Why I can't write lyrics

[Gypsyblue]

I have a hard time writing lyrics because I am not a poet.

I lack the gift and that's all there is to it.

Apparently it's just not in my DNA.

You can't be everything you'd like to be.

Not in one lifetime anyway.

Seems to me that good poets and lyricists have read, studied and even memorized millions of poems and lyrics.

Bob Dylan did.

Have you?

Neither have I.

[TBman]

Actually, there's a song in there somewhere, lol

Originally Posted by Gypsyblue

........ I am not a poet.

I lack the gift .........
..........and that's all they're is to it.

Apparently it's just.......
....... not in my DNA.

You can't be everything.........
............. you'd like to be.

Not in one lifetime ..........anyway.

[Trillian]

Originally Posted by TBman

Actually, there's a song in there somewhere, lol

Brilliant!

I really don't care if I become 'great' or not, but as I've developed some genuine interest in the field it's worth it to me to pursue it and try to be the best I can be. There's no shame in being 'just' a performer, and I'll probably always be primarily a performer but I'd like to be able to do this even if it's just for me.

[FolkRock Rules]

That flow chart cracked me up.

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

Lyrics are not as important as how they are sung.

^^^ That. As was said in the AG article I mentioned above, sometimes it doesn't even have to rhyme, e.g. "Fields of Gold." When the song happened to come on the radio yesterday while I was driving, I said "Hmm, he's right."

J.D. Souther is in that issue of AG, along with James Taylor, and one of them (Souther, I think) said something about how everybody's writing variations of the same fifty songs. But I dunno if I could ever come up with something like "wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then."

[Trillian]

Originally Posted by FolkRock Rules

That flow chart cracked me up.

My name is Dieter und I approven off zis messagenenen.

[stanron]

I've enjoyed this thread and as a result I accidentally rewrote the words to Hesitation blues as Medication Blues. I can't believe that this hasn't been done before but this is what I came up with.

Medication Blues 
To the tune of Hesitation Blues Words Me

Doctor told me, hope it's a lie
You'll never get better till the day you die.

CHORUS Tell me how long do I have to wait?
Should I rattle them pills (Am I all right now) or should I medicate?

I got two in the morning, Three at night,
Another calms me down in case I don't get it right,

A capsule is a capsule, a pill is a pill
If complacency don't get me then anxiety will

I don't like the red ones, I don't like the blue (Double take at the audience)
I'm not so sure I like the look of you

I'm standing on the corner, I'm just not sure,
Am I looking for a lover, a dealer or a cure?

Friends come round, so they say
Just wanna get high on my Nitro spray

The Altzeimer verse (apologies for any offence)

Standing in the kitchen (Parlour, Rest room, Diner, stair well, bar room, etc) looking at the floor,
Just can't remember what I came here for.

Time to take my night time meds.

[FolkRock Rules]

Can you imagine if all Mike Myers' characters got together in one place? Pandemonium would reign.

Originally Posted by stanron

I accidentally rewrote the words to Hesitation blues as Medication Blues.

Time to take my night time meds.

Accidentally, huh?
That right there is Tim Hawkins quality, Stanron.

There are other versions of "The Minoxidil Song" (Rogaine) on the Web. I came up with some words to "Rogaine" when we had a pool party and karaoke for my high school class' 35th reunion in 2004.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxKeCmTCDV4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxKeCmTCDV4

I don't write songs but I am an avid reader of song lyrics and have looked at songwriting in general.

My findings suggest that first and foremost songwriters do a lot of writing and the concept of free writing often comes up when looking at practice. Sit down put the clock on fiver or ten minutes and write about something - anything.

Great songwriters clearly understand how to create and use metaphor, simile, alliteration and all those other literary devices that you would expect to find in any genre of writing. Also, whilst rhyme is not always needed it is largely present in songs and there are various aspects of rhyme to be considered.

Personally, I believe that good writers have always 'been into' writing and they work hard at their craft. Someone like Ryan Adams is a good example, He works at his songwriting relentlessly and it shows because as someone else has said eventually you will turn up with something good and hit a potentially rich seam of songs.

I think you just have to go through the stage where nothing happens until one day it does - then you will be inspired.

[HHP]

Try carrying a small notebook. When you see or experience something that affects you, take out the notebook and put one word down to describe what you see, one word for what you hear, one word for what you smell, and one word for what you feel. Goal is to pick a single word that encompasses each sense and your overall feeling. If you then go to construct a poem or lyrics, these words become the foundation of the idea.

[Trillian]

So many great posts! I made some 'word soup' last night about another long idle song idea, it should be fun to simmer it and season it and see what I get.

I don't have any ambition to become a great songwriter but if I can have fun with it and have a few good songs I can call my own to throw out there I will be happy. I feel this is attainable especially with all the encouragement. Thanks again!

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Trillian

So many great posts! I made some 'word soup' last night about another long idle song idea, it should be fun to simmer it and season it and see what I get.

"Word soup" - great concept. Do you know about the "cut up" technique David Bowie borrowed from William Burroughs (and apparently also used by Kurt Cobain and Thom Yorke)?
It's a way of getting new inspiration by combining existing phrases at random:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut-up_technique

Sometimes, words don't need to make sense at all, just feel good to sing. After all, what the hell is Genesis's "Sussudio"? ("I feel so good if I just say the word")
Or wtf is REM's "The Great Beyond" all about? (I'm pushing an elephant up the stairs / I'm tossing up punch lines that were never there / Over my shoulder a piano falls / Crashing to the ground). A Laurel and Hardy sketch?
Or John Lennon's "I am the Walrus" (actually written as a sardonic response to how seriously people took Dylan's surrealism)?
(Mind you, maybe you need to be a successful artist first before you can take those liberties. Then people will just nod sagely, "yeah, deep, man....")

[difalkner]

I'm not a writer but have always been entertained by this line in 'Ventura Highway' -

Seasons crying no despair
Alligator lizards in the air

What in the world is 'alligator lizards in the air'??? Just some far reaching wording to rhyme, I guess. That's just always been funny to me.

[Trillian]

Very true, the most sense I've ever gotten out of a Yes lyric is 'I get up, I get down'. Well not totally true Time and a Word makes sense and it's a favorite of mine, but nobody really knows that one.

[TBman]

Use your cell phone to record ideas too. People won't think your any crazier than anyone else, lol.

I'm always using the video on my phone to record guitar ideas. My Android has a "selfie" toggle so I don't have to guess where the phone is pointing.

[jaymarsch]

I went for years without being able to write a song even though I tried and tried. One evening I was dog sitting for a friend who had rescued this big dog from a crack house. This German Shepard/Golden Retriever mix was extremely anxious and freaked out. I was playing chords on my guitar and the dog started pacing and getting more stressed. I began talking to the dog as I was plunking away on the guitar. Before I knew it, I was singing and the dog was listening and then settling down in front of me. I just made up the lyrics on the spot.

Oh, Annie, we're so happy that your here
Your amber eyes are clear and bright
Your touch it is so dear
This is your home, so settle in
For years, we'll hold you near
Oh, Annie, we're so happy that your here

Now, will that win any Grammy's? Nope, not even in the wheelhouse. But, there was something about connecting my heart, my head, my hands, and my guitar that just opened up something. After that night, I was able to write songs. I have written some bad ones, some mediocre ones and a few good ones. I am in a songwriting group and we share and give each other feedback on songs, and I have taken a few classes and read a few good books on the subject. (Pat Pattison's Writing Better Lyrics and Songwriting without Boundaries.)

Keep at it and you'll find a groove with it eventually.
Best,
Jayne