I hate writing lyrics

[SixStringGeek]

Music comes easily to me. I can toss off stuff all day.

I dread writing lyrics. Beginning with the whole struggle of "what should I write about"? I have no idea.

Anybody got any tips for creating fresh lyrics? Do you read poetry for inspiration? If so, who? Study other lyrics? Just wing it and edit edit edit? Stick to instrumentals so as not to have to bother with it?

[daniel.sneed]

Just two cents, SixString :
When I was younger, I've spent hard times writing lyrics on already composed music, till I changed my plans : I write lyrics first, then jump into music. Starting from the words' sound and from the lyrics' inspiration.
I would never come back, except for very special projects.
Most of my masters, and among them my beloved Franz Schubert, used to work it out like that.
About your second question, yes, IMHO, reading is a pleasure and will surely make writing much easier. Any reading will do for you, as long as you take pleasure. Quite easy !

[johnnytucats]

The best lyricists seem to be those that can write freely about what they're feeling. That is, they can lay their guts out on the page for everyone to see.

[billf]

Here's a couple of ideas to consider.

1. Try finding someone who is a lyricist and see if you can collaborate, even if it is just occasionally. Influence is a powerful thing.

2. Don't overanalyze it, or analyze it all. Let the music guide you and allow a free form process to ensue where you are simply writing down your thoughts as the music is playing. Then go back and take the best bits for your piece. Streams of consciousness sometimes make for the most thought provoking lyrical content.

[Tonio]

Write about feelings (gasp ) or a story. Then a hook/format and work out the chords.

Personally I like songs w/ lyrics, however I tend to work in instrumentals more. Good excuse since I don't sing

T

[Tonio]

Here's a site that might wet your appetite.

http://www.musesmuse.com/

[FMiguelez]

.

I HATE writing lyrics too... mostly because I SUCK at it.

But you can do what I do: just invent/create your own language. Make words sound interesting and foreign. This way you just concentrate on the SOUND of words, and, if used in a song, they always sound AWESOME, because none knows what they are saying, they concentrate on the MUSIC, and it sounds like a foreign band with an exotic language or something.

Reading any text backwards will give you a head-start. But inventing your own is always more satisfactory. Just make up words that sound cool to you.
The singer might have trouble recording this, but if she can practice a little in advance, she'll make it work.

I've gotten away with this too many times, and pretty successfully, I may add

NEEDLESS to say, this is gig-permitting, of course.


OR (not as good, for many reasons):

If you find that, no matter how much effort you put into it, your lyrics still suck, then just collaborate with someone whose expertise is lyrics, and you'll be happier.
They will always make a better job than we non-lyricists could.

See it the other way around:
It's like if a lyricist who is not a musician wants to put some music to his lyrics... he'd be better off to hire a music expert instead of trying to do it himself. Millions of exceptions, of course, but as we say here:
Shoemaker to his shoes

[Nigel Keay]

I've just had lyrics on two projects; the first where I set a short play by W.B.Yeats to music to create a one-act opera (At the Hawk's Well). I may not have been the first to set this particular play, and certainly poetry by Yeats seems to have inspired quite a few composers to set his music. In my case I was well familiar with the play before launching into the music; I knew I was looking for a particular mood in the music. The structure of the play really helped to map out a musical structure, and the images in the text triggered a lot of musical ideas.

The other time was for Tango Suite, a short song cycle. It had to be in Spanish, not a language I knew, so I had help to search for suitable poetry to set. I knew that I would get substantial royalties from the outcome of this project, so I made sure that the poetry was in the public domain.

[Phil O]

the whole struggle of "what should I write about"?

There seem to be two extremes. One, if the song tells a story, only the author seems to know what that story is. You know, the songs that don't seem to make any sense-

Yeah, she's red in the morning
She must think I'm a fool
But she gave me no warning
Now I'm off to the duel
She's red in the morning...

And the other, the country saga:

I woke up this morning with red on my mind...

So why did I write about red? My granddaughter likes to hang out in my office and her red crayon made it's way to some papers on my desk this morning. Now I'm seeing red! - but that's a story for another day. My point is, many lyricists start with a simple trigger. Some event (no matter how seemingly insignificant) triggers a topic. I'm not going to tell you the story about a kid with a crayon, but I'll use "she" and "red" as a starting point and let my imagination take over. Where you lean in the spectrum, abstract or "the tale of..." helps point your imagination in the right direction.

I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but some good songwriters I know seem to work this way. I can't speak for myself 'cause my songwriting sucks!

Phil

ps. Some country songwriters probably would write about a kid with a crayon.

[SixStringGeek]

Lots of good ideas. I'll give some of them a try.

[SixStringGeek]

Just wanted to share a site I found songwritingtipsonline.com - they're selling a whole courseware thing - which I don't want to buy - but they have a daily newsletter thing which sends an email each day with a different tip - I've been on it for five days and its decent advice.

[HCMarkus]

I reiterate Billf and FM's advice: collaborate with a lyricist. Co-writing can be an amazing adventure if you do it with someone you respect and whose company you enjoy. If you approach the exercise with an open mind and willingness to explore new directions for your song, a co-write can take a tune from 50-60% to 110% in a matter of minutes!

Let me know when you're down south Mr. Sixer, and we can try a session.

[SixStringGeek]

I reiterate Billf and FM's advice: collaborate with a lyricist.

Let me know when you're down south Mr. Sixer, and we can try a session.

I'd like that, although I think I've found the secret. Step 1 - meet the woman of your dreams. Step 2 - lose her to someone else. Step 3 - write songs about it until the pain begins to subside. I'm in the middle of step 3 - no end to this flow in sight - material just pops into my head.

My two most recent efforts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrEEPPT1G2M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwsdkoaj4Ho

My singing is pretty weak but I've begun taking voice lessons - I think the second one shows some improvement. There are three awkward lines in the first one I've cleaned up too but they're not on the track. I'm already tracking a third one.

My hope is that once I get a couple dozen of these, I'll pick ten good ones and polish them up. Also, I think I'll leave the final production/mix to someone in San Diego with a good room and more experience. Maybe thats you

I'm back on thursday until the 20th. I'll shoot you an email. I think joint a session might be fun. I'd certainly welcome the distraction from everything else going on.

[jakester]

I couldn't agree more, the lyrics are the drudgery part of the song. Most times it seems the melody is the story, so it's hard to picture where the words belong.

My collaborator is the opposite and feels lyrics are the focus of a good tune. He's a good vocalists and he has a great instinct for where phrases go in between, or across the regimented background. On our last tune, he was using mostly my lyrics off a scat track (a great method if the melody was first) and I had no idea where they actually fit, until he did a rough take. Then it started to make more sense.

As mentioned before, it's not like when someone first hears a tune they memorize it right away. If you can pull out some good key phrases that are catchy, I think then the rest of a song is pretty forgivable. “Excuse me while I kiss the sky”, “We don't need no education”, “It's the End of the World As We Know It” etc.

I don't think your voice was week, just like any other instrument, give it time.

Do you folks get a hesitant, cringing feeling, when you hear a recorded performance of yourself? Like every wrong note, every missed beat, is mercilessly magnified a hundred times over? I know I do, anyway..

“Anne's Song” is good. It's a nice melody and has a decent flow. Keep up with the lessons, your voice has a Peter Gabriel quality to it. In my opinion, “All Depends on You” was better, because you were more convincing. The increased confidence, makes a huge difference in the presence of the vocals. A little attitude goes a long way, in making the listener believe.

[HCMarkus]

Every word is important.

It is when studying the great songs that one begins to sense the stories within the story. Some stories span the duration of a song. Others are only as long as a phrase, or even a single word.

If lyrics aren't your bag, baby, work with a collaborator, like jaekster is doing. But when working with that co-writer, don't ever underestimate the value of a great lyric... it is, after all, the only part of music most people will ever understand.

Not to mention, the lyric is 50% of a song's copyright.