How do you put your thoughts into lyrics?
- Thread starter LouThang
- Start date
Serendipity Records
Well-known member
Hey there @LouThang, and welcome to HR!
Answers to this question vary a lot from person to person. My most recent songwriting effort had me write music that expressed what I was feeling and then add relatable lyrics to the music. Writing rhymes, getting the flow just right with the music, etc., just takes a lot of practice. Try these tips:
1) I would recommend writing some silly rhymes and perfecting them little by little. It might end up as a rhyme that would end you in jail if you were to release it, but who knows?
2) When you're writing an actual song, do not discard any ideas, jot them down somewhere.
i) Write a lot of rhymes about the same subject, and mix&match them to form a coherent song.
ii) Keep a file of all your unused material. I do this, and honestly, I would be too ashamed to show it to anyone
But who knows when something there might come in handy?3) Make it a habit to play with words. Now this can get a bit compulsive, but as soon as you hear two words rhyme in a unique way, or notice a double-entendre, make a note of it.
4) DO NOT use AI or internet resources, and be careful with Thesauruses. All of these will kill your creativity, and if you are in the least interested in coming up with lyrics that you feel and that an audience of any kind can relate to, then it has to come from your brain. So put that grey matter to work!
Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.
TAE
All you have is now
Writing lyrics is similar to writing poems but with lyrics they don't ALWAYS have to rhyme...But generally they do
Start with something that is important to you be it political or Love or whatever a pretty moon oh yeah and Catchy lines... Let's go with catchy lines for an example.
So I was taking an uber last month and the driver was telling me her experiences as a uber driver choosing to work the bars closing time shift. Like Midnight to 4 AM
She said everyone had a story..... it was either a hook up, break up and make up
I told her damn that sounds like a line to a country song
So lets take this and run with it.
Hook ups , breakups and make ups
I see em every night
I am an uber driver
and it's a terrible sight
People trying to fill the hole
that's missing in their life
I'm sure glad I got lucky
And found me the perfect wife
She never screams She never cries
Keeps the house and all the clothes clean
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
She makes with a smiling glean
And when it's time to be satisfied
In the carnal ways I desire
She's right there to let me down
And put out that fire
She says she's got a headache
She says she's tired and sore
She's say's that she is sorry
As I'm walking out the door
I'm an Uber driver
And you'll find me out at night
Driving Hookups, Break ups and Makeups
That's my story of my life
So I just sat there and made shit up over the last 5 minutes inputting the facts, exaggerating, lying and making a fun joke of it all.
Some people have the ability to do this some don't and no matter which you are like with anything the more you practice the better you get....
I've been practicing for 50+ years and I still can't get it...but I'll be damned if I don't keep trying
Start with something that is important to you be it political or Love or whatever a pretty moon oh yeah and Catchy lines... Let's go with catchy lines for an example.
So I was taking an uber last month and the driver was telling me her experiences as a uber driver choosing to work the bars closing time shift. Like Midnight to 4 AM
She said everyone had a story..... it was either a hook up, break up and make up
I told her damn that sounds like a line to a country song
So lets take this and run with it.
Hook ups , breakups and make ups
I see em every night
I am an uber driver
and it's a terrible sight
People trying to fill the hole
that's missing in their life
I'm sure glad I got lucky
And found me the perfect wife
She never screams She never cries
Keeps the house and all the clothes clean
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
She makes with a smiling glean
And when it's time to be satisfied
In the carnal ways I desire
She's right there to let me down
And put out that fire
She says she's got a headache
She says she's tired and sore
She's say's that she is sorry
As I'm walking out the door
I'm an Uber driver
And you'll find me out at night
Driving Hookups, Break ups and Makeups
That's my story of my life
So I just sat there and made shit up over the last 5 minutes inputting the facts, exaggerating, lying and making a fun joke of it all.
Some people have the ability to do this some don't and no matter which you are like with anything the more you practice the better you get....
I've been practicing for 50+ years and I still can't get it...but I'll be damned if I don't keep trying
TAE
All you have is now
Hey there @LouThang, and welcome to HR!
Answers to this question vary a lot from person to person. My most recent songwriting effort had me write music that expressed what I was feeling and then add relatable lyrics to the music. Writing rhymes, getting the flow just right with the music, etc., just takes a lot of practice. Try these tips:
1) I would recommend writing some silly rhymes and perfecting them little by little. It might end up as a rhyme that would end you in jail if you were to release it, but who knows?
2) When you're writing an actual song, do not discard any ideas, jot them down somewhere.
i) Write a lot of rhymes about the same subject, and mix&match them to form a coherent song.
ii) Keep a file of all your unused material. I do this, and honestly, I would be too ashamed to show it to anyone
3) Make it a habit to play with words. Now this can get a bit compulsive, but as soon as you hear two words rhyme in a unique way, or notice a double-entendre, make a note of it.
4) DO NOT use AI or internet resources, and be careful with Thesauruses. All of these will kill your creativity, and if you are in the least interested in coming up with lyrics that you feel and that an audience of any kind can relate to, then it has to come from your brain. So put that grey matter to work!
Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.
Great tips Sir Serendipity!
TAE
All you have is now
Studying the way McCartney and Lennon wrote songs is a good exercise.
If you can find them the old basement tapes where you hear the birth of a song and the lyrics are totally different than what the end result is...it's a process and there are many roads that lead to Rome.
If you can find them the old basement tapes where you hear the birth of a song and the lyrics are totally different than what the end result is...it's a process and there are many roads that lead to Rome.
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
Long before I discovered Bob Dylan's 2 1965 albums, I had been liberated in the area of lyric writing......by just writing anything. I didn't consider myself any good at lyrics, so I gave up on trying to be deep and meaningful. And discovered that deep and meaningful is easy and so is lyric writing that appears to go nowhere, but still fits.
Although I do it much more now than I used to, most of the time, my lyrics are not written with any music or meter in mind. Sometimes, when I decide which lyric is going with which music, I'll find that they don't scan well or at all. So I get violent and force those words into the melody. On occasion, I'll admit defeat and have to re-do a line or take it out altogether. But you know, when my force-fed lyrics are sung and become part of the repeated listening experience, they don't sound out of place and odd.
I'm of the opinion that in essence, it really doesn't matter what the lyrics are as long as the song is good. If someone in Rubovia is listening, they aren't likely to know what you're going on about anyway. So just write whatever comes into your head. As you become more practiced, you'll find you're making sense naturally. Start small.
Then go and listen to those two Dylan albums, "Bringing it all back home" and "Highway 61 revisited." Even if you hate the songs and don't think much of the music, just listen to the actual lyrics. Some of them are standard 1965 relationship, boy-girl fare, albeit with a twist. But there's a number of them that are off the charts for the time, they go all over the galaxy and back to beyond and then a mile or two from there. Some of them are so simple and basic.
Writers have freedom in lyric writing today because of him and those two albums.
Although I do it much more now than I used to, most of the time, my lyrics are not written with any music or meter in mind. Sometimes, when I decide which lyric is going with which music, I'll find that they don't scan well or at all. So I get violent and force those words into the melody. On occasion, I'll admit defeat and have to re-do a line or take it out altogether. But you know, when my force-fed lyrics are sung and become part of the repeated listening experience, they don't sound out of place and odd.
I'm of the opinion that in essence, it really doesn't matter what the lyrics are as long as the song is good. If someone in Rubovia is listening, they aren't likely to know what you're going on about anyway. So just write whatever comes into your head. As you become more practiced, you'll find you're making sense naturally. Start small.
Then go and listen to those two Dylan albums, "Bringing it all back home" and "Highway 61 revisited." Even if you hate the songs and don't think much of the music, just listen to the actual lyrics. Some of them are standard 1965 relationship, boy-girl fare, albeit with a twist. But there's a number of them that are off the charts for the time, they go all over the galaxy and back to beyond and then a mile or two from there. Some of them are so simple and basic.
Writers have freedom in lyric writing today because of him and those two albums.
Thank you so much for not only welcoming me but also giving me some tips that I feel are helpful. I am having a hard time taking all of my lines and them together that makes sense.Hey there @LouThang, and welcome to HR!
Answers to this question vary a lot from person to person. My most recent songwriting effort had me write music that expressed what I was feeling and then add relatable lyrics to the music. Writing rhymes, getting the flow just right with the music, etc., just takes a lot of practice. Try these tips:
1) I would recommend writing some silly rhymes and perfecting them little by little. It might end up as a rhyme that would end you in jail if you were to release it, but who knows?
2) When you're writing an actual song, do not discard any ideas, jot them down somewhere.
i) Write a lot of rhymes about the same subject, and mix&match them to form a coherent song.
ii) Keep a file of all your unused material. I do this, and honestly, I would be too ashamed to show it to anyone
3) Make it a habit to play with words. Now this can get a bit compulsive, but as soon as you hear two words rhyme in a unique way, or notice a double-entendre, make a note of it.
4) DO NOT use AI or internet resources, and be careful with Thesauruses. All of these will kill your creativity, and if you are in the least interested in coming up with lyrics that you feel and that an audience of any kind can relate to, then it has to come from your brain. So put that grey matter to work!
Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.
Papanate
Well-known member
Tranfer your 'crap ton of ideas' to paper - write them down - don't worry about the words - then edit - and edit - and edit - and edit.
Thanks! I use my phone so much that good old pen and paper are foreign.
Thanks, I will check them out!
Serendipity Records
Well-known member
Well, then use your phone. Modern technology is comfortably flexible but uncomfortably uninspiring.
TAE
All you have is now
This is interesting.... It's been a long time since I put words on paper but in looking back at my older work some look like this. It shows the history / evolution of the song.
In the digital world all those other possible ideas are gone with the click of a mouse off into the trash can of digital ink...I hate wasting digital ink.
A John Lennon effort below
PorterhouseMusic
Mitakuye Oyasin
I posted about this recently - sharing my opinion that there are no short cuts to good lyric writing. I struggle with it. But I have found that doing it is the only to improve. You have to work at it.
spantini
COO of me, inc.
This may be peculiar to me, but one reason I prefer to write them out on paper is. . . as I'm writing, I'm simultaneously trying to arrange phrases in my head that will play off each other - catchy stuff. I've tried recording on my phone but the sound of my voice filling my head interferes with the other processes - the simultaneous phrasing arrangements I mentioned earlier. Like when you put your fingers in your ears and hum to block out what someone's saying. Weird, but true 
That's me.
That's me.
TAE
All you have is now
To some it comes so easy...to others they have to work long and hard.... McCartney sometimes punched one out in 5 minutes...Same with the Edge....
One team that I have always sat in awe about is the Bernie Taupin / Elton magic Bernie would write these lyrics with no musical idea about them and Elton would turn them into gold...the magical songwriting process..as previously stated....many roads lead to Rome
markmann
Active member
Hi LouThang, Well you are one step ahead of me because I do not have good ideas for lyrics and writing lyrics does not come easy for me. That said I have written many songs over the years so I always manage to get it done and pleased with the final result.
One question I have is, do you have music or a melody to work with or will you be adding music later?
I ask this because I write the music first and then write lyrics to mate with the music. In my case I will sing gibberish along with the music in order to establish the vocal melody and the amount of syllables I have to work with for each line. Once I know that I start to replace the gibberish with words and that's when the ideas for a topic come to me. I will write many lines for the verses and chorus and then narrow them down to the ones that I like most and then I word smith those until I have what I want. This entire process usually takes me between three and five days to complete. I use MS Word on my PC that allows me to cut and paste which saves time and then I print the sheet that I use when I record.
FYI, writing many songs has not made the process of lyric writing any easier for me at all but I will say that my lyrics are more creative the more I do it.
Thank you, for the advice. So I wrote a bunch of lyrics out in just random order and I've been trying to figure out what order they should go in. So, I guess I might need to start thinking about the melody and music in order to find my rhythm with my lyrics.
Thank you!
I've tried recording myself recently and the sound of my voice over the music was so...smh yea, I have to just keep at it.This may be peculiar to me, but one reason I prefer to write them out on paper is. . . as I'm writing, I'm simultaneously trying to arrange phrases in my head that will play off each other - catchy stuff. I've tried recording on my phone but the sound of my voice filling my head interferes with the other processes - the simultaneous phrasing arrangements I mentioned earlier. Like when you put your fingers in your ears and hum to block out what someone's saying. Weird, but true