how do you write lyrics to already written music?

So far I was playing mostly instrumental but time to write some real song with lyrics.
As a matter of fact I have a few tunes which could use some words as well.
So my question is there any technique when you start writing lyrics to music already written?

For inspiration (in general, not just lyrics) I read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven".

Out loud. 

I'm useless with lyrics, but I find establishing a melody line fairly painless.

So I'll create the necessary "gaps" in the music where the melody/lyrics will be then turn the whole thing over to my tame lyricist/vocalist (wife)

This method usually works, though we  have had to re-write a couple of pieces when inspiration took a different path.

I normally try to do both at the same time... music & lyric. But that doesn't always work. 

At times I'm left with either a good starting lyric idea or a fairly decent melody idea. I will put them on a shelf for a few days to a few weeks and hit them fresh after a time to see if there is any new spark of creativity. 

I like to write with a co-writer. I have sent her a concept, a basic idea, and even another complete song with a request to see what she can come up with. She is the lyricist extraordinaire of the team.  She'll send whatever ideas she comes up with back to me and I will try to develop melody  and structure, as well as edit the lyric to fit the music. 

Basically, I tend to write coming in from the "other" direction...... adding music to lyric when I'm not working both together. 

For me, lyric is the harder of the two disciplines. But it often starts for me with a well thought out story line about what I want to say. And then stating that in a way that fits into a song's structure.  Basically you got 3 minutes total to say what you're gonna say, have it make sense, and be done. 

I was looking at some show on TV last night. Kid Rock was on and was talking briefly about his lyric writing. He commented that most of what he wrote didn't make a bit of sense, but the music glossed over that fact, and the fans didn't care.  Sting and a few other artists have done songs like that, but KR made a career of it. 

You have to get inspiration form somewhere, in order to do anything creative. How you get the spark varies form person to person. All creative types have in inborn desire to express themselves through their art. That's the spark.... the starting point. 

I also believe it is a SKILL that can be learned and improved with practice. Just like playing your instrument. It might be a natural desire, but 99.999% of us had to spend countless hours learning the skills needed to play well. writing a song is no different. The more time you spend doing it, the more time you spend researching and learning about the craft, obviously, the better you will become at it.  Very few people can write hit songs in their first few attempts. It's a skill they learned and refined and worked at over years of writing hundreds of songs, if not thousands.

Willie Nelson, and Roger Miller both have written thousands of songs each. Jeffery Steel, (has 24 top 10/#1 country song hits) writes a minimum of one song a day. Most of what they all write, even now, is crap that they would likely be ashamed of, but you gotta write all that stuff to find the gems. 

The point is..... just start writing. Write everything that comes to mind. Nothing is good or bad, just write. then refine it. Rewrite it. That's the secret if there is one. You gotta start somewhere. Don't "try" to write a hit, just write. Fill notebooks with ideas and half baked songs. I have many note books and now computer folders filled with ideas that didn't work.....and other folders filled with many that did. I still seek to learn more by reading books and listening with critical ears to the work of others who are successful. Perhaps one day I will achieve that goal. In the meantime, I write.

Don't keep score, just play the game and enjoy it. The score will take care of itself. 

RabbitSeason


Paul McCartney had the music for "Yesterday" written before he had any lyrics.  Everybody's heard the story of how he used "scrambled eggs" as the three-syllable placeholder (what eventually became "yesterday"), until he had the actual lyrics.  Does anyone know where his inspiration came from?  Was that story every published?
 
Personally, I usually write a snippet of lyrics and music together, then later flesh out the entire song.  I've only put lyrics to established music maybe twice over the past 25 years.  The trick - for me - is making the lyrics fit into the rhythmic pattern.

Apparently David Bowie also did this for "Heroes" and Iggy Pop for "China Girl."  It seems to be a tried and true path, but it's never worked for me. 
 
When I eventually get lyrics, i'll sometimes decide that other aspects need to change.  I recently wrote lyrics to a recording that was 7 or 8 years old.  This time, the chorus vocals flowed a couple of beats past the end of the section and i had to add a short bridge to follow.  It was well worth it, but wouldn't have wanted to chop up a "finished" piece...

how do you write lyrics to already written music?

ive done this for years...
cuz i've literally got a million riffs spilling out of my head....


simple repetitive stuff, that has a good swing, or a catchy hook, but no lyrics, just kinda like free-form rhythm thinking..




so i go back and form songs with some of those riffs.




what i do, is live with the arrangment for a while, and start thinking in terms of melody first.




then, once a melody starts to really live inside that arrangement, i look for a chorus hook....... a catchy line, that fits in the rhythm....
and usually THAT is the genesis of the subject matter.


then, i basically reverse engineer the song....


i come up with a lot of ideas that go along with the subject, and start finding wordplay that fits with the rhythm (first) and the melody 2nd).


i'm more driven by rhythm, than melody, i guess, so it's easier for me to attach to the rhythm first....


then, as the lyric starts to unfold, i start finessing it to work more with the melody.
the idea is, you boil the words down, so the meaning is clear, but there has to be more than a string of words..
there has to be hooks, and there has to be creative wordplay.




or, you write an early beatles song.


Well, she was just 17, 
You know what I mean, 
And the way she looked was way beyond compare. 
So how could I dance with another (ooh)  
When I saw her standin' there. 


Well she looked at me, and I, 
I could see That before too long 
I'd fall in love with her. 
She wouldn't dance with another (whooh) 
When I saw her standin' there. 


 Well, my heart went "boom," 
When I crossed that room, 
And I held her hand in mine...






not a lot of wordplay in that!!!


but the rhythm of the words with the music, brilliant.

Respectfully @ the Op

Everyone is different ... there is no right wrong answer ... and each of us changes our technique I'm guessing.

"Paul McCartney had the music for "Yesterday" written before he had any lyrics.  Everybody's heard the story of how he used "scrambled eggs" as the three-syllable placeholder (what eventually became "yesterday"), until he had the actual lyrics.  Does anyone know where his inspiration came from?  Was that story every published? "
 
Rabbitseason, I'm pretty sure it's about his mother-she died when he was 14 or so.  She pops up in a few other McCartney tunes--"Let it Be" supposedly inspired by a dream in which she spoke to him "mother Mary comes to me,"  and a couple others I can't think of.
 
But to the topic of the OP what I get from that is use whatever you need to use.  What may seem like a love song could be inspired by anything- the interpretation is often up to the listener.  U2's "new Year's Day" comes to mind- Bono started it out as a love song but it morphed into something political- but it works, 'cause the lyrics sound good together.
 
Anthony

hey great tips everybody, thanks.  Is it hard to learn jibberish ? ;)
That scatting is probably great idea. 
Personally believe that music should come together
with lyrics at the same time to be as close as possible but as we know that's not always possible.

I saw Marvin Hamlisch on a TV talk show once where the audience was invited to throw random words out for him to derive a theme to make a song out of.

He then came up with a full song on the spot entitled "Life is cheese made visible" which actually sounded pretty good.

I think this is Jon Anderson's normal technique too.  I could be wrong about that though.

Me, I normally hear perhaps a little phrase in the music that echoes something lyrical and try to flesh it out from there.  I ain't no Tim Rice though.

when in doubt... do what the professionals do


 use words like:  laaa, naaaa, oooooo, aaaaah, and stuff like shu badda doo maaa maaa maaa maaaa.... 

Instant pop hit!

MakeShift


LOL, well I guess Gibberish probably was n’t the word or description that I was really looking for.

Rereading Herb and Phillips posts, I write more or less similarly to how they write.

I don’t think that I agree that songwriters fall into 3 categories.   All of the song writers that I have hung around and interacted with write songs in many different ways.  Sometimes the words come first; sometimes the chords and melody come first.  Almost all of them have write down ideas and notes and store them away for inspiration.  Sometimes they are just mental notes that come out when they are writing.  A lot of my lyrics come from things that are currently happening in my everyday life.  Sometimes it’s almost like therapy in a way.

You aren't wrong, but I think you misinterpreted what I said.
 
There are lyricists (those who write such)
There are composers (those who write the music)
Then there are folks who can do both simultaneously (not this, then that)
  What I did say is that often times (whether perceived or reality) when a song is composed - the lyrics come first - despite coming later when putting them on top of the music (which comes second) That isn't saying everybody does it that way.
 
Back to my original point about those groupings. While it is unfair to use groupings, it's very valid.
 
Usually, songs start off as poems (lyricists) until the music is put behind them (composers); however, there are people that can do both (songwriters) Often times, a combination is done within each group. But sometimes, you get the music first and then the lyrics or both are done simultaneously. Just like an artist who may not only sing/rap, write the music, but produce (ie: mixing, engineering) the whole album (the latter requiring help even if he or she can do some or all of of it alone)
 
If you've ever worked a collaboration, you'll see what I mean. I've been asked or have offered to compose the music (adding to what's there or from scratch; vocal only - usually) while I have asked others to come up with lyrics behind what I've written musically (from scratch obviously. If a song, an arrangement with me, warrants it is another story.)
 
I definitely agree with persistence because they aren't going to write themselves unless they are just completely ridiculous (in a good way. There's a line in where Eminem makes this clear. They come off the page and spit themselves.) That is paraphrased and sometimes that happens - ie: mental composing. However, if you rather not cause a rupture thinking too hard, ask one who can come up with lyrics easily. Same goes for a music block. Mentally composing helps to literally write it. When it comes to collaborations, maybe what the collaborator did will spark something - even if he or she wrote the entire piece!
 
Start with something stupid if you have to. Like GH said, something as simple as ooh-ing and ahh-ing may end up a hit!
 
We did a song called Reality about how harsh the world is and needing to wake up and that came from rapping about nothing during the jam session. 


I think what gets alot of people in trouble is over-thinking things - not necessarily having blocks as over-thinking is what causes them (How ironic, right?) You'll have time to think about structuring later (musically + lyrically) once it's written down.


But indeed there are many ways to construct a song.
 

how do you write lyrics to already written music?

On paper.


With a pen.


Next question?