I have plenty

dogooder

Well-known member
of instrumentals but it seems I keep writing the same lyrics over and over in a sense. I usually write the music first and let it dictate the lyrical content. I haven't worked to hard at it lately though. About to retire soon and can put in a little more effort. What you put in is what you get out I guess.
 
I usually write the music first and let it dictate the lyrical content
While I concede that sometimes a piece of music is just crying out for a certain range of subject matter, I've never been of the view as a songwriter that a particular topic has to have a certain style of music to go with it. Any words can go with any music. A triumphant orchestral piece can be the backdrop of a song about a killer disease wiping out a tribe and a piece of heavy metal can serve as the music in which the lyricist is declaring their love for their children or humanity and a soulful ballad can house lyrics in which one shows their anger for the police or a miscarriage of justice or.....
You get the picture !
 
Agreed, Grim.

While you wouldn't probably write lyrics about the death of your best friend to a "poppy", all major chord, fast paced song, there are probably cases where its been done.

It might be valuable for the OP to write down a half dozen topics, and try writing lyrics from that perspective. Going out to a party, meeting an old girl friend, walking through the park on a cool sunny morning. Sometimes words just come together because your mind is in a certain space. Sometimes you just need to have a trigger. Sometimes you have to work at it.
 
While you wouldn't probably write lyrics about the death of your best friend to a "poppy", all major chord, fast paced song....
I wouldn't put it past me ! :D

I have lots of tunes w/lyrics, just never write them before the music.
Well, I would say that throughout my songwriting life, I've been largely the same. I have hundreds of pieces of music that may grow up and become a song one day and I have loads of lyrics, fragments of lyrics, lines & phrases etc that may one day get married to some of those pieces of music.
But it has been a relatively rare thing for me, when jotting down lyrics, to actually have a tune in mind. Up until a few years ago, I could only think of one or two songs in which the music and the words came simultaneously. Since around 2010 it has been more of a thing with me but is still quite rare. Tunes come, I hum them into my dictaphone and most of the time, it's later that I'll look to see what I have in terms of lyrics. Or I might just knock them off while I'm in the bath reading. Sometimes, I'll fit something specifically to the rhythm of the tune, regardless of what it may be about {half the time I don't even know what my songs are 'about' until afterwards}. I'm not at all poetic so I use the music as clothing for the vocals or the vocals as a hat for the music.
 
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