Writing Lyrics that Don't Suck

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by N+1

Many years ago I read Ted Hughes's little book Poetry in the Making, and there was a passage in it that completely changed my understanding of what writing is. (I'm not talking at the moment about song lyrics, but bear with me.) The starting point is the visualisation of the thing you're writing about. Here's the passage:

See it and live it. Do not think it up laboriously, as if you were working out mental arithmetic. Just look at it, touch it, smell it, listen to it, turn yourself into it. When you do this, the words look after themselves, like magic. If you do this you do not have to bother about commas or full-stops or that sort of thing. You do not look at the words either. You keep your eyes, your ears, your nose, your taste, your touch, your whole being on the thing you are turning into words. The minute you flinch, and take your mind off this thing, and begin to look at the words and worry about them … then your worry goes into them and they set about killing each other. So you keep going as long as you can, then look back and see what you have written. After a bit of practice, and after telling yourself a few times that you do not care how other people have written about this thing, this is the way you find it; and after telling yourself you are going to use any old word that comes into your head so long as it seems right at the moment of writing it down, you will surprise yourself. You will read back through what you have written and you will get a shock. You will have captured a spirit, a creature.

The burning truth of this became immediately evident, and I've used it in my own writing ever since. There was no chance that the technique would turn me into a great writer, but what it did do was make sure that some element of truth was inherent in the words I wrote - if I managed to write anything at all.

The odd thing is that I never thought of using the same technique for writing song lyrics until just a few years ago, and when I did, I discovered that some of the songs I was writing suddenly came alive. At least, they did for me - I'm only talking here about the personal satisfaction of creating a song, not about whether others would agree with my own view of it. The essence of it all is to recognise that the most important aspect of the process is not the words, but seeing clearly the thing I'm writing about, and inhabiting its world. The words come from that (if they come at all). If I start with just words, they pretty much remain just words.

The Hughes technique you've exposed us to here is a great tip! He seems to be restating, with practical, helpful elaboration, the first rule of the pioneering Modernist poets, the Imagists: " Direct treatment of the thing." It won't necessarily work every time, but it'll increase vividness. The reason it won't work every time is that vividness isn't sufficient to guarantee a song that works--but it will increase your odds many times.


In my current project (Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet) I have the pleasure of examining a great spread of words I didn't write--mostly poetry, mostly not designed to be sung (and I don't always sing them, thus the name for the project). It's funny what attracts me to use a set of words. Vividness certainly helps. Word sound ("word music") too. Good use of repetition (chorus/refrain/etc) or a section I can select to make a refrain. Saying something I relate too, or "wish I'd said that myself."


I don't know if anyone has mentioned that chorus/refrain factor here yet, but great songs often make powerful use of it. Many 21st century popular songs make use of it by rote, as "the hook"--often a relatable phrase that may be the only words anyone recalls from the piece. So that evidently works--but great songs often use a refrain with subtle variations or a building context that builds audience involvement with the emotion of the song.


One great thing about Hughes technique above is that it cautions you against writing from the beginning a song that sounds like a song, that goes through the motions of being song-like. Hughes' is a different way to start, useful many times. I don't know if Hughes mentions revision after the process above--but you can trim and fit and reshape and even re-choose words or order after his process. Working the other way, trying to add vividness to a first draft that is "song like" but lacks any concrete sense feeling, is much harder to do. You can of course do both at the same time, many songs start out "song like" and vivid. But if you're stuck when starting out, start with vivid/concrete/immediate and move to song structure.

[Mr. Jelly]

I'll throw in my $.02. Nobody's going to read it anyway.

A couple ideas.
Have a physical scene in mind and write about a single aspect of it.

Have physical movement as much as possible. She opened the door or I saw her standing there are things people see in their minds eye when hearing it.

A good exercise is to write some lines with every other line having some kind of physical movement with no regard of meaning or story. You will learn something I guarantee.

[N+1]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

I don't know if Hughes mentions revision after the process above--but you can trim and fit and reshape and even re-choose words or order after his process. Working the other way, trying to add vividness to a first draft that is "song like" but lacks any concrete sense feeling, is much harder to do. You can of course do both at the same time, many songs start out "song like" and vivid. But

He does mention it somewhere, though I can't recall a specific quote - but it's clear from his own practice that he did revise his writing after that initial collecting process. And as you observe, it's not a rigid prescription: your suggestion that "if you're stuck when starting out, start with vivid/concrete/immediate and move to song structure" is likely to be the best way of making some progress. Neither is it a guarantee of ending up with a good song (I have a bucketload of clunkers to prove it). What it does is bend the odds in one's favour.

There's a quote from Sam Cooke ... someone had complimented him on his singing voice, and he replied saying something like: "Thank you - but what I really want to know is whether it convinces you that what I'm singing about is true". I think of songs the same way. When one inhabits a song, does it have that ring of truth? I know 'truth' is a wriggly word, hard to pin down, but you know it when you hear it in a song (or a poem, or a piece of prose), and that's what the Ted Hughes technique helps with.

[N+1]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

I'll throw in my $.02. Nobody's going to read it anyway.

I did.

"She came in through the bathroom window." What an arresting beginning!

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by N+1

I did.

"She came in through the bathroom window." What an arresting beginning!

It always cracked me up that Joe Cocker could "inhabit" that song as if the lyrics actually meant something, and weren't just placeholders that McCartney never got around to replacing.

[catdaddy]

There are no bad lyrics, just lyrics that haven't been rewritten yet.

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

There are a lot of words that I just don't think can be put into a song: Longer words like, uh, "apprehension" or "obliterate".... (Not sure why one would want to include such words, but I hope you catch my drift.)

"Won't you roll ma easy,
oh slow and easy.
Take ma independence,
with no apprehension, no tension.
You're walking, talking ha-um
paradise sweet paradise."

That was Lowell George, who also used words like "Conclusion," "Nagodoches," "Tucumcari" and "Tehachapi." Yes, any word can be used. It is a question of learning how to fit it.

[Ludere]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

" ... That's literally (literarily) a whole other story ..."

Just so's ya know ... saw what you did there ... there's some wordplay.



...

[andydepressant]

My theory on writing better lyrics is this:

When you begin on pen and paper or at the start of your writing "career" you write sentences that are too long to be musical.

Answer: Write it all out as stream of consciousness. Focus on images not argument/explanation.

Break each down into simple, telegraphic sentences with no clauses or conjunctions.

Once you make a habit of this, lyric writing gets a bit easier. I kinda fancy myself as alright at lyrics, but so so with melodies.

[DaveKell]

I don’t know why, but the condescending old saying “those who can do, those who can’t teach” came to mind while reading your very last question. I only began songwriting close to 2 years ago in retirement. I figured if Colonel Sanders could start something as successful as KFC in retirement, why not? Writing for me has come easily since grade school. In college my English professor told me I didn’t need to attend the last two months of class as I would end up with a solid A either way. I majored in Comparative Literature and then spent my life’s career as a master signpainter. Go figure.

When I get an idea for a song I go full throttle with stream of consciousness writing. After I come to a suitable ending in my mind, I put it all aside for a few days before coming back to it to see how I can shape it into a song. Usually by then I’ve run it over in my mind so many times that I turn it into suitable song lyrics sometimes in a matter of minutes.

I have no illusions at my age of becoming a well known songwriter. I just usually bring a new original to my weekly jam in a small building next to an official Opry sanctioned venue. In the past year the weekly interest in what I’ll bring in next has grown among an ever increasing number of very excellent performers. I routinely send raw recordings to an old friend who is a retired Nashville songwriter with impressive accomplishments and a huge circle of influential friends. The praise he heaps on my work, for lack of an adequate way to describe it, blows my mind. I also attend a weekly songwriter circle that at times is jam packed. I’ve been stunned quite a few times by the discussion my songs have produced. I describe my songs as being “ones somebody forgot to write 50 years ago” and they are mainly country.

Another saying I remember from years ago is “if you want to be a writer, write”. Sounds easy enough, huh? Actually, I’d add to that saying “become obsessed with writing “. I’m obsessed to the point of it frequently being in my dreams at night. Someone pointed out you can be your own worst critic. Very true. I highly recommend finding a songwriting group somewhere and begin exposing your songs to others. Listen to the feedback. I’m a lousy singer but Ive been told a number of times I am a cross between Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen, most recently on this forum. Again, important feedback from others that has boosted my confidence (although I still think they’re nuts!). It took me going through a process of white knuckle terror and horrible performance anxiety. In the face of that, performing for others has become one of the greatest overcomings in my life. As another member of this forum says often, “I hope this helps”.

I thought I'd add something of a ritual I employ in songwriting. I have a gorgeous wood clipboard I bought from a woodworker at a craft fair. I keep pads of blue lined graph paper on hand. It's what I used to design signs on before computer graphics programs became available. The only pen I'll write with is a PaperMate Ink Gel pen in either light blue or dark pink. The graph paper I believe helps me spot the length of lines and syllable count. I can see the balance in everything. Once my only remaining Gel Pen ran out of ink in the middle of a song. There's a million ink pens in my house but I had to make a run to an office supply for more Gel Pens. If someone stole my clipboard I wouldn't be able to write until I found the woodworker and replaced it. It's not even remotely an OCD (I already have one of those I do several times a day), it's my ritual that makes songwriting a focused, unique pursuit in my day.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by DaveKell

I only began songwriting close to 2 years ago...

My story isn't too far off from yours. And here's something you're about to find out: Sharing your stuff around with other songwriters is great, but you also need to play for "civilians." People who see music as entertainment, not an intellectual exercise. Or, in the case of this forum sometimes, finger exercise.

You may find out that while your metaphors resonate with the one crowd, your dumb, catchy chorus connects with the other.

A very long time ago I worked in a restaurant in Cambridge Massachusetts, and a young waitress there claimed that Van Morrison was renting a room from her parents. Which was complete BS until he showed up very drunk at closing time one night. While Alexandra tidied up and I mopped, Van went on at length about how he considered himself a dedicated poet, and how he was so ashamed that something as tossed-off and stupid as "Domino" had made him so so so much money.

[jaymarsch]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

"Won't you roll ma easy,
oh slow and easy.
Take ma independence,
with no apprehension, no tension.
You're walking, talking ha-um
paradise sweet paradise."

That was Lowell George, who also used words like "Conclusion," "Nagodoches," "Tucumcari" and "Tehachapi." Yes, any word can be used. It is a question of learning how to fit it.

It is also a matter of how singable a word is. Some words have hard sounding consonants that make them difficult to sing. There are really no hard or fast rules but if the phrasing of a word breaks the rhythm of the song or the cadence of the word does not match the natural rhythm of the language, a listener can stub their ear on it.

I love Lowell George's work.

Best,
Jayne

[Laughingboy68]

Here are a few things I do:

1. Keep a journal close at hand to record interesting lines; things heard in conversation, things you read, things that pop into your head. All those little things that “could be a song”.

2. At least a couple times a week, write a stream of conscious journal entry. Resist the urge to edit at all as you write. It doesn’t have to make sense, or sound good - just let it flow. Go back and look occasionally and you’ll find the odd gem of a line that’ll work in a song. The process of writing like this also creatively lubricates your brain.

3. Allow yourself to write bad songs. They will slowly get better.

4. Deconstruct the songs that you love. Don’t be afraid to steal one element to start a new idea. Choose the rhyme scheme, or one rhyming couplet, or the pattern of internal rhyme.

5. Try to incorporate internal rhyme and alliteration - these tools work particularly well with songwriting.

6. Try to start with a song idea that means something to you - this will allow the lyric to ring true. At the same time don’t be afraid to let the story of the song go someplace that plays with the truth - not all of us have stories in our lives that make for great songs.

7. Let a song simmer after you’ve written it. Play it, record it, take feedback from others. The weaker parts will show themselves. Look at a weak phrase, line or verse in isolation and find alternatives. This can make a so-so song much better. Re-writing is your friend.

8. Celebrate your accomplishments and strive to get a little better with each composition.

[Laughingboy68]

Use a Blackwing Palomino 602. Many great writers have used this pencil. It never hurts to use good tools.

[jaymarsch]

Originally Posted by Laughingboy68

Use a Blackwing Palomino 602. Many great writers have used this pencil. It never hurts to use good tools.

Great pencil. I don't know what kind of tone wood they use but it makes a great sound when you chew on it.

Seriously, from their website: https://blackwing602.com/what-is-blackwing

Best,
Jayne