What comes first - music or lyrics?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vease
  • Start date Start date
either way works best. I developed my own style of writing I call "decomposition". Without getting too overly wordy in explaining it, I'll tell you it involves thinking backwards sometimes. Thus my user name...
 
Hey Rats...

That reminds me, did you know that according to legend, Ludwig van Beethoven was buried w/ an unfinished symphony? There was enough evidence that it really existed for the Austrian government to actually exhume his coffin. They indeed found the manuscripts, but they were completey blank. Not one note. After close examination, Austrian scientists and musicians concluded that for the entire 300 since his burial, Beethoven had be decomposing.

Aaron
http://www.aaroncheney.com
 
See!? That's what I'm saying Mr. Cheney! He knows that Beethoven knows!
 
Aaron,

If the Beethoven they dug out was burried 300 years ago, I am afraid they must have excavated the wrong grave. Perhaps one of his ancestors. The composer Ludwig died in 1827, only about 174 years ago. Maybe that is why the papers were blank? The older guy simply couldn't compose, only decompose.

Otherwise, concerning the main topic (lyrics or music first) I have tried it both ways around.

I used to write songs with a friend of mine who did the lyrics. He would take some song and write new lyrics for it. He then gave me these lyrics without telling me what he had used as a template. Imagine my surprise when we had finished a song, and he started singing the lyrics of "Mr. Tambourine Man" to my melody!

We also did it the other way around. Already having composed a melody, I would hand him a template something like 6-6-8-8 etc. giving the number of syllables in each line. My experience was that melody first produced the best results. We wrote a total of 23 songs back then, just for our own pleasure.

When writing on my own, fragments of melody come first, then some lyrics, then some melody etc. until first verse and chorus are ready.

Tom
 
i aint no beethoven,but i bet he had his share of disapointments too.i find myself fooling around on my guitar and then a melody line will begin to emerge.after i play the melody line a while words begin forming around it.i write these down and then start dressing things up,getting rid of the cutesy crap that some how gets in there.then i record the melody line with the guitar and work on a bass line then a lead guitar line.once i have those i work on strings or horns or whatever on synth.it's what works for me.each to his own.
 
Wow, thats a lot of posts.... I think I'll add my two cents.

Music or lyrics is a matter of style, i think... but if you are going to do music first, do this:

Start with a REALLY GOOD melody line... THis is what makes your song music instead of a bunch of chords thrown together. I've tried this from all angles: lyrics first, music first, music and lyrics (sometimes works well for me, because I say what "sounds" right with the music...), But as of late, I'm finding out that MELODY first (i'll often sing here too, so I can get syllables that sound good with the melody line), then chords works well for me. This also helps because the chords are often more exotic this way, rather than just your everyday 1-4-5 progression.

My two cents.
 
LYRICS OR MUSIC FIRST?

I PLAY GUITAR AND FIND IT JUST HAPPENS THAT I WILL GET THE LYRICS IN MY HEAD FIRST , THEN ARRANGE AROUND THEM.
THERE ARE ALSO TIMES THEY COME AT THE SAME TIME BECAUSE THINGS JUST "FLOW" RIGHT. I GOT ME A 4- TRACK AND HAVE BEEN DOING MY ORIGINAL MATERIAL ON IT FOR COPYRIGHT AND DISTRIBUTION PURPOSES.
I , TOO , HAVE SOME LYRICS THAT I HAVE'T FOUND THE RIGHT ARRANGEMENT FOR , BUT I'LL PULL OUT THE OLD SCRIBBLES FROM YEARS AGO SOMETIMES AND FIND THAT I CAN COME UP WITH SOMETHING LATER . NO REAL RULES HERE I GUESS , HUH ? THANKS FOR THE SPACE AND ADVICE FROM THE "GOOD - HEARTED " PEOPLE OUT THERE. STEVE
 
I agree that B. Spears is pretty much mindless drivel, but to my 9 year old daughter and all of her friends it seems like real music. She just won't listen when I play Segovia (except when we're in the car and she is pretty much a captive audience.) Hopefully as she (and all little ones)grow older they will be able to decide what is real music from what is real powerful marketing.



I wonder if Brittney's songwriter wrote the lyrics or music to Oops I did it again first?
 
yeah and did he come up with the idea first or was it britney fucking up again... the britney kinda writes her own lyrics... next song;

give me my freakin' diet coke you bitch...

guhlenn:D
 
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