Which comes first, the music or the lyrics?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Senor Cactus
  • Start date Start date

Which comes first, the lyrics or the music?

  • write the lyrics first

    Votes: 35 19.8%

  • write the music first

    Votes: 142 80.2%
  • Total voters
    177
music vs lyrics

Well, I voted Music, but more often it is one or the other with me... If I come up with music, I have no words to match. If I actually start coming up with Lyrics they don't generally match any of my music... :(
 
turboneal said:
Well, I voted Music, but more often it is one or the other with me... If I come up with music, I have no words to match. If I actually start coming up with Lyrics they don't generally match any of my music... :(
Click to expand...

Exactly...I have ton's of music (full songs) recorded with no lyrics!!
 
Which came first?

The chicken. No, wait, the egg. Or, maybe it WAS the chicken. Or, maybe the rooster. Do birds have orgasms, anyway?
 
My name gives it away...

It's funny how songs come - sometimes at the oddest moments. Once, I was in the shower, and I could hear the lyrics of this song, just flooding in my mind - with alternating lyrics for the lead and harmonies in the chorus, but it was all in rhythm - absolutely no melody. I sent that song to my friend in Oregon, who came up with the melodies in a matter of minutes (that was early on in my songwriting journey).
Last year, there were two songs that came, pretty much encapsulated - idea, lyrics - no melody. I was really busy with other work/projects, and had no mind to sit down at the piano and work them out. This year, after last year's projects were finished, I sat down one night, and finished both songs. One remained pretty much the same as what began last year, while the other completely transformed as the music came together. I ended up rewriting 60% of the lyrics, because of the feel, and cadence of the song.
Most of the time, though, the song begins as lyrics, and somewhere along the way, shortly after it begins, I hear the ghost of the melody. It comes to life when I sit at the piano, and try to re-create what I've been hearing, as the feeling of the words come together with the chords.
Does that make sense??
It seems most of you are musicians first, and wordsmiths second. I was a poet before I ever wrote a song, and long before I could play an instrument to go with what I wrote/felt. Maybe that is why lyrics come first for me.
 
Ummm, for me in most cases the music came first out of a jam or something, then on top of the music the melody line will come with the lyrics following closely, either just naturally flowing or something I need to work on later at home.

If I have lyrics written first, it's in the form of a poem. I try to find a cool melody line for this 'poem'. The lyrics will adjust based on the melody line. As a singer, I will sometimes find it hard to come up with music in this reverse case. So I just sing the song to my band and we all jam to it and come up with music.

But really there are no rules. There have been times where I dream up songs in my sleep, wake up and frantically look for some recording device in the middle of the night....:eek:
 
For me, it's the Elton John method, 100% of the time, except I don't have a Bernie Taupin writing my lyrics!

I write a set of lyrics, tweak them around so the rhyming and meter seem to work, then write a melody to those lyrics.

I can't do it the other way around, I've tried.

-Mike
 
I think going with the lyrics first would be pretty difficult for me. . .

I have to start with the music - some songs end up not needing the lyrics in the end anyway.
 
I go both ways

:eek: :eek::eek: But my best efforts have always come when I write the lyrics to a great chorus first and then build a song around that.:cool:
 
both..I have a book i have lying about that I write lyrics in...but its mainly full of pictures of mum and dad and axes and blood and a cave
 
kcearl said:
both..I have a book i have lying about that I write lyrics in...but its mainly full of pictures of mum and dad and axes and blood and a cave
Click to expand...

A cave???

that's just weird man. :cool:

:D
 
For me it's what I call the flash method, where in a flash I get a song, some lyrics and a groove. This has happened since I was about 12.

It's like I opened the door of a room and I hear a band playing the tune. I get the lyrics and music all at once. Then I fill in the blanks.

It almost always happens away from my musical instruments. I can see it written out in music paper in my head so I never write them down, I have some I've remembered for 35 years I've never played at an instrument yet.

I don't believe in God or a higher power but it's like I have nothing to do with it, like it comes through me.
 
Music first. The whole arrangement. Track it, mix it, then let it sit for a month while I try to come up with some stupid fucking words to go along with the music.


I suspect anyone that is lyrics first is kind of gay. :D
 
I used to write the lyrics before coming up with melodies and the result was actually worse for my melodies AND lyrics. When you have a great lyric in mind that just won't fit the melody, you're forced to reconsider how to express what you what you want to say. I find the method can be frustrating and take much longer but I'm always happier with the outcome compared to the original line.

The obvious other benefit is you have total freedom for creating your melodies. Some people write melodies by looking at other people's lyrics and singing them in a new way over their own song for which they want melodies. I've tried this but find it too confining. I just sing nonsense until I find my melodies. This has the advantage that the melodies I create were created w/ specific vowels and consonants which they sound like they belong too. Having the lyrics first you are stuck with phonemes that have no organic relation to your melodies, which in turn makes coming with melodies that sound good with those lyrics harder to discover. I still find it hard to believe how important having the correct word sounds to go with the vocal melodies is, and would never believe it except for my own experiences.


-Kerrio
 
It really can happen any way. It's rare for me but a few times both the lyrics and the music have come together. I'll often have sets of lyrics lying about and as I come up with music, I'll think about whether any of them fit. Sometimes, as I've come up with music, a melody will suggest itself and sometimes lyrics fit, other times they have to be "persuaded" to cooperate:D.
 
I just voted as a write music first, but having said that, one of my favorite songs to date has had at least three melodies and started as a first verse and chorus with no music at all. It took 15 yrs to come up with the last lyric and now I'm playing with multiple ways to record it.
The song "Turn, Turn" was put to music by Pete Seeger. It's from the bible Eclesiasties verse. Lot's of poetry has been put to music years after the first writing.
 
Senor Cactus said:
Just a little curious how it works with everyone else. Do you write the lyrics first and then the music or do you write the music and then come up with lyrics?

I absolutely have to do the lyrics first. It always bums me out when I come up with a cool lick on guitar or keyboard cuz I know there's no way in hell I'll ever come up with words for it.
Click to expand...
First off, you don't write a music, you compose it, right? :D

Anyway, usually music always comes first before the words. It would be easier to write the lyrics if you already have the music. Unlike the other way around, that's kind of hard.
 
I've always done music first...would like to try it the other way tho because it might be interesting...melody has always been my main inspiration...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top