Writing Lyrics - Do You Know What To Write About?

[MazingMaryRocks]

Hi! Got a question to you all.

 

When I write lyrics, they just come to me. Usually I have no idea what to write about, I just pick up pen and paper – and there it is! Sometimes the result amazes me when I read the finished story.

 

Do you usually have at least a clue about the story or are you like me and just get the result?

Curious to hear YOUR experience!

//MMR

[scotsman89]

Mary

for me it just seems to jump into my head , sometimes  a line just hits me or someone says something as with my mum, my mother in law is not to well my daughter said granny looks tired , the line I know you're growing tired  popped in and the rest just followed . most of my posts 99% are down in 5  minutes as you can tell when you read them . don't try to get to deep but that's me

 

john

Edited September 7, 2014 by scotsman89

[MazingMaryRocks]

Hi!

Thanks for sharing! 

One day, in the subway, someone talked in the phone and said something that got stuck on my mind. I used that line

BUT, what if you have a story in your mind, can you manage to get it out or will it take its own way?

Deep, deep question, but I am really curious

 

//MMR

[Janeva]

Hi Maria

 

Great subject  - it's always interesting to see how others work 

 

The methods I have employed over the 3 years I have been writing have been quite varied. 

 

I sometimes write lyrics 'from scratch' without music if I have sudden inspiration for a theme but usually I will listen to the music I have been sent and 'hear' words which will fit.  I often have no set ideas beforehand when I write from scratch otherwise I find this restrictive.

 

I always tend to chat with the musician first and ask what he wants to sing about - usually I ask for an overall theme and work from that.

 

Occasionally I have worked with translations into English but have been required to change phrases because direct translations rarely work in a lyrical form.  

 

I have been very lucky in that most of the lyrics I have written over the past 3 years have been turned into songs.  It's an incredible thing to receive an mp3 with a completed song.  One of my favourite lyricists, Chris Difford (also a musician, although I am not)  describes receiving finished songs from his bandmate, Glenn Tilbrook,  as like receiving his Christmas presents - and I can definitely relate to that 

 

Jan

[LooknGlass]

I usually get inspiration from a line that pops in my head, or a title, and then I'm suddenly off to the races, and figure out the story or subject by the second verse. There are few lyrics where I knew where I wanted to go, from start to finish, but I usually start like you do, having no idea at first. They seem to come easier that way - for me at least.

[scotsman89]

normally  the story if there is one tells itself as I write once there is a line ie  the love train , I start writing and it just comes out , sometimes I write and it just vanishes I am sure we all have lines or verses that are really good but nothing to go with them

 

john

[FearOblivion26]

Hi maria

I cant sit down and write lyrics off the top of my head they always hit me when im just walking around or doing nothing and i have to run to get it on paper because if i try to remember what i said it crumbles and i will be left staring at a blank page

[MazingMaryRocks]

I just leave my word processor program open overnight and hope that when I check it in the morning I discover lyric elves visited while I was sleeping.

Thanks for sharing! You are one lucky guy having those musical elves around. Hrm...

[Just1L]

Example: on one of the songs I shared on the song/recording critique board... the first line 'you dropped the bomb' just popped into my head.  I had no idea it was going to be a song about getting dumped based off of that one line, but that's where it went.

 

 

I'm also finding as I get older I can't write about things I can't relate to.   I'm no longer an angst ridden emotional young'n, so I can't lament like I used to, unless it's about paying the mortgage and mowing the lawn.  

 

Larry

 

 

The first thing I have to say is move to the Semi-United States. That'll fill your angst cup up like nobody's business. I've toiled with all the things you ask about so the second thing I'lll say is great question. 

 

I've used both methods. I find it a lot easier to just write lyrics without music in mind. The problem I seem to had then is it tends to stifle my creativity a bit when I do that because I normally would pick some sort of standard song format and then go to town with the lyrics. Plus, I already know what the song is about which in a way takes the fun out of it. As far as creativity goes, the music suffers a little when I do that route. Plus, in the end, normally I don't feel as satisfied with the song as I do when using my other method.

 

My other method is following the lead of a guitar riff I came up with, a melody in my head or a few good lines of lyrics that has a melody attached. I have a story similar to your "dropped a bomb" line. I had a keyboard riff I was messing around with and  I came up with a few lines of lyrics that on the outset, appeared to state what the song would be about. Here's the example.

 

So I guess I should say off with your head.

But no I think I'll just forgive you instead.

 

For at least a month or two, I had those lines, with a melody, in my head and as I mentally added lines to it, it was always about a man/woman relationship. When I finally got to the computer to record music for it and fit it in, something changed. I ended up making it about an old dog I used to have. Had I set out to write a song about relationships, that's what I would have ended up with and I find the dog version to be more creative and in the end, more satisfying to make.

 

Both methods can work without a doubt. I guess it's more of a personal decision on what you like to do. For me, I like to start with a more or less blank slate and follow where the music takes me.

 

As far as writing for others vs. for yourself I agree. In fact I made a status comment about that exact thing a month or two ago. What I realized is, you have to write about what you know, what you feel and what you've experienced or more than likely, it could come off as sounding contrived and lack sincerity. I think when you write about what you know there is a better chance for those magical lines that others may not have written to come out because it happened to you, and you know it to be a fact. That being said, musicians do it all the time and I'm guessing some have great success with it. Again, to me it's about personal choice. In the end I cross my fingers and hope people can relate to what I'm saying. I know for a fact I have songs that people cannot relate to. I don't see a reason not to have both types as long as they're done with equal determination, creativity and you give the same amount of attention to all the details. 

 

Good luck with what you're doing and regardless of anything, don't let yourself get tied up worrying about whether or not you're doing it the right way. If every song you write is a struggle to find a topic others like and a struggle to relate to what you are writing, you'll end up an unhappy songwriter. And that shouldn't be what music and songwriting is about. On the other hand, being an unhappy songwriter will definitely give you at least one good song and topic to write about.

 

Randy

Edited September 12, 2014 by Just1L

[scotsman89]

Randy and everyone  who writes for fun or because it is a job can anyone say they are happy with the words ? don't we all look after a while and think I should have used this line or that word would have given it a better feeling - meaning or just a better flow . know I do all the time . sometimes I repost because I think it is better with the added stuff PO

 

 

john

[jamestoffee]

I often start with the lyrics.....

 

Once I have an idea, I can get to finishing the song....

 

Until I have I idea, I have a routine that I follow until I find the idea to write about.

 

I often start with a title then ask a lot of questions about that title.  

 

For example: 

What does the title mean literally?

What does the title mean figuratively?

 

Asking the W questions:

     Who is saying this title and to whom?

     Why are they saying it?

     Where are they saying it? 

     When in the day, calendar year, when in the relationship (beginning middle end)?.....etc

 

If no ideas came, I find rhymes for each word in the title (Pat Pattison's idea)....this not only gives me rhymes, but also sparks ideas of what the song can be about.

 

If no ideas came, I'll Google some quotes or jokes about what topic might fit the title.

 

If no ideas came, I sleep on it and see what my first thoughts are in the morning.....I'm no longer surprised when I get the idea during a morning shower. 

 

Usually by this point and idea has come.....but.....

 

If no ideas came, I'll take a musical approach......I'll sing the title 3 times as the chorus to see how the words fit.

 

If I like the chords, I'll think of the tension chord I want going into the chorus

 

Then I'll think of the verse chords that contrast the chorus

 

 

If an idea still doesn't come, I will start writing a first line and then keep asking, "And then what.....and then what,,,, and then what"

 

I write a song a week.  (and have been doing so for the past 6 years)

 

By committing a week to an idea, an idea almost always gets made into a song.

 

 

Once I finish the song of the week, I spend the rest of the time reading or doing something regarding songwriting to keep learning.

 

Having developed a routine helps me make the most of my waiting time until I get that idea.

 

Here is a link where I post my song-of-the- week:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=896900&content=music

Edited November 2, 2014 by jamestoffee

[Savannah]

I just leave my word processor program open overnight and hope that when I check it in the morning I discover lyric elves visited while I was sleeping.

I totally used to do that! But all I found were weird, dirty elf Web sites in my history.

[wtf audio]

i usually write my songs while at work, doing the tasks that are mundane and time consuming i have an idea of story but it usually depends on the melody i am singing , i have no idea how i get it to be a song it just seems to happen or not.

[MikeRobinson]

"The moment of inspiration" is a precious moment ... but it is only "the beginning."

 

"When the magical moment happens," I say: "don't question it ... capture it."  But at the same time, fully realize that "the thing that you have captured" is not necessarily finished.  You don't have to "know what to write about" in order to write, and you don't certainly need to dismiss what you have witten merely because it does not make sense to you now.  Capture it.  You can ask questions later.

 

"Inspiration," after all, necessarily leads to:  "perspiration!"  No matter what you initially come up with, "it isn't final."  Don't expect it to be.  Don't require it to be.  Instead, dive-in to the production of drafts.  One after another after another ... and keep them all.

 

Eventually, you will decide to stop, given the "final" version that you decide to call "final."  (Having very-carefully kept all of the 'other' ones for possible future use ...)  The good news is that Hard Rock Café will only want "your napkin."  After all, the popular assumption is that all mega-hit songs are hastily written-out in longhand on a nearby napkin.   

[Savannah]

Whoa. Are you sponsored by quotation marks?

[EJB]

I totally used to do that! But all I found were weird, dirty elf Web sites in my history.

OOOOps forgot to clear history before I left.

SooooooRY

[EJB]

On a serious note I'm not much of a story teller so most of my lyrics just come to me.

usually when I go to bed and as I am fallling asleep or I will wake up in the middle of the night.

Ocasionally I will wake up in the morning with a Melody and Hook running through my mind.

I also will go for a long drive while trying to refine or rewrite Lyrics. It really works well for me.

 

Great Topic BTW,

EJB