Why write lyrics?

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Getting Ideas

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Getting Ideas on Paper

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Organizing and Ordering

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Stretching Lines to Fit

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Meter

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Rhyme

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Why write lyrics?

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OK, this is a big topic so I hope I can present it clearly and in an organized fashion.

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I'm going to present seperately the different aspects of writing lyrics and then try to show how they work together.

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I have not studied lyric writing in any classical sense but I have a lot of experience writing and a natural strength in language. Despite my New York upbringing, I actually have a strong command of English. If the way I speak sounds sloppy it's not from lack of knowledge but from a deliberate avant-garde approach to language in general.

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I feel that language is a tool of communication that can be greatly harnessed and advanced but I get the sense that most people think of language as a tradition, of sorts.

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There's two extremes when it comes to writing and I would like to emphasize them so you have at your disposal the widest range of lyric choices and effectiveness.

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ON THE ONE EXTREME is what I call the linear approach. You just write whatever words pop into your head. This method evokes in yourself deep emotions as you write. The writing process itself is part of the experience that you write about. Lost memories come to the surface. New ideas sprout from your subconsious.

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ON THE OTHER EXTREME is what I call the orginizational approach. You already have an idea or material that you wish to "lyricize". You divide and subdivide your subject into smaller increments and then order sections, lines, and words into finely structured segments.

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AS FAR AS MY EXPERIENCE HAS TAUGHT ME, the most efficient way to go about writing a song is to start with the first method and finish with the last method.

 

The initial stage of writing should be an outpouring of unhibited thoughts and feelings. There is no need to fear what people will think of your song at this stage because you will only incorperate into the final song the ideas that you want to.

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After you have an unorganized heap of words on your paper, you can begin to sift through and find the specific things you want in the song. Perhaps you'll find a common theme, a catchy or clever line, or a cool rhyme. Work with what you have.

 

I will explain everything I've written so far more thoroughly later on.

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METER

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This is an important aspect of writing lyrics that often gets overlooked, even by famous composers.

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Edgar Allen Poe has a poem called The Bells. If you read the poem out loud, you will hear a beat pulsing through the words. I am sure he wrote the poem in an audio sense, listening to the sounds the words make as he wrote.

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Meter has always been a central aspect of poetry and lyrics but it seems to have fallen by the wayside, with certain exceptions. Rap music is highly focused on meter and may be its strongest point. For another example of good meter, read Dr Suess books out loud.

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There's an English word "Cheville". It comes from French, where it means a peg to jam a space, or something like that. In English, it means a word inserted into a poem to make a line have a certain length and beat.

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Consider the following example:

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I need to get out

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A lyricist might consider adding a sylable to make this line follow a beat better.

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I need to get on out

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Do you hear the difference?

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(to be continued. Last updated on Nov 10, 2017)