Thanks to Rob Hoogers for the help in adding the player!
John Moxey Music Player
Under the folder John Moxey / Videos you will find a video of Awaken, made by Rob Hoogers. Many thanks Rob!
You can fin Rob's site here:
Roflcopter
I posted up the first lyric I'm completed in a little while. here:
I am one
There's a few comments in the thread and some explanations of my reasoning, if not my inspiration.
Please drop by and have a read, and if you feel like it leave a comment.
Critique did bring up an interesting point of discussion. Several actually! The debate of directness of a lyric came up and the need for balance both within a lyric and across a portrfolio of lyrics. Ok, well it interests me!
Rohan's Glog (gig log) makes for some interesting reading:
http://forums.songstuff.com/blog/thelevellers/
some good pics too, well not bad for a decent camera phone!
Similes, Metaphors and Allegories are essential tools in writing lyrics where the intent is to leave the lyric more open to interpretaion by the listener.
So, I thought I'd bring together the descriptions in one place. I've reworded the best I found on the web in the hope that the meanings are clear.
Simile
a simile states that A is like B
A simile is a juxtaposed comparison of two or more subjects to draw attention to their similarities. Similes are typically identified by the use of "like" or "as" or "than", or "resembles". Similes are a specific and formulaic form of allegory.
Metaphor
a metaphor states that A is B or substitutes B for A
A metaphor is defined as an indirect comparison between two or more apprently unrelated subjects that typically uses "is a" to join the subjects
Allegory
Allegory is a type of extended metaphor, where objects, individuals, and actions in a work, are equated with meanings outside outside the work itself. The hidden meaning has social, moral, religious, or political significance, and often characters are personifications of abstract ideas such as greed, or envy. Allegory encompasses such forms as fable, parable, and apologue and may involve either a literary or an interpretive process.
An allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
ok, for personal reason there's been a delay in my writing, but I will be taking the 21 in 31 challenge! Aaaargh I was so looking forward to it!
oh well, onwards and upwards!
I've set myself a challenge of writing 21 lyrics during the 31 days of January, pretty well 2 lyrics every 3 days.
The point isn't to write masterpieces, but to try to get ideas flowing without letting myself get bogged down. I have no idea if it'll work, or if I'll even get close to writing that many lyrics in such a short time, but it will be interesting!
If anyone else is interested in such a challenge I've posted a topic here:
lyrics writing challenge
Please join in and challenge yourself!
Post each lyric in it's own topic in the lyrics critique board...
Lyrics critique
I am churning out music I am happy with, a lot quicker than I am currently managing to produce lyrics. It's not a wuestion of ideas, it's motivation.
I thinked I've sussed out what's wrong (again). Motivation. (still) I just don't spend enough time writing.
When I sit down with an instrument I can simply express myself. My inner feelings are given a voice and it's good just to let that out.
With lyrics, I tend to put a lot of myself into them. They are about me, my life, or something that has touched my life. As a younger writer I would be just as happy to write about other people's lives or abstract situations.
The fact that I now write about something personal means that every lyric means raking over coals, open up wounds etc, making the whole thing a far less pleasing experience. It does also give me a somewhat more limited subject matter.
Maybe it's about time I was a bit less inward looking. Not give it up, more re-engage in writing from different perspectives at the same time.
I now have a huge backlog of tunes with part written lyrics. Time I knuckled down!
Songwriters often shun the idea of being "commercial" in their writing, without pausing to think about the what they are throwing away under the heading "commercial". I've seen so many songwriters that don't edit, or are only open to editing certain parts of songs purely on the grounds that writing in a way that makes their lyrics more appealing is equated with selling out to commercialism.
One of the points of writing a song is to communicate. One of the reasons can be to make a point. In most cases we want to:
- Make our message understandable
- Make it easily digestable (don't confuse with watered down)
- Make it able to do both of the previous two points to as broad a collection of listeners as possible
When I review a lyric I try to view it from these perspectives. Appeal is what we generally want, even when we say something controversial, shocking or offensive. Paying attention to these aspects of writing a song helps to achieve appeal. With lyrics that can sometimes be a tweak of phrasing, a structural change, hook type and hook placement etc.
Writers often think that "rules" are there to be broken. That somehow they don't need to think about them. The fact is they are guidelines. Something to be aware of when writing, understanding that structures, hooks, rhyme schemes etc all effect appeal, understandability, and digestability.
The fact that commercial music also desires these qualities does not devalue them as useful perspective son the part of the writer
it's weird how creativity flows.
I have absolutely no problem coming up with musical ideas at all. Prick me with a pin and a new tune will come out, complete with chord structure. Music just seems to happen. I have no problem rewriting (except melody once I have words), changing direction, coming up with alternatives etc.
Lyrics are different. I don't know if it is the quality of original ideas, and enhanced sensitivity to perfectionism? Somehow the words convey something definate, so they need to be absolutely right?
Whatever it is, it's a pain. I've been trying more lyric writing without qualifying them as I go. It does help, but I don't do it easily! I have to reminding myself "edit later". Just having that thought interrupts my creative flow.
I will persevere.
I've been doing lots of writing and I'm really enjoying it. I think it's because I've got lots of ideas flowing, both melodically and lyrically, and that is helping to keep my creative juices flowing.
I'm almost ready to start using my collaboration space. First time I'll have used it in anger, so to speak. It's been a while since I've recorded with other musicians and I'm really looking forward to hearing the little unexpected twists and ideas you get when working with others.
Onwards and upwards, as they say!
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