song writing books

[Nate]

Crap-- lost my post...

I think that Sheila Davis' books sucked, as do all of them I have read, with the exception of "Writing Better Lyrics" by Pat Pattison. His book is more involved with the technical aspect of writing-- constructing useful metaphors, rhymes--how to use the frigging rhyming dictionary, etc. It's more of a "how to write" instead of "how to write a generic crappy Dianne Warren hit song". His exercises seem pretty cool, too. Unfortunately, you need at least a small group to do them (I should find a writing group...)
If credentials matter, he designed the songwriting program at Berklee--BFD, it's still a good book.
I think the best advice I could give someone for improving their writng would be to READ. Not "how to" books, but just well-written books in any genre. Check out Nabokov-- his use of English was amazing- lots of alliteration and flow and humor, but it never seems forced.


Nate

 

[PaulB]

Personally, I think the Sheila Davis book(she's written three but
one of them is her best and I think its something like "The Craft
of Lyric Writing" but I'm not sure) is the best book on songwriting I've read...or at least lyric writing. Pat Pattison also does a good
job.

I don't automatically assume that just because someone can
do something, that they have the ability to tell others how to do it. IF they could, I think my parents would have done a better job of telling me about sex .

As far as there being stuff on the net about songwriting, yes there is, but quite often, it covers the same stuff in a surface
matter so that if you want to go deeper, then buying a book
probably helps.

Just my take.
PaulB