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How do you normally write lyrics?

KevBrock	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 9:59 PM Every musician and songwriter writes lyrics differently. Every musician and lyricists has their own style. When it comes to writing lyrics, how do you do it? Yeah, I know that old joke, "Just take your pen and write", but I want something more specific in that. As an example from myself, when I write lyrics, I write lyrics as if they are telling a story. A little story that starts from the beggining to the very end. King of like a short story or a short novel. A long time ago when I was just first starting out as a songwriter, I was talking to another pro local songwriter. He was the one who gave me the advice that I should write lyrics that should tell a story. In other words, a musician who is a storyteller. That's what I am. A storyteller in music. If you read my lyrics on my dmusic page, you would know where I'm getting at here. I like to write lyrics on different stories. I just write whatever ideas come to my head. Sometimes I'll write something of a movie I saw or a book I've read. Sometimes I'll write a song about myself. Sometimes I'll write about a woman who I have a crush on. I like to write about different things. Telling a story from the begginning to the end. That is how I always write my lyrics. Some people would write lyrics as if it was a poem. Poems are great, don't get me wrong. But I love songs that tells stories. Maybe this is the reason why people compared my music to Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie because they were storytellers. Lets talk about this subject. I'm interested in hearing what other peoples writing styles in lyrics are.
woodhead	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 10:08 PM I like lyric that say some thing but dont, medafores are always cool, "your candle's only buring at both ends" type stuff. But to me, lyric's need to be able to let the listner decide how the song fits them those are cool, and some times when they make no sense is cool also. "cant keep the spining rising" oh yea
GeneHilbert	Date: December 13, 2003 @ 1:50 AM a pencil .........
woodhead	Date: December 13, 2003 @ 2:15 AM ha ha ha ha to gene's post
alcoholicskunk	Date: December 13, 2003 @ 6:35 PM WEll one method I use.. is writting in the third person... Since I do a lot of songs that poke fun or insult people I sometimes write as if I were them.
robin101	Date: December 13, 2003 @ 7:46 PM Of course, it's only an opinion but... there is something to be said for lyric in the "first person" which come out sounding as simple as a conversation (and not contrieved). For example, the beginning of the Beatle song: "If I Fell" simply states: "If I fell in love with you would you promise to be true and help me understand? 'Cause I've been in love before and I know that love is more than just holding hands." Without writing it out as a "song" form or a "poem" form, it just sounds like a conversation. That is difficult.
CrescentShadow	Date: December 14, 2003 @ 10:09 AM take out a pen and write er, i mean. i look around me, out my window, and look for things. then i sit in my room in the dark and just soak in everything, then i write. i usually portray my emotions in a sorta .. distanced way... like i always write "he" instead of "me" or "i".. im really heavy on imagery.
rapidhopeloss	Date: December 14, 2003 @ 10:42 AM if i get stuck i put some french in
GeneHilbert	Date: December 14, 2003 @ 12:19 PM If you get stuck - it's because what you have written is incorrect, the flow stopped because of lack of direction or incomplete thoughts. Review ... Correct ... Continue.
Rodrica	Date: December 14, 2003 @ 12:28 PM Songs usually pop into my head complete with music, most of the lyrics and the production. So lyrics are often just a matter of playing the song in my head until the rest falls into place. Occasionally I've been inspired enough to write some poetry, then it gets adapted into lyrics/a song. I don't "struggle" with lyrics - I let them take shape and progress at their own pace...otherwise it's easy to end up sounding either contrived or a bit pedestrian if they are forced into place. Meaning and originality is important, but so is sound...and the way if flows with the music.
Jennae	Date: December 14, 2003 @ 3:21 PM I am fortunate in the sense that lyrics come very easy for me. But then again I have written poetry since I was 10 or younger and I have always used poems/lyrics to express myself. I don't normally sit and write the lyrics first.. actually I dont think I have ever done that I always get a riff, or a song I'm collaborating on and the lyrics are seemingly already there. It's just a matter of listening for them and puttnig them into lyrical place. Now if I could just do that with compositions. someone asked me how I write lyrics once. I told them... I always start off with a freestyle. play the song press record hail mary my way through the track once through.. play it back listen to the ideas keep what I like develope on what seems to be working and adjust the parts I dont like or replace them with better ideas more times than not I keep a lot of my first run through ideas. Just works for me luckily.
KevBrock	Date: December 14, 2003 @ 5:02 PM Good discussion everyone. I too write the lyrics after the music. Which is very difficult to do that way since I'm a storyteller and a folk musician. No you wonder how Bob Dylan got where he is today.
ZsigE	Date: December 17, 2003 @ 7:05 PM The way I write lyrics (well, so far anyway - I haven't uploaded anything with words yet) is a technique I got from watching the DVD of "Stop Making Sense" with the commentary on. David Byrne mentions in that that he came up with the lyrics to "Life During Wartime" just by writing down as many phrases and words as he could that related to the concept of urban warfare throughout the US. I've found that this works really well. So far, I've come up with a simple concept, then sat down with a piece of paper and brainstormed absolutely everything I could think of. Then, I start compiling the phrases into proper lines. Sometimes things just appear at this stage too, though. Music comes last, but I'm often thinking of suitable riffs or tunes as I write. Don't know if that's at all helpful for the discussion. Now I'm off to get some sleep.
kredd	Date: December 17, 2003 @ 10:54 PM it depends which side of my nose is more congested. if my left nostril is less congested the right side of my brain will get more oxygen than the left side of my brain thus enhancing the creative side(or logical side, i get them confused) and vice versa with my right nostril. if they are both stopped up i vegetate watch tv... actually this is just a creativity theory that my senior creative director at work told me supposedly happens, i've never stopped to think about my sinus' and their impact on my songwriting capabilities. i just thought it was pretty cool. plus i probably got it all wrong anyway, but you get the picture. i write with a meaning to my songs but with a bit of ambiguity so that the listener can take away their own meaning...plus i don't always have the guts to say "hey everybody! this is what i am feeling! this song is about me!!!" so i disguise it a bit...there i said it...now you all know my secret...
dkeifer	Date: December 20, 2003 @ 6:05 PM I always found writing lyrics really difficult. Now I just do instrumental stuff, and don’t miss working with words at all. The hardest part was for me was getting started—finding a topic, so to speak. My ideas just never seemed to stand on their own. So I started collecting phrases from magazines, and newspapers and books—grabbing any word combination that struck me as having some emotional content. After I had enough on a page, certain narrative or other formal ideas would begin to suggest themselves. For instance, I remember starting with “tender shoots” and “renewed sense of national autonomy” (both taken from an op-ed piece in the Times) and working up a song that always reminded me of the movie “The Incredible Lightness of Being.” The cool thing was that the lyrics always ended up being kind of oblique, and open to various interpretations. The downside was they were never very personal. It’s worth experimenting with though.
tullamoredew	Date: December 20, 2003 @ 11:05 PM Interestingly, I write a song by how the music sticks in my head. When I have the music for a song complete, it haunts me until I have the words complete also. The melodies ring through my head and I come home at night with an idea, just a basic subject. Than I just right about current emotions... I have tendencies of being conversational in my lyrics, talking to the listener as if they were sitting next to me. Basically... everybody does it a different way, but the best advice is to turn your brain off and use your heart to paint the page.
Slurgi	Date: December 22, 2003 @ 12:37 AM dkeifer i am the same way. I mostly write instrumentals, too :-/
JennyK	Date: December 22, 2003 @ 1:36 PM Well, reading through this thread just shows that we all work differently but we all write from whats inside.. or what affects us from people and events around us. i use most of the methods mentioned above at one point or another all depending on my mood or where i happen to be at that time. Example: Living hell. that song started with playing around on the guitar, picking two chords, starting with the word No! Well, it grew from there. and when i had the first verse i figured it was time for a chorus. hmm. so i played around for a little while. and there it was.. when i was done i realized i had told a story about someone i know.
jessemills	Date: December 22, 2003 @ 10:49 PM When I was little, me and my buddy Peston needed something QUIET to do while the sermon was being delivered in church. So we played this game called Doodles, where one guy makes a squiggly line on a piece of paper and the other guy has to turn it into a picture. And that's still what I do. But with words.
johnnygnote	Date: December 22, 2003 @ 11:15 PM A pen or pencil, occasionaly on my computer
billhudson	Date: December 26, 2003 @ 9:50 AM I like what Jack Hardy does in Greenwich village on Mon. nights. Write a song you wrote that week and being it in and sing it. You get to pass around the words and people talk about it. Do a search for Jack and you will see his stuff, very cool. So what do I do in writing? I re-write and re-write. Over and over until it happens. The muse does not get it up easy. Still Pickin' Bill Hudson
sepidman	Date: December 26, 2003 @ 2:59 PM I write different ways depending on my mood. There are times the process can be very methodical and intentional. My partner and I have done that on a number of occasions when a 3rd party has asked for help. Other times I am in a creative mood, head to the writing room with a JUMBO coffee, french vanilla usually and beat the guitar. This is often the 3am sessions. My partner does not write music and will very often e-mail me a lyric and I will hack around at it, come up with ideas then we get together in the studio and duke it out. Then lay down a quick demo on the 4 track. There are times I have gone to intentionally write a song and came out with something totally Unexpected. One song that bugged me for about 2 years was one that is posted here called On Her Own. I had most of it complete and could never finish the song. The good thing about it was that in several attempts to finish the song I wrote others instead until at last I was done. The song has been covered by an Aussie group and was released to 26 Euro countries as well as Australia, New Zealand and Japan. We will be working the N.A. market this year with them. Opps, getting off course now. I will alos write with the guitar and or Piano, depending on the feel of the song and the mood I am in. Often when I am in what I call a "HEAVY MELLOW" mood I will use the keys.....for songs like On Her Own. Hmmmmmmmm, I shall end this novel before I get into the next chapter!!
YaBoyDrew	Date: December 26, 2003 @ 6:31 PM i play the beat over n over n let my thoughts come out when i write. i usually sit down away from every1 so i dont get bothered, no tv, or nuttin, just the beat n me. also i like to write real late, my thoughts r more alive at night 4 sum reason, n thats also y im always tired lol..........kev nyce forum topic
YaBoyDrew	Date: December 26, 2003 @ 6:34 PM or if im not writting to a song just writtin 4 the hell of it, i do that in skool, it makes the periods fly byyyyyyyy.
sepidman	Date: December 26, 2003 @ 8:04 PM Oh, and one of the most requested songs at my show is one that I wrote in my sleep. Basically this idea just kept going through my head. When I finally woke up the next morning I had written the song. Was in my mind so I quickly grabbed the guitar and a pad and pencil and wrote it out, then did a quick demo of it. Which leads me to believe that I should sleep more often!!
Nitemair	Date: December 26, 2003 @ 9:16 PM yo i feel my boy drew on that shit. I write lyrics between 1:00 am-3:00 am. My best stuff comes out then. I just isolate myself from everyone and everything just about, and have my thoughts to myself, and a cig and I'm straight. That's all I need, a beat, my thoughts and a stoge. lol. 1!
MickeyBreezy	Date: December 30, 2003 @ 1:29 AM usually ill just hear a beat in my head n start writin. most of it is phacade type shit, i aint gon really kill u but SnomaN will u understand. also events that happen 2 me that spark emotions stronger than normal always end up in songs. sometimes ill just b freestylin and stop n b like yo that shit was phat so i rite it down
simplechords	Date: January 5, 2004 @ 2:59 AM I have a book lying around will over 200 complete lyrics in it, i also have like 200+ poems...so i either draw from that or just write about how the music makes me feel
rapidhopeloss	Date: January 7, 2004 @ 4:03 AM normally before i go to sleep, just ,ah its hard to describe because i'm so used to it. I just take an idea, think of words that have imagery connected with that idea, and try and write, usually i re-write later to make it more cohesive.
Larree	Date: January 7, 2004 @ 8:53 AM With a pencil.
victorsskull	Date: January 7, 2004 @ 9:23 AM dammit larree I was gonna say that
sepidman	Date: January 7, 2004 @ 12:25 PM stoned....just listen to them!!
figfarmer	Date: January 7, 2004 @ 12:41 PM That's because I throw stones at him so he pays attention whilst I dictate them to him.
sepidman	Date: January 7, 2004 @ 12:47 PM he is right.......
figfarmer	Date: January 7, 2004 @ 1:11 PM Hey, Let's use that for the title of our next gospel song. Write it down at the studio where I'll find it. He is right. He's been right since the world began. He is right. He is God. I'm just a man.
ruban	Date: January 7, 2004 @ 2:52 PM i always write lyrics no stop in school out school even if i sleep at my hommies house i will still write i stay up till 5 in the moring just to write i just cant help it and someday i hope it pays off ggggggg g.unit
Leginius	Date: January 10, 2004 @ 11:04 PM Well, I've only recently begun to write lyrics, but what I do is after I've created a song, I try to hum a melody that fits the song...and then I try to add words to the melody...
Hippieboy	Date: January 11, 2004 @ 6:13 PM I have some atheist songs. BUt i dont want them to be stolen. Im learning guitar acustic right now ill switch to base later.
Hippieboy	Date: January 11, 2004 @ 6:13 PM I have some atheist songs. BUt i dont want them to be stolen. Im learning guitar acustic right now ill switch to base later.
Hippieboy	Date: January 11, 2004 @ 6:14 PM sorry i made to post on accident.
IGNdotComSucks	Date: January 11, 2004 @ 6:24 PM I have some atheist songs. BUt i dont want them to be stolen. Im learning guitar acustic right now ill switch to base later.
Hippieboy	Date: January 15, 2004 @ 9:47 PM Woah! thats so cool just like me. Live on my people...
Hippieboy	Date: January 15, 2004 @ 10:07 PM When I write I just write its that simple for me. Peace + Anarchy.
SpicoliInc	Date: January 16, 2004 @ 2:48 AM I used to write lyrics about whatever I was thinking/feeling in one sitting. I shunned the revision process thinking it would take away from what I was truly feeling in the moment. I recently took a creative writing class and we were forced to revise. We had to show a process and how our writing changed from stage to stage. It was a valuable learning experience. Now I like to combine the two. I like to write my lyrics in one sitting and get all the ideas out, even if they don't make sense or fit. Then later I'll edit it and smooth things out. This seems to work the best and some of my better writings have been created this way. Also, when writing lyrics I think of it as poetry. I might have a general direction I want to take them but I don't complicate the process by thinking of melody, or what beats to put it to. That comes after writing is complete and you're trying to combine them with music.
figfarmer	Date: January 16, 2004 @ 7:57 AM Geez, I am a song writer and also a poet. I look upon them as being two entirely different things.
geetarman	Date: January 16, 2004 @ 9:09 AM I see it like this: Compare a football game and watching a ballet. One has music. Both are the same. A Lyric is poetry set to time, motion and sound. Therefore, the great poet, Hank Williams Jr. arose from his seat and screamed, "Are you ready for some football!" Thus, the poem in his head migrated to the higher realm of music. Music is the highest realm of consciousness Poetry labors behind music. With only a pen, Poets are ever in search of a melody. Melodies are forever searching for lyrics. Musicians weave the two toghether, melody and lyric, to create songs. This is how I write songs. Kelly Dunn c2004
SpicoliInc	Date: January 16, 2004 @ 12:35 PM Yes, what Kelly said.
MickeyBreezy	Date: January 16, 2004 @ 1:36 PM just flow wit the beat n itll fix itself
encore123	Date: January 17, 2004 @ 1:27 PM im not impressed with 80% of lyrics out there. people think there good at writing when really they dont know a thing about it. first i take into consideration the rythming words. pop revolves around girl world, friend end, heart start. that crap. then you look at syntax how did they set it up was it simple scheme or more complex something something something something (rythme a) something something something something (rythme a). that is a simple form of writing. most commercial rap uses that cause its easy to catch. a good artist can flip thru rythme schemes without you noticing (rythme a) (rythme a), (rythme b) (rythme B) (rythme a). (rythme a) (rythme c) (rythme c) in ever single (rythme c) (rythme a) running down his (rythme d) i (still (rythme d) in my (built rythme d) (god (rythme d) suicide is a (rythme e)so i (rythme e) (locked (rythme d) that is the format for the beggining of my song "camoflauge" that i just uploaded off my new album. heres the way it looks on paper "i can see my (self in a year)"rythme a" (helping my peers)"ryhme a", off my album (money)"rythmeb", its (funny)"rythme b" (seldom we hear) "rythme a". a (fella that veers)"rythme a" (positive)"rythme c" who (probably been)"rythme c" in every single (problem with)"rythme c" (delicate tears)"rythme a" runnin down his (face)"rythme d". i (still stayed) "still + rythme d" in my (built cage) "built +rythme d" (god made it) suicide is a (sin) so i (live) in (locked hatred) get it? lol i tried to explain this to my girlfriend after she said it takes more rythme to do metal. my argument was the rythme in rap, switchups and all, come from the mc and not from the beat. i just uploaded the song camoflauge so you all can hear it and see if you understand what im talking about lol