Cut-Ups

[john]

Hey

Ok, hands up... who among you has tried to use cut-ups?

Not sure what it is and wondering if you have tried it? A cut-up is effectively a word montage used to seek inspiration. It was quite popular in the 60s as a way of getting inspiration for a lyric (think Bowie's Moonage Daydream).

basically you take 2 or 3 pieces of writing.. any writing including your own old works, classics, news items etc. copy them onto paper, chop it into individual words, toss them in a box/hat/bag and start pulling them out one at a time and trying to assemble phrases. these phrases can be non-sensical, strange, but these are the seeds of the song... arranged and then reworked for grammar etc.

the whole idea is to generate ideas. Some of the lines can be very quirky or strange. How you use the phrases is entirely up to you.

It's a technique I've read of but never really attempted to use in any kind of serious way, just for learning and understanding.

has anyone used this to create a finished song?

Anyone fancy trying it and posting the results? I feel a thread coming on lol

Cheers

John

[ShawnDavid]

I've done a lot of weird things in the persuit of inspiration, but I've never tried this. I'll give it a whirl and see what shakes.

[McnaughtonPark]

I've babbled blubbering blunderbuss before but never cut - up.

Never heard of this technique.

Did you try it?

[john]

I'll bet you managed all 3 in one afternoon!

[john]

In addition to Bowie, I believe the technique is also used by Bjork and Thom Yorke from Radiohead

[john]

MP, Tunesmith, are you going to try it?

Hope to see some results posted soon!

[McnaughtonPark]

I think I might. I think it would be useful, espescially when focused on a particular subject. Using words reserved for agriculture could help write a song about the plight of raising crops during a drought, for instance.

This tecnique could be useful for writing jingles. Just for kicks, I think I might go this direction and see how it turns out.

[john]

MP, did you ever get around to trying this?