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
Greg_L said:
Does anyone even read any of these posts or actually care about what other people do?
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Most definitely. It is of great interest to me to find out what other people do in regard to making music. I find the majority of the posts fascinating and highly interesting. It is sometimes a real bang on the head to discover someone of a totally different age that lives on the other side of the world and likes a totally different kind of music that I've never ever met does pretty much what I do or has had similar recording experiences. It is equally so finding that someone else does things totally the opposite to me, or let's just say, a different way. I read, I learn. Oftentimes, I'll experiment with something that I've picked up from someone's experience, like over the past week, 3 or 4 people have mentioned that they pan their overheads hard left and right. I've not done that and I'm intrigued by it so next time I'm submixing, I'm going to try it. I may like it, I may hate it but I like the idea.
Also, I like the debates, the swapping of thoughts and ideas and the psychology of why people arrive at different conclusions.
 
I agree with Grim. Doing things differently is a part of the creative process.
Learning new ways doesn't mean you can't employ the old ways. Once I think 'I know' something, I've taken one step backwards on the path. Seeing that others do things in different, sometimes odd ways, is very helpful.

Thanks. :cool:
 
get your own method by experiments - for me, I am often inspired by a note or a catchy bass line. The lyrics or chrous or hook should just flow and as you sing or play - you chip out things that should not be there and add things that should - practice practice practice and you will find you own method

bweston
http://bweston.yolasite.com/
 
Me I always have a rhytme in my head.
I just started with playing the keys.
But before that I wrote alot of songs without an instrument I just made a rhytme and then when I finished the song I would record a part of the verse and the chorus so I would remember the rhytme.
But now I just started trying to first make a tune on the keys but it's very hard so I need to practise alot and then it will happen!

But is it weird to first write the lyrics because I always find it weird when i'm writing a song!
 
Normally what I do is: if I get a chord progression going, Il get some lyrics and then add more music to it. Hope this helps :D
 
Music is a Gift to all Those Who Will Hear It.

George Parler said:
Some of the best stuff I've done hit me at some of the most awkward moments. I mean doing something so far from the realm of music, like trying to change a flat on the side of the raod.
But come to think of it, for a songwriter there is no such place away from the realm of music, is there?

George
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You know it's kind of funny, but it's not so much that we are writers, but that we touch the writers in us. All great works of music, art, etc. come as a gift; all we have to do is get out of the way and let it flow. Don't try to interpret it, or start figuring out the chords, oh yeah you can do that, but the depth of the variation of the song then narrows. As a matter of fact if the words start flowing, yes as you have said, right in the middle of changing a tire on the side of the road, get out the pen and let them flow on the page, or napkin, or back of a ticket :D, it doesn't matter, but one thing is certain, if you decide to wait until you get home, and sitting at your desk to write, it won't be there anymore.
In Amadeus Mozart would write complete orchestral scores without a single correction. It ticked off the kings musician who would insist on using his own mind to write, and then correct, correlate, muze and correct some more. With Jay Greenberg, or whatever the kids name is that was on 60 minutes, just like Mozart whole scores would arrive in his head. He would go for a long walk, pacing out the tempo, hearing all the sections, embuing his thoughts with the entire thing, and then come home and write out all the parts. If he picked up a guitar when it started to flow, he would get "flow" block. Let it flow. Someone who was a teacher at one of the major music schools told Jay, "You have to be able to edit this stuff" and Jay said not unpolitely, "No it comes through right the first time". :)
The key is to realize that we can become an instrument to something greater than ourselves. It's not so much that I am a writer, but that I touch the writer in me. If words are flowing, write them down, if music is coming give it a chance to complete itself; get away from the instrument. Go for a walk and let it all come out, over and over again, so much so that we can repeat it from memory. If we break out the guitar and try to figure out a little bit, we are left looking at a maginfying glass of a speck of dust while the gift stands idly by with a galaxy of beauty it wants to share. If just leaves instead. :o
For those who doubt that it flows from a source greater than ourselves, on 60 minutes someone was amazed that Jay Greenberg was writing flute parts, never even having played a flute or studied it. He said, "How does he even know the range of a flute, much less write parts for it?"
They asked the Lord when he was teaching in the temple as a child, how is it that you know letters at such an early age? And the Lord replied, "Even as the father speaks, so I speak."
 
When I was much younger... teens and 20s... I seemed to write the words first. Once I hit my 30s, something switched, and I started doing music first.

But with writers block the last 10 or so years, not much has been coming out of me either way. :(
 
I hate this poll, because both are true for me. If I'm playing guitar, a riff comes first. If I'm not playing guitar, I'll come up with a lyric and figure out the music later. If it ends up unfinished I prefer the former, because my instrumentals are better than my poems.
 
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My songs come about in different ways. Some start as a concept, that leads to lyrics, and the lyrical quality of the words suggests a melody (i.e. the scansion and rhythm of the lyrics point to a melodic line, and the mood of the words indicate the general mood of the music, major or minor key and so on). Or just noodling on the guitar and a melody pops up and hits me, and I immediately "hear" lyrics to go with it. On at least one occasion I was just driving on the highway without any music on (unusual for me) and without any conscious forethought just started singing a song, lyrics and tune coming seemingly from nowhere. By the time I reached my destination, the whole song was virtually complete; all I had to do was write it down before I forgot it. Most times, the music and lyrics pretty much grow into each other, coming to me at the same time.

I almost never sit down and say, "I'm going to write a song now." The times I've consciously tried to do it that way, it felt forced and really didn't work. Most times, the song just comes out on its own accord, and generally it's almost complete within a half hour or so. Probably 98% complete. But that last 2% can be a real bitch. I've had songs that came out 98% finished after 10 minutes, but then spent months tweaking one or two lines of the lyrics, or wrestling with a slight refinement to the chord progression. I had a song "finished" for two years once before I realized I'd written it in the wrong key! It just worked better -- to my ears -- in a different key, but it took me two years to realize it.

On the other hand, I have a song that I wrote the music for nearly 20 years ago, and the first verse came out without effort, but the rest of the lyrics I never could find. And another one that is a complete set of lyrics, but for which I've never found the proper tune (which I guess means it's just a poem, and not a song). Both of those have been sitting in the dead-letter bin for more than 15 years. Every now and then I drag one of them out and see if the missing half has somehow appeared in my subconscious, but so far, they've managed to elude me.
 
The tune comes to me first..then I work with the lyrics.From the respones your getting....seems theres no right or wrong way to do song writing
 
The music comes first to me...though poignant lyrics always add a new dimension to a song.
 
Mostly music comes first for me but the lyric could be strong and with melody which if it was made first could be used for base of the song.
But that I find hard young jedi:s
 
I usually get a bit of music together first, somehow, that appeals for whatever unknown reason, and sometimes I sing nonsense words that fit in some way. They can be modified into normal similar sounding real words later. It can be good to change the lyrics to your older songs too. It's a bit like a crossword puzzle, once you have a tune you have an armature to attach words to. Sometimes a solo improvised over a chord sequence can reveal a good melody path to find words in.
 
Write the music first and then get the hired help to fill in the minor details.
 
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