Doug Barnett's Blog

Trying to write in lyrical form can cause you to lose what you wanted to say when you get bogged down making things rhyme.

A way to combat that issue is to start by not bothering to rhyme or even format things.
Take out a notepad and write a letter about whatever you want to put into song. Make specific statements. Use all the language tools you can. Metaphor, simile, synonym or such. Say the same thing in as many different ways as you can. If the song is about a person then describe them in as much detail as you can. The things they do, the feelings you have about them.
Write until you can’t think of anything else. Then put the notepad away. Take a break. A few minutes, an hour, a day, whatever. Then pick up the pad and write anything else that comes to mind about the subject of your song. Write pages of stuff. If you don’t have at least a page or two of information then you might want to rethink the subject. It’s hard to write a song about something if you have no information or opinion about it.

Once you have a big pile of paper, read through it and look for lines or phrases that sound like lyrics or are key to what you want to say. Put the best of them on a fresh sheet of paper. Keep going through them until you have exactly what you want to say. Other ideas and lines will occur to you as you do this. Add them in.

Once you have a big bunch of lines – start arraigning them in some sort of order. If there are too many that are similar keep the best sounding ones. Then try making the end words rhyme one at a time. Some will come easy and some wont. Don’t force it and be willing to change rhyming end words in order to keep the meaning of what you are trying to say.

Eventually you build a set of lyrics that says what you wanted to say. Keep the list of lines you did not use. They may come in handy for some other song.

Peace
Doug

One of the easiest ways to start writing songs is to write parody.
Parody is an art form in itself. Many comedians use it with great skill.

Haven’t you ever been singing along with something on the radio and just taken off on a tangent singing something silly instead of the actual lyrics? Parody teaches you to stick to a specific form that someone else has created. To be effective you need only change a few words to create a whole different set of lyrics.
Used for humor you only have to alter a few words:

“Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie
Above thy deep
And dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by”
becomes:
“Oh little town of Hollywood, how decadent you are
Money flows
Like no one knows
But never travels far”

Using the parody to write a non parody song you simply use the same form but write something completely different:
“Early morning dawn awakes and finds me here with you
I know you see
The love in me
And this will lead me through”

Try writing parodies or replacement style to various types of songs. Most writers will have a favorite form of writing. One thats comfortable to them. The easiest to parody is rock or pop – some of the toughest are those written for the stage. The more elaborate the pattern the harder it is to replace the words and keep to the form. But there again, as you write you should try and find your own pattern or style.
Every songwriter builds upon the past in order to make their own musical statement. Start by writing silly stuff and after practice you can write without using anyone elses help.

Peace
Doug
12/25/11

Hi,

In order to write (output), you must first see, feel, and listen (input). You can’t describe how something feels until you feel it. The same with what things look like or sound like.

I like to go on what I call “gathering expeditions”. I take several little notebooks and a few pens with me to a place where I can observe. That means observe anything and everything. The mall is a good place to watch and listen to people without getting in trouble. Take descriptive notes on everything you observe. describe what the lighting is, the colors, the clothes, bits of conversation. describe how each of those makes you feel. describe the same thing several different ways. use analogies. use metaphors.

After a trip to the mall – go to a park – describe the sound of the wind, the color of the trees, the grass, the trash, the people, everything.

Any place can be a wealth of input. Any interaction between people cam be as well. Keep these notes where you can get to them. Then, when you are trying to write a love song to your girl/guy you can refer to them for different ways of saying what you want. The more diverse experiences you have the more options for creating meaningful lyrics you will have as well.

so – input before output

Peace
Doug
12/6/2010

My 10 simple rules for lyrics  – use at your own risk

1. You only have 3 or 4 minutes to tell a story or share an idea/feeling, so if the line or words are not part of the repetitive theme or move the song forward then take them out.

2. When you start out, write as many verses as you can, using as many different ways to say things as possible. After there are way too many verses – use the first tip to cut it down to exactly what you want to get across in the most direct way. It ’s much better to start with too much and cut than to add in useless lines based on the need to rhyme.

3. Try not to use the same descriptive word twice in the same verse. This is not a hard fast rule, but it follows rule 1

4. Try not to use commonly known phrases unless it ’s in the middle of a verse. If you ‘ve heard it before then chances are it’s already the name of a song and familiar to lots of people. The exception to this is in love songs and religious songs where familiar lines are common.

5. If you get stuck on a line or a rhyme, pass it by. Continue with the story and chances are that while writing another line an idea for the first will occur to you. If not then rule 2 will take it out later.

6. Do not become attached to any line, word or idea. Songs have a way of deciding for themselves how and where things should be. As well as what the song is really about and why.

7. If it doesn’t fit don’t force it. If the word ‘life’ is an integral part of the song and you find it at the end of a line – strife, wife and knife are just about all you can rhyme it with. And every possible combination has been tried. It ’s better and safer to change the line so than any other easier to rhyme word is at the end. Nothing is in stone until the album is released by a major label.

8. Rhyming dictionaries are not cheating, just tools. It ’s only cheating when you pick a word only because it rhymes and not because it ’s what you wanted to say.

9. Anybody else ’s opinion of your work is just that – opinion. You are the ultimate judge of your own work. If you like it then chances are there will be others that like it as well.

10. Having 2 finished songs for every 40 unfinished is not that unusual. Professional song writers have notebooks filled with bits and pieces of lines and song ideas.

These rules are designed to help with personal expression in lyric writing. If you are writing to make money then you will need to follow a preset form created by the music industry. There are hundreds of websites, books and sharks waiting to take your money, build up your hopes and when your money has been exhausted – turn you loose on an industry that eats its own young and crushes anything in its path.

Peace
Doug