Improving my lyric writing skills

Chazz Michael Michaels

Are there techniques to improve lyric writing skills? I can usually write a decent verse or two, but beyond that I get stuck. Also, I notice that the structure and theme of my lyrics always seem to be fairly similar. What would people recommend, in this regard? Any decents books to read on this? Take a class? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

joe_dunne

I'm gonna be boring and say practice practice practice.

Joe_Dull

Try to avoid clichés (for example, rhyming girl with world, love with above, tonight with right, lies with eyes, etc.)

In general, the less obvious the meaning of the song the better. If you're writing about something in particular, pick some obscure aspect of it and write a detailed verse about that. I much prefer esoteric, personal and colloquial lyrics to ones which hold nothing more than face value.

Lastly, write what you feel rather than what you think will fit a genre, or make the song catchy or whatever. Inauthentic lyrics are very easy to spot and they always come across as tired and two-dimensional. On top of that they're much harder to come up with.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Lyric writing has always been the hardest part of composition for me, but don't get disheartened if that flash of inspiration doesn't come straight away.

Meehanmeehan

If you play a instrument or are part of a band.
Come up with the rough idea of the music FIRST (how the verse and chorus might go).

Write the story of your song (with no rhyming), so you know where you're going with it and don't end up blank after five clever verses.
Write the story from different perspectives, a song about a mute could start from the worlds view of some quiet weirdo and then shift to the mind of a man desperate to have a voice and communicate.
Start writing lyrics with your musics rythmn always in mind (I like tap my feet and drum my hands to whatever beat i'm trying to put words to).
Try to hear the melody of the lyrics as you write them, how the lyrics sound and flow is more important than what they say.
The story doesn't need to be linear, backtrack and fast forward between verses if it fits.

If you're writing the lyrics leave room for a solo, solo's are always a good idea.

If you can't play anything you should learn how, it's a lot easier to write lyrics when you're writing them to a piece of music.

Chazz Michael Michaels

Thanks for everyone's input.

I am a musician and I compose music, and write vocal melodies also. That side of things is a walk in the park, to me. I then count the notes in each phrase and try to write verses with roughly that number of syllables. Not sure if that is a good idea, but it seems to work a bit better for me, these days.

Here is a series of verses I recently wrote, perhaps you could critique them? I am fairly thick skinned:


I can’t see with starry eyes,

In this mind I’m paralysed,

Bruised and clumsy, like a child,

Who’s fallen on his knees


You may say that I’m confused,

That I abide by no ones rules,

Falling off my broken stool,

Till I can’t stop the bleedin’



Save me one last cigarette,

Although it draws my dying breath,

It brings me home and stops the sweat,

As I escape this crowd


Please believe that I don’t tease,

No cards are hiding in my sleeve,

You know my heart is yours to keep,

Long after it stops beating

Meehanmeehan

Those are pretty good, there's a mature amount of rhyming and half-rhyming instead of bland ABAB CDCD, a lot of good images too.
I'm jelly

Chazz Michael Michaels

Nice one. That encourages me a bit, anyway! I might post more later.

cloptrop

I write a ****ty ryhming poem , that gives me a basic idea for the story , then I go through every line and change it ,
Im not at it long however , I find it works for me though , dont give away too much , if you write a song about washing your car and someone wants to think its about the problems in darfur , let them if it makes them buy it.

SuzyDaFloozy

Well actually Craptrap, all of oasis songs rhyme and Der one of de best bands ever or Mayb ur just better den dem, tho i seriously doubt it

cloptrop

SuzyDaFloozy wrote: »

Well actually Craptrap, all of oasis songs rhyme and Der one of de best bands ever or Mayb ur just better den dem, tho i seriously doubt it

You should write a text speak song .

JaneWillow

Start going to a poetry workshop in your town. you can bring your songs and they'll critique your lyrics. It's been a great help for me. There are free poetry workshops available.

Chazz Michael Michaels

Interesting. Any Dublin ones you'd recommend?

DuPLeX

SuzyDaFuzy and Cloptrop I notice you both rhyme. How nice for you both .
To me whether you rhyme or not is a matter of personal taste and also is decided by the rhythm and the melody of the piece .
A thing that works for me as a device to keep lyrics interesting is to write in a kind of code ... not to be too obvious ... so try to write a song about the European stability treaty or someone you hated in school , but make it sound as much like a love song as you can . or write a love song but pretend its a song about the sea or the wind or whatever ..... try it .
or you could just ignore me though as though I'm just a troll ..............


or am I?

cloptrop

I think what you mean is use metaphors dude.

oceanmachine

I always have the same problem with getting one verse, one chorus, getting bored and then leaving a song. When I return to it later I find it hard to get the same mindset/spark i had previously. So, I now try to do as much of the song as I can when I first have the inspiration and tweak it later.
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DuPLeX

cloptrop wrote: »

I think what you mean is use metaphors dude.

No that is not what I mean dude .
I mean Write a song which seems to be about one thing but is really about something else,

cloptrop

DuPLeX wrote: »

No that is not what I mean dude .
I mean Write a song which seems to be about one thing but is really about something else,

Yeah I get you man but it is just a huge metaphor rather than a one line metaphor. Like Mr tambourine man really being about drugs or touch my bum by the cheeky girls really being about 2 girls who have a homeless man locked up in a cellar and charge people to come and touch him up . Its a good point sorry if I sounded a bit smart.

DuPLeX

cloptrop wrote: »

Yeah I get you man but it is just a huge metaphor rather than a one line metaphor. Like Mr tambourine man really being about drugs or touch my bum by the cheeky girls really being about 2 girls who have a homeless man locked up in a cellar and charge people to come and touch him up . Its a good point sorry if I sounded a bit smart.

thats "kinda" it and Kinda not . but it is definitely not Metaphor, its more like a secret code that only you really know, but makes for a more interesting use of language and more obtuse lyric . listen to into my arms by nick cave ,and tell me what its about .

cloptrop

Off the lyrics with little knowledge of Nick Caves work Id say he wrote a song about going out with a somewhat religious girl and he doesnt want to change her. But you could throw anything in there , could be about his dog , a group of people , a bottle of rum , the church , the army .

Fits well for a funeral song but I think that happened afterwards it wasnt his original intention he just made it vague enough to not mean anything and everything .

CheezePleeze

oceanmachine wrote: »

I always have the same problem with getting one verse, one chorus, getting bored and then leaving a song.

We sat together at one summer’s end,
That beautiful mild woman, your close friend,
And you and I, and talked of poetry.
I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe;
Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
Better go down upon your marrow-bones
And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones
Like an old pauper, in all kinds of weather;
For to articulate sweet sounds together
Is to work harder than all these, and yet
Be thought an idler by the noisy set
Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen
The martyrs call the world.’

Yeats wrote that a century ago, so the problem isn't new...

Anorak Basement

Have a read of this, about Bob Dylan writing lyrics with John Lennon and Paul McCartney...

http://expectingrain.com/dok/int/pneumonia.html

Chazz Michael Michaels

New one:


Candle lit the people dance
Unnamed mischief makers
Inside I feel cold

Nothing satisfies the need
Swallow every heartbeat
Trembling like a river stone

You said ‘I’ll wait’
Where people yearn an early grave
Until the embers die away
And when we return
It’ll be like we never learned
The beauty of each other’s love

High-pitched whispers drawing near
Delirium pulsating
Inside I feel warm

Your iris blinding in the light
Shades of surrealist bloom
Memories persist

You said ‘I’ll wait’
Where people yearn an early grave
Until the embers die away
And when we return
It’ll be like we never learned
The beauty of each other’s love

Please don’t promise that you’ll adore me
Save your questions for my grave
Where orchids line every pulpit
Your eyes are a City of Light
Your eyes disarm me
Your eyes are a City of Light
Your eyes

9959

Some nice imagery there, but without rhymes (not obligatory, but you'll find most good songs have them) your 'song' could well be mistaken for angst-ridden poetry. Nothing wrong with being a poet by the way. I like the line 'shades of surrealist bloom', though I haven't a clue what it means. The best of luck with your future work. Keep trying, you just might crack it!