Posting your songs?

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hybridsound

hybridsound

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I really don't understand why people post their songs here! Lyrics, anyway. Your lyrics are YOUR lyrics. You shouldn't have people tell you if they're good or not. If it sounds good to you then that's all that matters! The whole point of lyrics is to get out what you want to say and if you have people tell you that 'if you take this out' or 'add this here'... You're not saying what you want to say... You're saying what other people want you to say.

Express yourself! To hell with what other people think!
 
I agree with you, but I think people post lyrics for different reasons; i.e., a pat on the back, constructive criticism, or maybe because they're trying to learn the craft of songwriting. Whatever the reason(s), I think it's pretty much up to the individual. A lot of people don't have other access to knowledgable people to seek a critique from and it beats paying some clown $50.00 to tell you what he thinks.
 
Peter D said:
A lot of people don't have other access to knowledgable people to seek a critique from and it beats paying some clown $50.00 to tell you what he thinks.

That's a fact Jack :D

Especially if some of us are traveling the publishing route....
It's fine to express yourself but, most often no one will want to buy it.....it is a business too ya know...

Unless you promote the tunes yourself as an act....then you can say whatever you want to....look at Smashing Pumpkins.....

We are not all performing artists though....

You can get out what you want to say without the "Cheese" factor and still structured for commercial use...

My lyrics have only gotten better over the last year because of Boards like this.....there are a ton of talented writers around these parts....it's cool that we help each other....ya know?

Later
 
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there's a difference between a "song" and a "work in progress"-those who alter their songs after posting on here are obviously dealing with the latter. even if your songs are hard-hitting and from the heart, a little feedback is good, if for no better reason than to know roughly what people think before you try to hawk it at the next elvis convention.
 
Unfortunately, it's difficult to analyze someone else's lyrics without the music behind it. A particular line or phrase can be awkward in print, but perfect behind the feel of the music. Likewise, a beautifully fluent phrase can come out sounding awkward and unprofessional if it's behind the wrong musical phrasing.

However, if someone benefits from the feedback of posting lyrics, then the method of improvement is not important.

Cy
 
I disagree with you, hybrid.
I've written over two hundred songs in the past thirty years. About one hundred and ninety-nine of them need to be rewritten. The other one, I already rewrote.

Very few people are gifted with the songwriting ability. I'm not one that is gifted and from your post, I'd bet everything I own your not either.
Just writing some rhyming sentences doesn't constitute as song to the listener.
When I wrote most of those songs of mine I thought they were damn good. As it is, only the music was good, and the basic concept of the lyrics. The songs need to be redone, arrangements and lyrics.

I've had alot of help here and have read some very good ideas. I haunt six songwriting boards and they all have taught me things about song structure.

What sounds good to the songwriter/musican doesn't mean it sounds good to anyone else. One of the things I learnt real quick was that my songs didn't hold anyone's attention long enough for the them to want to hear the whole song.
I knew what the song was about, I just wasn't conveying it to the listener.

I don't like to critique on the lyrics alone. In fact I've all but stopped. Without the feel of the music, it's like scratching someone else's ass when your own itches.
But if they ask for advice on some part of the lyrics, I'll give them my thoughts.

It's a matter of people helping people do what we all have an interest in. If your songs are so good you can write some hit tune without learning the 'rules' of the trade, then your one hell of a songwriter and I take my hat off to you.
But I'll leave my hat on for now.
If you approach this forum with an open mind, you'll learn something. Just about everyone here has.

Hope to see you around more often, hybrid.
 
Although I cant help but read the lyrics when posted, I tend to not really want to. I think that once I read something, it sticks somewhere in my mind...maybe something will hit the paper someday that I read here. Kind of like Subliminal Plagerism or something. It would never be on purpose..am I being paranoid? I've only read a few, I am a newbie here. I will say that I would never post lyrics that weren't copyrighted.
 
To badgas:

I see what you're saying. And if YOU go ahead and re-write your own songs, that's okay! But, if you have other people re-write them or even modify them in the slightest way, you're cheating yourself out of your own creativity! If you're going to write a song, make it something that means something to you and possibly to others. I have to admit... I have gotten stuck a few times writing, myself. But I got through it! I found some new inspiration, I found the word I was looking for, that refreshed my memory... The list goes on. The whole fact of the matter is...

If you got it, you got it... If you don't, you don't.

This is not permanent. Some will learn to write songs... Very well as a matter of fact.

All this topic was meant to say was:

If YOU (the song writer) like it... To hell with everybody else!
 
I come here first and foremost to help other people get to where my songwriting classes and books have gotten me.

Second, I come here for opinions on whether my material is accessible to a neutral observer. If anyone here says they're writing for themselves, I say they're full of shit. You read that right. You are writing songs for others to hear! You already know how you feel and the stories you tell, the point is to share a part of you with an audience.

We all write to communicate your thoughts/stories/feelings/beliefs with others. If your songs are unsolveable riddles or poorly tied together cliches, then, as a listener, I don't want to hear it.

In response to hybrid, I don't think anyone here is looking for someone else to write their songs. I don't really want someone to throw a lyric line my way as much as I'd like to know what feelings my lyric suggests. If it's confusion, that's bad and I'd like to know. (Not everyone is as smart as Stone so I gotta dumb it down sometimes.:)) If I want a particular song to be especially cryptic, then I leave it the way I want.

And, I am also not a believer in submitting only lyrics. I mean, this is a recording forum so most people have the ability to at least make a rough recording to go with their lyric. Cyrokk said it right. Can't see how it fits without the music.

enough from me.
 
Yup, I'm with Mr sports franchise man too.

The instinct of any writer lies somewhere on the line between sharing and showing off. Diaries apart, you don't write to keep it to yourself and this is a great place to share things.
 
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