@ Craig...LOL...you got that right.  Gosta do what ya gosta do.
 
Herb,
 
For the most part I agree with you as well.  Most of the time it is good to have patterns and rules for rhyming and near rhymes.  Most times the songs sit more comfortably that way.  However, I am a "know the rules and break the rules", type of writer.  I go with what I like or what feels better to me, even if it breaks the rules.  Sometimes that means following them, some times that means saying what I mean or want to, to better get my point across.  Here is one of my favorite songs of all time.  I love all of the near rhymes...and for the most part, it follows a rhyming pattern...but.. #1 near rhymes in the first verse and does n't in the second verse.  In the second verse...all the sudden we have a 4 pair of near rhymes that did not rhyme in verse 1.
 
This is more what I was alluding too, sometimes I follow rhyming patterns, sometimes I just abandon them for what feels better.
 
 
There are places I remember 1
All my life, though some have changed  2
Some forever not for better   1
Some have gone and some remain  2
All these places have their moments 
With lovers and friends I still can recall  3
Some are dead and some are living   
In my life I've loved them all  3

But of all these friends and lovers  1
There is no one compares with you   2
And these memories lose their meaning 
When I think of love as something new  2
Though I know I'll never lose affection  4 
For people and things that went before  3
I know I'll often stop and think about them  4 
In my life I love you more  3

Though I know I'll never lose affection   
For people and things that went before 
I know I'll often stop and think about them 
In my life I love you more 
In my life I love you more
 
Incidentally, another good example of a song that has almost no rhyming is I Am The Walrus.  What a fabulous piece of word play is that song.
 
 

craigb

Guitarhacker
(Even MW has a very short list on the word "Orange"...... been there tried that.)

So what do they have for "Purple?"

Well...according to Roger Miller that would be "maple syrple".
 

MakeShift
 
Herb,
 
For the most part I agree with you as well.  ........  However, I am a "know the rules and break the rules", type of writer.  I go with what I like or what feels better to me, even if it breaks the rules.  Sometimes that means following them, some times that means saying what I mean or want to, to better get my point across.
 

 
Mike..... Even Willie Nelson, who is famous for "breaking all sorts of rules" started out in his early career by following the rules..... to one degree or another. Even seen him in a suit and tie? Early on he wore a suit and tie. His music does tend to follow the rules of rhyming and melody and structure.
 
It's OK to break the rules. I hear this mantra from the writers in Nashville & LA all the time..... you have to follow the rules to get in the door and establish a reputation as a writer..... then once you have  some "street cred" and a few hits under your belt and people are asking for your songs, then, you can make your own rules and write the kind of stuff you really want to write.
 
The Beatles were freaking geniuses in what they did, how they did it, and at one point they could have recorded just about anything and it would have been a hit. Some would argue they did this...... heck they even recorded unfinished and incomplete songs on Abby Road. It was hailed as genius.  The songwriting team of Lennon/McCartney was one of the greatest teams of all time. The beauty of the music and the magic of the lyrics in the example you gave completely overrule the standard rules of writing.  It is one of my favorite Beatles tunes too.
 
There are, of course, plenty of exceptions to this rule, but most writers start their careers by following them ..... of course, we don't have careers as writers so we are free to write what we want..... no?

Also a good idea, at least for me, is to keep pen and paper handy at all times, especially on the nightstand. Inspiration strikes at the funniest times. And sometimes that elusive perfect verse for that song I'm having trouble with will come to me when I'm half asleep. Just my 2 cents.

craigb

Leadfoot
Also a good idea, at least for me, is to keep pen and paper handy at all times, especially on the nightstand. Inspiration strikes at the funniest times. And sometimes that elusive perfect verse for that song I'm having trouble with will come to me when I'm half asleep. Just my 2 cents.

Many a tune has been written on TP while the writer has been on the throne.

That's where I do my best work! :)

I've done the nightstand thing as well.

I have also discovered that you can record off of your iPhone, comes in very handy when those lyrics just suddenly hit.

I once had lyrics come to me while I was at a funeral, man talk about awkward.

Am I the only one who could hear someone speaking Craig's posts in the background of a song ala the Moody Blues?  Hehe...

ABV, in a lot of ways I agree with that. My favorite lyrics can often be interpreted in many different ways, depending on who is interpreting them.

I find that my best lyric writing comes from the old fashion way of sitting in a quiet space by myself and singing possible lyric combinations while strumming the chords. I have been struggling with a particular song for several weeks now, mainly because I just can't find any personal time or space lately. I call it creative time.

Well I've been mum for a while on this topic and enjoyed everyone's comments.

I've had a good run on completing some lyrics in the past few weeks including that one road blocked song that I mentioned with the original post.

My recent breakthrough has come around as a result of my recent willingness to change the topic of songs I had been determined to write about but had been stuck on.

I had a gut feeling I had a good topic on the song I had been frustrated with. But after writing and rewriting the lyrics multiple times I finally raised the white flag. I decided to come up with another topic, also interesting to me, and the lyrics were done for the song in almost no time.

After that I had another song in a similar rut, and ended up changing the topic for that one as well. Turned out to be an even better topic to write about. Yeah! A feeling of accomplishment - that one is done as well.

So my comment for today is if lyrically you've written yourself into a corner, it can be freeing to think outside of the box.

Lyric writing takes total concentration, yet sometimes they just boil out of your brain without trying. It's the concepts of their "manufacture" that is the machine. Meter, language, rhyme, matching a musical movement or building into the voicing's of a verse, vowel, consonant, punctuation and expression. Building a construct in your head and running the concept and words through it until it all fits, stops and starts, impacts and lets off, together. Two languages, imparting a higher feeling of a concept.  

Guitarhacker
Sometimes, knowing when to give up is the best solution. I have a notebook filled with abandoned ideas.... they all sounded brilliant at the time.
 
Move on, and by choosing a different topic, that shakes things up a bit.

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