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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2010 16:46:49 GMT -5
For me, writing lyrics is the hardest part of creating a song. I want my songs to have some lyrics that are clever, or witty, or poetic. It doesn't have to be the whole song, but at least one line. Of course, the more the better.
So when it comes to the lyrics, I put a lot of pressure on myself until I just get stuck. It's hardly fun, though the final product sometimes makes it worth it. It really makes me appreciate some song writers even more, especially those who write those colossal songs like early Springsteen.
Lately, I've been just jotting down whatever comes to mind when writing on a subject and see if I can gleam anything from all of it. Sometimes I come up with a phrase and start from that. Then I rewrite and rewrite until I get something decent.
What's your process? Do you listen to or read anything for inspiration? Lyrics first, music second, visa versa, or at the same time?
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Post by Fingerplucked on Oct 2, 2010 7:52:43 GMT -5
Writing a line is easy Writing two can be fun If you have three you're almost there And when you have four you are done
Writing lyrics is easy. It's only when you know that you're writing lyrics for YOUR song that it becomes almost impossible.
It might be easier to write someone else's song and then claim it as your own if you like it.
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Post by Resolve on Oct 2, 2010 9:34:18 GMT -5
Boy, that's a question with a million different answers! From what I've heard when this topic comes up there are so many different ways to approach song writing. Some people really are adamant that there is a "right way". Maybe there is. Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn! ;D I think of writing as an opportunity to "play" much as a child does. It makes me think of when my son was little and he played with Legos. He would always start by constructing the object pictured on the box...but then that set of blocks would just get added to the bin that held previous sets and he would just play for hours building whatever came into his mind. Chords and words are like that for me. They're in a mental "bin" and I just pull them out and start playing with them. Sometimes I end up with a "whole" and sometimes I don't. I guess what I'm saying is that if I'd look at writing as being something that "has to be"a certain way it would stress me out. I write for me. If I think it's turned out ok I'll share it but since I never expect Nashville to come knocking at my door I'll just continue to write what pleases me. I always start with the words....probably because that's what comes easiest to me. I don't "sit down to write". I write when a thought comes to me...and sometimes that happens at the strangest times! A few months ago a pretty angry sounding song came to me while I was folding laundry! It was a beautiful day. I was happy/content and I don't even mind folding laundry!! Here's what happened on my latest song. Last week I heard that old Jim Croce song "Have to Say I Love You in a Song" and it just stuck in my head. That got me thinking about what it would be like to be the person to whom he was singing that song and I kind of joked about how difficult it would be to be in a relationship with someone who could only sing his feelings...like having to interpret some code! I thought that might make for a good "song story" so I took the perspective of that person and "wrote my (i.e., her) thoughts". My first plan was to make it kind of a blues song so I started with the 12 bar progression but then as I played around with it it just kind of "morphed" into a fingerstyle piece (kind of a new skill for me). The whole time I was working on it I never worried about "is this good"? I just was absorbed in the process of "creating" because it was fun and interesting for ME. I'll record it soon and put it in here if it turns out ok. I'm having trouble coming up with a title for this one so maybe y'all could help me with that. I don't like just posting the lyrics but I'll post them with the recording if/when I get that done.
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Post by Cornflake on Oct 2, 2010 15:21:26 GMT -5
Even when I was writing more, I didn't bother working out a song unless it had a strong idea and a strong key phrase. If I had those, I'd start finding music for it, simultaneously working out the music and the basic metrical structure. Then it was a matter of filling in the lines and working them out properly, which is indeed very slow and tedious. Working out the lines was mostly a matter of brainstoming different ways of expressing whatever was in that line...inverting the sentence structure...trying synonyms...anything...everything....
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2011 17:22:56 GMT -5
There's an axiom that Mercedes Lackey gave me when she was mentoring me in writing fiction. It holds just as true in the 3 minute story. When you get stuck, ASK THE QUESTIONS (Who, What, Where, When, Why... ) Soon enough, you won't be stuck anymore. Same thing withy lyrics. When you get stuck, look at it from a different perspective. If it's a love song, for example, maybe try looking at it from the position of the object of your affection. Even if you're writing it from your perspective, it'll still fuel inspiration. Maybe the next verse/line will begin with "I know you think I ...." See?
Process? We doan need no steenkin' PROCESS! Sometimes they're like pulling teeth, most of the time if they're worth keeping they just kinda flow... and then 3 days later, I can remember having pushed the pen across the paper, but *I* didn't write that -- that's way too cool to have come out of me!"
I nearly always have some melody in my head when writing the lyrics. It provides meter as well, but can be kinda restrictive... so I'll often go back and elaborate on the lead line later, give it more variation/dynamics.
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Post by Hobson on Jul 14, 2011 15:10:14 GMT -5
Usually the lyrics and the music come to me together. I might change both, but they are intertwined. There are some songs that I wrote years ago for which the lyrics didn't seem relevant anymore. So I've changed some of the words, but kept the basic idea.
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Post by Marshall on Jul 21, 2011 9:09:44 GMT -5
Even when I was writing more, I didn't bother working out a song unless it had a strong idea and a strong key phrase. If I had those, I'd start finding music for it, simultaneously working out the music and the basic metrical structure. Then it was a matter of filling in the lines and working them out properly, which is indeed very slow and tedious. Working out the lines was mostly a matter of brainstoming different ways of expressing whatever was in that line...inverting the sentence structure...trying synonyms...anything...everything.... That's a very valid approach. But it's the opposite that I take. I'm a music first kind of guy. I noodle around and find some musical phrase on the instrument that catches my attention. I'll work that and come up with a hint of melody line. If all that seems to be catching on, I'll start to think, 'What does this feel like? What does it want to be?" Then I'll go about the task of picking a theme and writing a lyric. Sometimes, the lyrical theme comes along immediately with the starting of the music. But even then, I'll usually morph the lyric to tell some specific aspect/emotion about the subject that isn't apparent to me when I start. I've even had fun at late by picking an opening line or two, as place holders, when starting a song. And then, saying, "How can i turn this into a story?" It's a fun exercise. The song I linked to on the "Bass solo" thread started out with the phrase 'Was I only dreaming of you." I had no idea in mind where the song was going after that. It was fun stitching together snippets of stories from the lives of people around me into a tale that is totally fabricated. It's completely fictional, but I hope it contains some truth that listeners can relate to. I also wrote a song that started with the phrase; "I've got a pistol in my pocket; a 44; and I know how to use it." pretty amusing (to me) when I came up with it. The music pattern was very dark, though. But I decided to keep the phrase. And I wrote a song with it about a gang-banger in the city who accidently kills a little girl in an act of bravatto, and lives to regret it. (A very real situation in our city). I only point this out to say that there are many ways to skin this cat. The only thing that matters in the end is; is the song any good; does it communicate anything to someone else; does it stand on it's own?
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