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There are SO many different styles of lyrics (one being none at all, lol) and equally many, if not MORE so styles of WRITING lyrics...
(I cant seem to competently do ANY of them *big dramatic sigh*... but, I digress... LMAO)
For a LONG time duran duran's "hold back the rain" intrigued me. I LIKED the lyrics and the song, the melody and lyrics fit so well together. But it all seemed so nonsense jumbled. ONE phrase I eventually learned what it meant... they say at one point about "when I ride the outside rail, (hold back the raii-nnnnnnn...)
A decade later, a friend and I worked on motorcycle a lot, and rode them. he was the much better racer, on dirt or street. He was explaining "tradecraft" to me about street racing, which was what I liked, I hate racing in the dirt. he explained that it was a beginners instruction to always cut to the inside to pass, because you are making the circle shorter, and you can pass a vehicle on the outyside of the curve thats actually traveling a longer distance... and when running alone, you always cut to the insides of the turns, you can GO faster...
BUT, when road racing... you pass or attempt to pass on the insides on theopther guy, several times... THEN, in a reverse turn... you siddenly open up and pass on the OUTSIDE, which sets you up for the inside of the NEXT turn you are already going faster into... then you HIT that straightaway, adn continue to "ride that outside rail".
They keep cutting you off passing on the inside, and anticipate it... then WHAM! you get them to the outside, which is actually the inside (where you WANT to be) on the NEXT turn... then you "ride the out-side rail..."
which for THAT line at least, had to be where it came from., what it meant, if even metaphorically.
For all their "nonsense" lyrics, they must have been damn good... as I spent the better part of a DECADE mulling that cool line over in my head, LMAO
"Gecko" alwats maintains that you cant just DUMP the meaning onto the listener... you cant just say "she's getting mad". No, being artistic with it, if that is the whole POINT of the song... he would reccomend, uhm... something like...
"Clouds are coming, in her eyes, strokes of lightning, no surprise..."
(actually, i WANTED to use the old song "Sara", which sais it "sara ... sara.. storms are brewing in your eyes..."
BUT, I wantd to see if I could do it myself *shrugs* I CANT, but... LMAO
you get the idea... geck al;ways repeats the mantra that you lyricise the IMAGE, and not exactly what you want to say. makr the listener WORK a little bit (not TOO much, lol) to see what you really mean.
If your a real wordsmith, you might say something 3 times as a chorus... seems to have ONE meaning... then BAM! at the end, there was a PUN that suddenly surprises you and changes the whole meaning. You were FOOLED.
Which might be termed "riding the outside rail" lyrically, LMAO.
Writers in print have stock and trade weapons. Repetition is one. Foreshadowing is another. the double meaning, or pun... the surprise. The false climax.. the real climax... hyperbole (overstating something for a point) is "I walked a million miles", you didnt really, but it makes a point.
the metaphor I am fond of. "You have 2 ways to go about this... one, soars like an eagle.. the other? Crawls on the ground, like a snake in the grass!"
For most popular music styles, you must rhyme. You must have "meter". BUT... you here and there have to NOT rhyme when you expected it, and BREAK meter... or else, it sounds like bad poetry instead of song lyrics.
Unless your one of those "deep" folk songwriters, who seem to get away with just idly strumming soft chords on their little guitar on their little stool, softly whispering lyrics, almost talking them...
EXCEPT, if your writing a musical? Every line MUST rhyme, a perfect rhyme too... in very regular strict metering. *shrugs* its the genre.
In general, your main verbal "hook" which often names the song, and is the most repeated phrase... should "go with" the main melody, or musical hook. I think this is why many start with a melody and then devise the main verbal hook from it, to guarantee it "goes" together perfectly... the rest is then crafted slowly around that.
You LEARN rules and rules of thumb, to get used to doing it... then to be really good, you have to break some rule or rules, to be "daring" and "fresh".
do whatever you want really... whatever starts to "work" for you, and people start to respond to, even a little... you GO with that...
The audience is really in charge, not you. In a way, anyways.
ONE technique, is to write a patriotic song, just after a war starts. THATS a sure fire crowd pleaser, they all RUSH to jump on THAT one. The first few are rewarded, and thought clever... but really, you can set your watch by it. I'm 41... I KNEW the songs were coming when I saw the war on the news, LMAO. I called it...
ANOTHER technique, is to say something outlandish, toitally opposite of whats normal thought. Some like the daring idea, the balls! Some HATE it, they compain endlesly! BUT, everyone is talking about YOUR song, eh? "controversy" is the best free advertising you can get!
The field of putting words on paper is WIDE open... play and handle all the various weapons, see which ones fit your pen hand best! Humor, sarcasm, blunt for4ce trauma repetition, sideways puns and double entendres... see hat you like, and what of those work for you...
ME? I just concentrate on composing classical music. I try to do ONE very specific thing, as well as I can aspire to learn to.
GREAT deep lyrics, with a predictable 3 chord soft struming works fo many, so-so lyrics but really WELL sung by a great singer can make a song great too...
How about THIS... maybe your "perfect" 3 lines are the hook and melody, just perfect... the other guy you collaborate can run with it and flesh it out... the singer is there to trim it up here and there, for how they deliver it... a group effort, a good one where the final result is somethign more than just the simple sum of the parts...
