How do you write decent lyrics??

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Hey people

I've finished writing something on piano, it's nothing special, just your average D minor song. Now I'd like to write some lyrics for it, but I can't get started. I know you're meant to find "inspiration" but that's a little hard (or impossible) when you're apathetic I want a suitably morose theme, but I can't think of anything specific. If I wrote something nihilistic, how could I make it subtle? I hate crappy, straightforward lyrics ("I hate myself, I hate my life, I want to die, I'll get a knife" kind of lyrics). So how do I write something subtle?

mmm...I used to listen to the chord progressions, then try to find words that had the same 'rhythm' to them (i.e., a triplet would me a word with 3 syllables)

To avoid the blatant message, set the song as 2nd or 3rd person. Tell a story. Try different rhyming schemes (heck, I even did a sonnet once; awkward, but I done did it...

Listen for strange words or word combinations, sometimes that would set my imagination off.

Hope that helps.

that was about a hundred times more helpful than the quassi-helpful wikihow articles, thanks the above seems like a pretty structured way of coming up with lyrics, just what I needed. I'll post in the art section soon

If you ever find the secret to good or even decent lyrics, let me know. I'm a composer, and as such I'm much more adept at setting poetry to music or orchestrating/producing a song someone else has already written. Lately I've tried concentrating on songwriting since for now I'm dry on the more artsy stuff.

Speaking as an Aspie, I think it has to do with my fixation on sound. I wrote poetry for a long time in high school, but by college I'd lost all confidence in my writing. I'm able to hear things in lyrics by other people, though, and I tend to be highly critical of their use of language. A few days ago I got a chance to pitch a song to some professional songwriters/producers--not to get signed or published, but just to see what it would be like and get some feedback. Here's one piece of advice that might be worth passing along, especially for you situation:

Find a partner to write with. You're probably a decent keyboard player, so find a decent singer. Play what you have, tell him/her what kind of ideas you have as far as setting a tone, and then just let them go with it. My lyricist and I have had a strained musical relationship because I began pressuring her to just start writing lyrics. It turns out she got most of her ideas from what I was doing at the piano; I'm good at free improv. Eventually I'll stumble upon a musical idea she likes, and we just run with it from there. After you basically get the song down, you'll want to revise lyrics until you have something that REALLY works. Just finding someone you can work with will be a big help.

Another idea: I'm a fan of REM and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Part of what makes their music great is that the lyrics seem so generic, meaningless, and somewhat surrealist that the lyrics feel/sound of secondary importance to the melody and rhythm.

REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)," for example: "That's great it starts with an earthquake, birds, snakes, an airplane/Lenny Bruce is not afraid." RHCP's "Aeroplane": Sitting in my kitchen, hello, I can't find the love I want/Someone better slap me before I start to rust/before I start to decompose." I mean, come on, how much talent does it take to come up with that?

If you really want to write your own lyrics, especially the kind of music you described, I'd point you in that direction rather than trying to write another Nirvana or Alanis Morisette song. As for me, I'm going to work more on getting my lyricist inspired! I have a feeling you could probably do the same.

Happy writing!

Carry a small notebook with you always. Jot down interesting phrases you hear or run across. The other day I was reading a book by the chap who wrote "Schindler's List" and the phrase gravestones unread jumped out at me. Don't know how I can use it, but there you go. I also read Lovecraft stories for the odd phrases and place names.

And as for the chord and note triplet thing, remember the story about Paul writing "Hey Jude". He had filled in with the words "the movement you need is on your shoulder". When he sang it for John, he stopped at that point and commented that those were just fill-in words. John responded, "No that's bloody great ! !" Paul looked at him and said "what does it mean?" John responded "I have no idea, but it's bloody great!!"

Sometimes accidents lead to genius ....

I don't know how helpful this will be, but one thing you may want to try is singing the melody with nonsense syllables. Sometimes the sounds of certain syllables will resonate with the melody and can point you to words you can use.

Try writing out what you were thinking or feeling at the time you wrote the music. Sometimes that can inspire lyrics.

On a technical note, try and line up stressed syllables with strong beats. For example, DOWN TRODden, with DOWN on beat 1 and TROD on beat 3 (assuming 4/4 time). Or something similar (your music might emphasize different beats). It's not a rule that's set in stone, but it can help make your lyrics intelligible, if that's what you want (I know some styles of music don't put an emphasis on lyrics). I was in a class and the teacher played a song demo one day. No one in the class could understand the lyrics. The teacher projected the words and music on the board and once we could read the words we could understand the lyrics. It turned out EVERY stressed syllable fell on a weak beat.

I'm sorry if this isn't too helpful. When I used to write songs I almost always started with the lyrics and then wrote the music; sometime both at the same time. I thought the other posters' suggestions were very good.

Good luck!

I just use the world around me.

I can write lyrics very easily off the top of my head.

I just start off by humming where the words would go, then add them as I go along, as well as count the rhythm of the lines.

Roger Waters says the line "Get a new job with more pay and you're OK" was an advert he saw in the underground. Similarly, most of the lyrics of "Have a Cigar" were actually said by idiot record producers, such as "which one's Pink?"

You're welcome, glad I could help.

I don't know how helpful this will be, but one thing you may want to try is singing the melody with nonsense syllables. Sometimes the sounds of certain syllables will resonate with the melody and can point you to words you can use.


This is how Peter Gabriel writes his stuff. Considering what studio time costs, a call from him must make some people very rich...