Lyric writing - Grrr!

All my words are a pain in the rear.
Just wish that someone here could hear.
How it's like driving my car stuck in 1st gear
To make up these words, was a pain in the rear.
 

Lyric writing is an art all to itself..... just as playing an instrument is an art. It took time and that equates to many hours over days and weeks and months and years to become proficient on a given instrument, the same thing applies to lyric writing. It is a learned skill. The more you write the better you get at it.  I'll wager that when you started playing an instrument, you probably spent several hours a day, every day, learning to play better...... after a few years, you were pretty decent with that instrument. Same thing applies with lyrics and crafting them.
 
Granted, some folks seem to have a talent for writing (or playing) but they still can get better by writing. The guys and girls who are writing the hits have been working hard at developing their skill at crafting lyrics generally for years before they have a cut that becomes a hit song. Very few are true "overnight" successes. Look into their history and you will find years of trial and error in their past.
 
Also, the hit writers are writing every day.... not just when the "muse" hits them on a blue moon Saturday. Jeffery Steele, country music mega hit writer (over 24 #1 billboard hits) writes every day and his goal is to write at least one complete song in that one day writing session. He commented that in a given year, he might end up with 2 or 3 songs that are potential hit material. The rest are just stepping stones on the journey.
 
Lyric writing is the hardest part of any song for me. So I often will team up with another writer who is stronger in the lyric writing and lyric idea department. Between us, we can turn out some pretty decent tunes lyrically and musically.
 
You may wish to connect with a co-writer on the lyrics. It works for me, and I read somewhere that 90% of the hits are all co-written with at least 2 writers on the project.

You could always try an online lyric generator. This one generates lyrics in the style of your choosing according to some topics and phrases that you enter. 
 
http://www.song-lyrics-generator.org.uk
 
Here's my song in the style of Britney Spears. 
 

Spank Me With A Tennis Racket Richard Simmons One More Time
    - In the Style of Britney Spears

by Beef Wellington
Oh honey bee, honey bee!
Oh Richard Simmons, Richard Simmons!
I must confess,
I still believe (still believe),
I am God's gift to women!
Give me a sign,
Spank me with a tennis racket Richard Simmons one more time!

Oh honey bee, honey bee!
Oh Rosanne Barr, Rosanne Barr!
I'm addicted to you.
Don't you know that you're bloated!
And I love what you do.
Don't you know that you're bloated!

Oh honey bee, honey bee!
Oh Ice Tea, Ice Tea!
I think I did it again,
I made you believe The moon exists,
Oh Ice Tea!
To paint myself yellow like that is just so typically me.
Oh honey bee, honey bee!

Holy crap!.. I did it again!
I burned my house down!

Oh honey bee, honey bee!
Oh Tweetie Pie, Tweetie Pie!
I think I made you believe X2b will ever be released.
Holy crap!.. You think X2b will ever be released.

Oh honey bee, honey bee!
I'm not that hairy!
You see my problem is this,
I can never get soft boiled eggs right,
Wishing I had an ass like Kylie Minogue.

Oh honey bee, honey bee!
Oh Richard Simmons, Richard Simmons!
Oh Rosanne Barr, Rosanne Barr!
Oh Ice Tea, Ice Tea!
Oh Tweetie Pie, Tweetie Pie!
I must confess,
I still believe (still believe),
I am God's gift to women!
Give me a sign,
Spank me with a tennis racket Richard Simmons one more time!

Yes to all the thoughts shared. Some folks are gifted or at least prolific with lyrics.

In my humble scenario, I'm the do it all. From learning the many details of audio engineering through actually playing some instruments and songwriting and singing. None of the real magic happens until the singing, in which case I also cough up the lyrics. Presently I'm drawing a blank on this one song. That's why I'm Grrr-ing.

My advice is to remember that lyric/song writing is first and foremost...a craft. Once you master the craft, the art comes much easier. Songwriting should be linear. Each new line should logically follow the line before it. This holds true whether you are writing a "story" song or not. Things need to make sense. And be universal. Writing from "personal experience" will only get you as far as...well...your personal experience. Like movies there are really only a handful of stories to be told...the most ubiquitous being get a guy, get a gal, get em up a tree, shake a stick at em, then get em down. That's craft. One prominent Nashville writer explained an exercise he uses like this: "there's a bible lying on the bedside table...there's a a dusty, ragged bible lying on the bedside table...there's a dusty, ragged bible and a glass of gin lying on the bedside table". You get the picture. Each new image deepens the story and adds complexity while still maintaining universality. It's totally a learnable skill. But..of course...the great ones have inate talent as well. Good luck. Keep writing, ol pal. And don't give up.

There's a useless thread sitting in the Coffee House...
 
()

lawajava
...
Sometimes the lyrics just flow, and sometimes the well is just dry.
...
Tonight I'm frustrated because the music sounds good for a particular song, but my lyrics for it so far are really awful. ...

It's so weird when I hear this ... I'm a writer, and the one thing I do not have issues with is a lack of imagination or intuition to write something ... but then, I don't subjugate myself to things that cut down your ability to find words ... and a song, is too limited in the way that you are working on.
 
I would prefer, that a lyric/line or two, gave you a whole symphony ... because you would definitly know how you felt about it! ... as opposed to having to invent a feeling that does not exist, that is supposed to make a song fly and live!
 
That's how I think, as a writer.
 
One last thing ... for me, sometimes, it signals a NEW WAY to think and write ... with different feelings ... and again, when you are stuck on a "song", you have closed down a lot of those options, because this little hole is a special square, and no other pegs fit it!
 
LET THE MUSIC TALK TO YOU.
 
STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE WORDS, AND go fill up the bathtub and enjoy a cigar ... even Lord Byron used to say that it did wonders for one's imagination, not to mention gonads! Might help the song, too!

"Still chipping away at it..."
 
Reminds me of that old sculptor's saying that making a statue is easy, all you do is chip away the parts of the block that are not part of the statue!  (Yeah, right...)

lawajava
The only thing all this powerful music software can't help with is cranking out meaningful, creative lyrics. Old fashioned elbow grease still applies.

Sometimes the lyrics just flow, and sometimes the well is just dry.

Tonight I'm frustrated because the music sounds good for a particular song, but my lyrics for it so far are really awful.

i'll get the words in shape soon somehow. It's a pain in the rear.

 
While there is no software that will replace your ability to create original lyric...... there is one that may help you out of a spot from time to time. Years ago, I bought MasterWriter2. It is often open and used, while I am writing lyrics. I like it's rhyming word finder/dictionary and it's rhyming phrases lists.
 
As I write, I will come up with a cool line of lyric and then to conform to the rhyming pattern in the song, I will need to rhyme a key word in that new and "totally amazing" line I just wrote...... but the brain goes blank.
 
I can type the key word into Master Writer (MW) and it will list all the direct, indirect, and similar rhymes to that word..... sometimes only a half dozen and sometimes 40 or more pages. All depends on the word. (Even MW has a very short list on the word "Orange"...... been there tried that.)
Looking through the words will very often take my thoughts in different directions and also searching the phrases list will give me something that is useable. Sometimes, word for word, and other times I can use the line or word MW gave me to write the next line in the verse. Each time I have gotten stuck, and used MW for it's words list, I have come away with a good follow up line.
 
Of course it can be argued that a good rhyming dictionary book will do the same..... to which I reply, yeah it will, but MW is so much faster. And when writing lyrics, I don't want to be looking up things in a book.
 
http://www.masterwriter.com/  the price keeps coming down over the years,,,,, Membership in BMI qualified one for a nice discount at one time..... maybe still.

lawajava
meaningful, creative lyrics. 

hard to do sometimes. Especially when you're trying to.
 
I pretty much write lyrics for the meter and bounce of the words anymore. With an occasional image thrown in for good measure:)  It seems the more I concentrate and focus on what it is I'm trying to say, the more sterile and stupid my words become.
 
Meaningful to whom? There are lots of great songs where the words 'meaning' is quite obtuse. To me, this can be stronger than the 'meaning' being spelled out, as it leaves it open to interpretation by the listener. Hinting at the topic while bouncing around off of metaphors, ryhmes and phrases.
 
anyway. 2 cents

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

So what do they have for "Purple?"

slartabartfast

lawajava
The only thing all this powerful music software can't help with is cranking out meaningful, creative lyrics. Old fashioned elbow grease still applies.

I have not had much luck getting the music software to come up with a really creative melody or harmony either. Am I missing a plugin?

Ask Bapu.  He's got ALL the plugins!

You guys do realize that rhyming is optional, ya?
 
Sometimes when you're in the flow
It doesn't matter what words you know
You want to get your point across
That sometimes close is good enough.

Agreed on the non-rhyming aspect.
 
I work a lot with a co-writer who has always written using rhymes, and trying to convince her that we can write without rhymes, especially the newer country and CCM stuff is being written w/o rhymes as they have been used for decades.
 
More then one CCM song that is popular has little or no rhyming patterns to it.

The one thing I do agree on is this.
 
If you rhyme something in verse one...... make it rhyme in verse two, and three. If there are not rhymes in verse 1, make it the same way in the rest of the song.
 
If you don't follow a certain amount of structure in that regard, I think the song will lose some of it's impact and it appears to "others" that the writer was lazy and didn't take the time to think the lyrics out enough to follow the same pattern through out. How hard it is "not to rhyme" the lyrics.....?  Could be pretty hard actually.