On demand writing

[Rokket]

I tried to see if I could write an emotional love song about no one in particular. So I sat down and just let the words flow. I've made no changes to this, and the subject of the song doesn't exist, at least not to me.

I think there is a lot of emotion behind it.

What do you think?

Oh, Juliet

Paint a picture in my mind
Of a summer day, not so long ago
Oh, when I held you, oh so tight
Swore to you I'd never let you go

I still feel the warmth of your tender lips
Your perfume lingers on my skin
And I'm lost without you in the afterglow
Without you here, I don't know who I am

Oh Juliet
You know you'll always be the one
Oh Juliet
My heart is with you, baby, even when I'm gone
And as the sun sets on your pretty face
I hope your love will stay the course
Oh Juliet, my love, forever I am yours

As I watched you there in front of me
I knew right then I needed you
But time and space had stood in the way
I had to wait to be with you

I can't live my life without you, girl
I never want to be what could have been
I feel like a child when I'm with you
And dream of the day that it won't end

Has anyone else ever tried to write a song just because? I know professionals do this sort of thing all the time. I never thought I could compose something without really feeling the emotion I am trying to convey.

Did I succeed?

 

[Whatmysay]

This is great ‘free writing’; it could be the start for a couple of songs.
It is a little mixed in its current state. Is it about . . .
Love lost?
Love never quite realised?
Love to be realised?
Younger love remembered and you are reminding Juliet how it used to be?
The sunset and feeling its warmth years after, is evocative imagery and you could develop this further with richer description – see it as a movie.
I really like the 1st 2 Vs and once you are crystal clear what the song is about and develop a tighter Ch then a 3rd and 4th Vs and perhaps a bridge will fall into place.
While you said you had no one in mind what were you thinking about when you started to write, a movie, a story? Can you return to that source and build the narrative further for the Vs, once you get a hooky Ch.
Great start and well worth the exercising your craft – I think you succeeded; some great ideas going on.

 

[dintymoore]

I don't try to write songs, when I do they come out contrived.

 

[cashcohen]

I tried to see if I could write an emotional love song about no one in particular.

Well, considering the mammoth task you undertook, I'd say the result isn't half-bad.

But I find that if lyrics don't have an specific emotional source, they tend to come off as dry, pretentious, and filled with cliches: "you paint a picture in my mind", "I swore I'd never let you go", "tender lips", "you'll always be the one", "pretty face", "can't live without you" jump off the page as too generalized. How can you get inspired if nothing inspires you? You need an object of desire. A specific object.

So, think of a hot girl you know. And get to writin'.

 

[grimtraveller]

I don't try to write songs, when I do they come out contrived.

But I find that if lyrics don't have an specific emotional source, they tend to come off as dry, pretentious, and filled with cliches:

How can you get inspired if nothing inspires you? You need an object of desire. A specific object.

exercising your craft

I think that songwriting is nothing but a craft, a craft that gets honed with time, excercise, practice and regularity. A craft that can go up or down. That can produce wonderful songs that many love or tripe that few can get into. After all, one person's classic is another person's nightmare.
I understand the first two points well, they're kind of extensions of one another. I find, however, that what I might think of as contrived may actually be truly heartfelt by someone else. And what I think may be deep and inspired may actually be 'writing by numbers'. And both are valid. Why ? Because songwriting is a craft, not just something you do when the mood takes you. They commission writers to come up with songs for movies. The original basis for much early pop writing were these publishing houses in the US of A with the UK following suit. People just "wrote songs". That's what they were expected to do. They delivered. Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards, Holland, Dozier and Holland, Rodgers and Hammerstein and zillions of other partnerships would sit down specifically to write songs. In some ways it can be a pretty clinical process. Other times an idea just pops into the head and away you go, there's no stopping you. Songs are written in so many different ways. It's an art. It's a craft.

 

[Rokket]

All good points, and this was just an exercise. It's the first writing I've done in a couple years. I was going to write something for my wife, but since we have been apart so much, there isn't much there beyond complaining about being gone, and it would have shown up in the writing. So I picked an event:

Guy in a bar sees a girl, they have one really incredible night together and promise to keep in touch. That fails, and he is now trying to tell her that it meant more to him than a one-night fling.

Mostly...

I intend to rewrite this and get rid of the cliches. This was a first draft, and by no means ready for the studio.

Thanks for the thoughts. If I don't lose interest in it, I'll post a rewrite when it happens.

 

[Rokket]

And one more note on cliches in love songs - they are ALL full of them. There are just so many ways to say "hugs and kisses on all your pink parts"... and the point was made that it may bring up a memory or two for someone and they can find an attachment to the song.

Or it could just be really lousy writing...

 

[Villain S Deeds]

Pretty good considering you already admitted how forced it is. When I write lyrics, my tendency is to focus on whatever feeling I want to convey and just write down everything that comes to mine. Later on I find a way to fit the various ideas together like a jigsaw puzzle.

 

[dintymoore]

... Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards, Holland, Dozier and Holland, Rodgers and Hammerstein and zillions of other partnerships would sit down specifically to write songs...

I think with creative people like that, they are always having inspirations while they drive their car or take a shower. They probably have thousands of ideas stored in their minds. So by the time they get to sit down at a designated "writing session" they bring a whole bunch of ideas that could turn into songs.

For me the songs come in a flash, the craftsmanship is how you finish them.

 

[Rokket]

I think with creative people like that, they are always having inspirations while they drive their car or take a shower. They probably have thousands of ideas stored in their minds. So by the time they get to sit down at a designated "writing session" they bring a whole bunch of ideas that could turn into songs.

For me the songs come in a flash, the craftsmanship is how you finish them.

Bingo!

When I was a teenager and full of piss and vinegar, I could crank out several songs a day. Of course most of them were crap, but I was doing it. I had tapped a creative vein and was riding it for all I was worth. I saved a bunch of them, but I haven't really tried to rewrite them because I was in a different time in my life then, and my view of the world had yet to be jaded...

 

[Rokket]

Pretty good considering you already admitted how forced it is. When I write lyrics, my tendency is to focus on whatever feeling I want to convey and just write down everything that comes to mine. Later on I find a way to fit the various ideas together like a jigsaw puzzle.

I like that idea.

I normally know full well who I am going to write about and how, and I'll rewrite until every line sounds fresh, even if I am repeating a sentiment or idea that's been hacked to death, like love...

This time I just wanted to see if I could throw something together that had a bit of promise. I guess it worked, but it needs a lot of work to be usable.

 

[rayc]

hello Rokket,
Not too bad within the circumstances.
I've done the occasional sit & write - a little success & a lot of not for me!
From my perspective I try to avoid writing girl & baby.
What you have is something to sit on & then go back to. the 9 to 5 thing is done by many: Nick Cave does it still. I don't think the expectation is to get one done daily but to have something done. Reconstruction & editing are what refines the raw ideas and spontaneous bursts. My most recent posted lyric is a few threads down & it pretty well dribbled out uncalled for during a meal. Well, the 1st 2 stanzas did & I forced the rest out when I sat down to type them up. I hink I have a few ideas to work with amongst them & will revisit it ina couple or three weeks.
I'm just glad you've started writing again mate. NOW, the recording!!!!

 

[grimtraveller]

I think with creative people like that, they are always having inspirations while they drive their car or take a shower. They probably have thousands of ideas stored in their minds. So by the time they get to sit down at a designated "writing session" they bring a whole bunch of ideas that could turn into songs.

For me the songs come in a flash, the craftsmanship is how you finish them.

That's partly true. But many songwriters know how to write songs {} and are quite capable of sitting down with no ideas and emerging with a song or the start of one or parts of one. Writing songs for me involves both the "inspirational" ones and the worked at, almost dredged up ones. And neither is necesarilly 'better'. For me, how a song arrives is of interest - after the fact because it makes for a good conversation piece but I won't put any undue emphasis on it or ascribe magical properties to it. In a way, it's a bit like childbirth. Over here, there's a definite status attached to natural births [even the term is revealing] while cesarians are often viewed as the poor relation, a bit of a disappointment, second class. But the way I view it is - has the child arrived safely ? And when that kid is playing/crying/sleeping/eating/learning, how it was born is kind of irrelevant.

 

[Rokket]

hello Rokket,
Not too bad within the circumstances.
I've done the occasional sit & write - a little success & a lot of not for me!
From my perspective I try to avoid writing girl & baby.
What you have is something to sit on & then go back to. the 9 to 5 thing is done by many: Nick Cave does it still. I don't think the expectation is to get one done daily but to have something done. Reconstruction & editing are what refines the raw ideas and spontaneous bursts. My most recent posted lyric is a few threads down & it pretty well dribbled out uncalled for during a meal. Well, the 1st 2 stanzas did & I forced the rest out when I sat down to type them up. I hink I have a few ideas to work with amongst them & will revisit it ina couple or three weeks.
I'm just glad you've started writing again mate. NOW, the recording!!!!

I will have to try to sing it out and see how it flows with the melody I have in my head. Then I'll know if it's worth pursuing or just letting it die like the thousands of others that I poured out in a flash of passion or whatever (maybe it was dinner trying a come back?) the excuse was for writing them at the time.

And yeah, writing is one thing - getting it recorded.... not so much. I am still away from home and my room was gutted to make room for some bad off relatives who came to dinner and stayed most of the year. But the eviction was served, and they know I will be home for the holidays for the first time in 6 years, and they are not welcome.

 

[dintymoore]

Yep, you can do that too. It's kind of like improvising a solo. You just go for it at the time.

I'm like you, I find the background info on songs fascinating. I find that in my songs there's often a certain thing I always think of when I'm playing a certain section.

I have an instrumental song I wrote, and every time I play the bridge I think of "Joe Meek".

 

[Rokket]

Yep, you can do that too. It's kind of like improvising a solo. You just go for it at the time.

I'm like you, I find the background info on songs fascinating. I find that in my songs there's often a certain thing I always think of when I'm playing a certain section.

I have an instrumental song I wrote, and every time I play the bridge I think of "Joe Meek".

At least you're not thinking of "Joe Dirt"!


I am going to try to see if I can do something usable with this. I like the chorus, as far as the melody goes, and there is some good stuff in the verses.

Off to the drawing board, or writing tablet, or whatever...