Writing Lyrics that Don't Suck

[DukeX]

Originally Posted by Standicz

This day and age we're living in
Gives cause for apprehension,
With speed and new invention
And things like fourth dimension.
Yet we get a trifle weary
With mr. einstein's theory,
So we must get down to earth at times:
Relax, relieve the tension.

That's Sinatra..

I find it most useful to have fun with the words and sentences. If you enjoy the process, chances are the result will be worth it. The most problematic part for me is to force myself in the right mood for the song and keep the focus. Hectic world. That Sinatra song really fits this topic.

"As Time Goes By" is a beautiful song--both lyrically and melodically. Thanks for bringing it up (it was one of my dad's favorites to play on Clarinet). But we should give songwriting credits to those who wrote them. "As Time Goes By" was written by Herman Hupfield for the Broadway Musical "Everybody's Welcome" (1931).

Sinatra is only one of many, many musical giants who have recorded this song--the list is long and impressive.

[Chipotle]

I often like to have a "theme" for my song, and then use parallelism pretty extensively. Take the main idea, express it several different ways. Using parallel (similar) language can strengthen the lyrics.

An example from a song of mine, about leaving on a new journey. I used the four points of the compass. The first few lines:
"I'm going north/up where the air is clearer/where I can feel a change
I'm going south/down where the light is different/the stars are rearranged"

The trick sometimes becomes trawling a thesaurus and rhyming dictionary for words that scan and fit the meaning you want.

Another trick, used judiciously, can be to take a common idiom that fits what you're singing about and twist it a bit. Another example of mine, about someone who's decided to ignore me: "Let me put my arms/around your cold shoulder". Take an idiom like "give a cold shoulder" or "look right through you" and riff on it.

Then there's the old "tell a story" approach. I think an amazing example of this is David Wilcox's "Eye of the Hurricane".

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Hi, I have not written that many songs probably less than fifty, and only three or four are still in my rep.

I think I heard that John Prine would write a short story or, perhaps an essay, then reduce it down to three chapters, or paragraphs ... then ... push them around into two rhyming couplets each, and think up a chorus that refers to them, maybe a bridge if you are feeling cocky.

One of my best offerings came from a conversation with a friend about our fathers.

It was also inspired by Guy Clark's "Randal knife", so a simple I,IV,V, IV,I progression with an alternating bridge:



Think about simple subjects, people, or situations. - It's about story telling, but short stories.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Bill Sims

When asked this Arthur Smith said good songs aren't written, they are rewritten. Meaning tweaked and tweaked and adjusted and improved and altered and revisited until...

True. Leonard Cohen supposedly took months to write Hallelujah, ending up with countless verses before whittling them down.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by Standicz

This day and age we're living in
Gives cause for apprehension....

That's Sinatra..

Ha! I guess he could pull it off.

[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by KarenB

Perhaps going to a "songwriting camp" could help https://www.summersongs.com
They offer two of these, one in NY state and one in California.

I’ve gone to summersongs many years ago and would recommend it. In addition to the positive song critics and classes there is some fantastic late night jams. Definitely a good way to spend some time for a new writers

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

The handful of songs I've written, however, just fall so short of the "good stuff" lyrically (melodically they're fine) that I don't want to play them.

does anyone have suggestions on how to write better lyrics? Is it something you can practice? Are there writing exercises to suggest?

Well first there is no simple answer to your questions.
On the one hand writing songs is a craft and that means that you can definitely improve a craft with practice , the more the better. But writing songs on the level of the "greats" also involves art and to some extent talent . Which can be developed to a point and is and should be the goal (even if that level of "greatness" is never attained) because it is the journey that really matters , not the destination.

In order to convert just writing songs to writing good songs also takes honest critique . And as some have suggested there are songwriting camps and there is also a convention of songwriting called the Durango Song Expo https://durangosong.com/
Which I attended a few times and felt was beneficial .

The other thing that I think helps is to really study . not simply enjoy, (which one should definitely also do ) But really analyze the writing of those songs you consider great. Break them down to each word and its relationship to the story, the song structure, the rhyme scheme, and the often overlooked by beginning songwriters "the salabic count and cadence"
And as people have mentioned do not be afraid to rewrite, and I would add,,,, strip down and purge all extraneous information . Two things that definitely kill the potential of a song is and awkward salabic count and being too long and wordy.

A couple of pearls of wisdom I picked up from the Durango Songwriters Expo

Try to "Show---don't tell".... and.... Try to " Observe without preaching " (which is one I have struggled with)

For example " Her aura projected forth as if the light from a setting sun were shining through a crystal prism and cast a brilliant blue hue before her" is "Telling"

"She was crystal blue " is "Showing"


One mark of the truly great songs and songwriters is the ability to convey volumes with a bare minimum of words and this is where many wouldbe songwriters "fall short" they are simply.... too long ) seriously

Then there is also the really tricky one ---- the "musical prosody of the lyrics and music (this is the one that marks the truly great ones from the rest of pack. ....
It is simply not good enough that your songs are " melodically fine" the melody and especially the Harmony must convey and direct the mood and feeling of the implications present in the lyrics ------THE PROSODY

For example one of your's and my songwriting heros.... John Prine
---- "I am an old woman named after my mother , my old man is another child grown old" ....While the line is in fact brilliant in its simplicity and ability to convey an entire chapter of universal experience in a few brief words. It is in fact the harmonic structure around those lyrics that has anchored it's place in history as, Great...

Just some things to consider ...

[jaymarsch]

I began writing songs about ten or so years ago and still think of myself as a beginner. I feel that I have improved because I have taken classes and workshops at places like Swannanoa and Summersongs, as well as belonging to a songwriting group that meets once a month. It is facilitated by a locally respected singer/songwriter/guitar and piano player. I also have taken the Pat Pattison online class a couple of years ago and read his books on lyric writing and melody.

But, nothing takes the place of just keep writing songs - even if they are bad songs. The more practice that you get in putting together words, chords and melodies and rhythms together then you will start to be more comfortable when inspiration hits and there is something that you really want to say. It is so great to be a part of a group if you can find one or start one. Getting feedback can be very helpful. I belong to the Westcoast Songwriters Association and that has been a fun and supportive group as well. You might see if something like that exists in your area.

Grab onto any resources that are available and don't give up. You will improve over time if you keep at it.

Best,
Jayne

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by Edgar Poe

It's a matter of perspective. I for one find it hard to come up with catchy melodies, and Rhythms, but lyrics are simple.
Maybe that is why we have the likes of Holland-Dozier-Holland, and Lennon-McCartney.

Ed

I find this true for me as well. I can write an interesting song/story, but my limited knowledge in music theory and fitting different chord variations to make it interesting always leaves me perplexed and with a pretty average sounding (read- boring) song.

[jseth]

Try reading prose that is REALLY different from your norm (whatever that might be), prose that is world-class writing...

Gives you a different perspective on how to get a point across, how to use your languaging to get your feelings across...

Even listening to "different" music helps me; instrumental jazz, especially the melodic stuff, can bring up images and lyrics from inside of me... listening to other songwriters can help, but only if I really "get into" the song; checking out the rhyme schemes, the meaning, the inflection of the voice.

I never have tried to write " like someone else", but I've been influenced by many; no doubt by everything I've ever heard...

Don't get sucked in to trying too hard to be significant! When I develop a new piece of music, I really try to let the song "be what it wants". Frequently, for me, that means keeping something simple when it's called for, and not just adding some zippy section "just because I can"...

Above all, I WILL NOT SETTLE... I won't use a cheap rhyme just to finish a verse or a song... I won't sell out my intent for a song... and I'm perfectly willing to have a song take years to write, if that's what it takes to get where I want it to be...

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

Lots of posts on how to improve playing here; does anyone have suggestions on how to write better lyrics? Is it something you can practice? Are there writing exercises to suggest?

My lyric writing teacher in college was Pat Pattison. I highly recommend his book "Writing Better Lyrics". Get it...read it...do what he tells you..re-read it..keep doing the exercises. Your writing will improve.

That's the technical end of lyric writing.

That said - you also need to feed the creative side. Read great poetry. Read great prose. Find people who write in ways that touch you, entice you, move you. Figure out what they're doing and start doing it yourself.

It takes time & effort. But, pretty much everything in life worth having falls into that category.

[Mbroady]

Saw this on my Facebook feed.
Interesting read

http://nodepression.com/article/how-...Pr4yEPa72iMBgI

[GTR1960]

it's the rare person that can just start writing a hit song the first thing they do.
Songwriters that write hit songs for others have been honing and working that craft for a bit. They are usually prolific writers, 20 hit songs. 10,000 songs written.

Like anything worth doing, it takes lots of studying, thought, time and effort.

[David MacNeill]

1. Have something to say.

2. Have a way with words.

3. There is no step 3.

[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.