A first look · Coming in 2026
Advanced
Song Maps
30 New Song Maps to Write Your Best Lyrics
Ten years after Song Maps, a new chapter is coming. Discover thirty new ways to develop your ideas, give verse two something new to say, and make your chorus mean more each time it returns.
The new book and companion workbook by Simon Hawkins.
You have a title you love. What happens next?
Give your song somewhere new to go.
Have you ever reached the end of verse one and realised you have already said everything you wanted to say? A Song Map helps you plan how an idea will unfold through a lyric, so each section has something to contribute.
Advanced Song Maps builds on that approach with thirty new maps to explore. The companion workbook gives you space to try them with titles and ideas of your own.
Develop the idea.
Explore where a promising title could lead before you start wrestling with every line.
Move the story on.
Give your second verse a fresh purpose and your listener something new to discover.
Deepen the chorus.
Let the verses add meaning to the words your listener hears again.
2016 → 2026
Ten years.
A new chapter.
In 2016, I published Song Maps — A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, with a companion workbook.
Ten years on, I’m delighted to share a first look at Advanced Song Maps and its new workbook. Over the coming weeks, I’ll introduce some of the maps and show you how to try them with a title of your own.
Thank you to everyone who has made the original books part of their songwriting. I’m looking forward to sharing this next chapter with you.
Simon
25 seconds · music on
Coming in 2026
Be part of the next chapter.
Join me at Simon on Songs for songwriting ideas, previews from the new book and news when it is ready.
Try the free Song Maps Quick-Start Kit →