Just wondering... which comes first the music or the lyrics?

See this thread started in 2001, it's on page 3 it comes back every so often to page 1.

It pretty well says it all and of course says nothing conclusive, which is how it should be. Ultimately read the various approaches and work out what works best for you to get the job done when the job needs doing.

Burt
 
I'm no poet but I love words and playing with them. Even when I first started trying to write songs as a teenager, I tended to veer away from what I would call 'standard themes'. When I was 'in lurrrrve', I just couldn't force myself to write love songs. When I got politically savvy, I couldn't write standard protest or smart observational. When I became a christian, I tried to write 'acceptable' stuff but writing to order is something I just can't do. So I just write whatever comes into my head and once I start, most of the lyric will come. A lyric about my kids or school or some aspect of a faith in God or working life or death or funerals or bitterness.......it's all valid if the music and overall sound is good. At some point I know I'll have to finish them up and maybe flesh them out or drop segments.
When I write a lyric 95% of the time there's no structure, that is, I'm not writing to an already existing tune or melody. I have loads of lyrics lying about. They're not poetic, in my mind. Some are humourous, some serious, some backward looking, some are stories, some are present day observations, some are cryptic utterances.
Similarly, I always have pieces of music lying about. I'm not a skilled player at anything really, but I can turn my hand in a rather average way to a few instruments so there's always music being created. Sometimes I have to consciously not write. It feels like I'll never get all my snippets recorded. I like putting different segments together to make a piece and once I've put music together, or at least an outline, I'll check the assorted bits of paper I have with words written and something will always eventually fit. It's not an unusual occurrence for lyrics to be given no choice but to fit with the music ! :D
So in the end, neither comes first. Except in very rare circumstances when music and words have actually come together (or at least snippets have), both initially find their way into this world as separate entities.
 
Luckily there are no rules, whatever you find inpiration in is the right way. Carry a small digital recorder with you and if a melody pops in your head somewhere, hum a few bars- then play with it when you get home. If a cool phrase or lyrics come to you jot it down. Then you can use these fragments to build the bigger picture.
 
CoolMusicNotes said:
If you’re planning an original musical composition, which comes first into your mind, the lyrics or the music?
Click to expand...

usually when i write a song i have a basic beat in my head for what i want it to sound like so i usually try to get some lyrics down first... at least one verse.. a chorus and a bridge... then i try and come up with and acoustic guitar track to go with it (of course this will vary depending on what you play)

then as im getting a rhythm down i can mess with the words and stuff to make it sound better and smoother...

hope this helped :)
 
Not to be contrary, but can I answer "at the same time"?

I generally am strumming randomly, accidentally fall upon something that sounds vaguely interesting and cycle around that for a while whilst throwing words around in my head that attempt to encapsulate the fullness of the human experience in rhyming couplets... :laughings: and then I realise that really all I have is a verse and some cute (I hope) words... and I need more than that it sort of grows that way...

So it's not exactly at the same time, but rarely is there much of a gap between the two of any significance.. and sometimes it starts one way and sometimes the other..

Clear as...
 
I think there are not only different kinds of songs and ways of writing them, there are different types of writers. What Armistice shared represents a great strand of writer, the one for whom there is no 'compositional division', for whom everything comes together at once. That's only happened to me a few times. But the interesting thing is that those ones were among the easiest for me to write. And I really had to move on the fly and not think too consciously.
 
It used to be that I'd come up with a catchy title, form the lyrics around that and then (attempt) to have the music tell the tale as well.

Anymore....meh.
Could be lyrics, could be music. I seem to be about 50/50. In fact, my sig is gonna be the title of a new tune I'm workin on...Belt Loop Mistletoe...:D that started with a drum practice session.
 
grimtraveller said:
But the interesting thing is that those ones were among the easiest for me to write. And I really had to move on the fly and not think too consciously.
Click to expand...

Exactly!

I mean it doesn't happen to me all the time either, but quite often when it does I have the song really quickly.

Obviously there's later editing and massaging, but the core's done quite quickly...

The other interesting thing is that when this does happen to me and people ask, upon hearing the toon, where did you get that (lyrical) idea from, I have to say, I have absolutely no idea... it just popped into my head at the time..

ie. it wasn't something I've had mulling around for a while that I thought I needed to put to music... it just appeared.

Weird.

Mind you, seeing all my songs sound like Bohemian Rhapsody it is happening more frequently... :D
 
Is this the real life ? :laughings:Or is it just fantasy ? Are you caught in a landslide with no escape from reality ?







































I thought so ! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top