back on the art of writing lyrics. Available
from these links:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec0...cles/lyric.asp http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan0...cles/lyric.asp http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb0...cles/lyric.asp http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar0...cles/lyric.asp http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr0...cles/lyric.asp
Some of it is on the technique of how to be clever and abstract,
if you choose to do so. I think to a large extent, clever and
abstract get a bum rap because so many attempts to do so come
out poorly -- the "it was a dark and stormy night" syndrome.