Music and the Mac
Lyric-Writing
by Daphne Kalfon
http://www.ilovemymacthesong.com/
This month I was supposed to talk about third-party plug-ins, and what I had intended to do was post a thread on a forum online, asking people what their favourite third-party plug-ins are that they use with GarageBand, or other sequencing programs. However, with the holidays coming, I thought it better to wait until people are a little less preoccupied.... so.... stay tuned for it next month and thanks for your patience : )
That being said, there’s alot of talk about all the technology that is at everyone’s fingertips, but not much talk about the songwriting craft itself, and how to create good songs. This column is going to concentrate on a few of the very basics of lyric-writing.
Many years ago, I took a lyric-writing course entitled “Successful Lyric Writing” by Sheila Davis. It was a book which consisted of ten chapters followed by ten lyric-writing assignments. It was a great way to learn proper lyric-writing techniques without having to pay for an actual course : ) There are many such books available if you are interested in furthering your lyric-writing skills, but this one came highly recommended.
A great thing about songs is that they take our common language and reflect it to us in a new light, amplified by music, rhythm and rhyme. In other words, you don’t have to go far in your quest for lyric ideas. It can be as simple as reading the newspaper, reading poetry to discover turns of speech and newly coined words, and paying close attention to conversations for slang and lingo such as can be heard on the radio or TV. I can personally espouse these activities for the purpose of generating lyric ideas because they have worked for me.
Try consulting a thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, or colloquial dictionaries, the latter of which can be a dictionary of contemporary and colloquial usage, a dictionary of American slang, or a dictionary of American idioms.
Or, if you’d rather have a software program that helps you organize and sort through lyrics more efficiently, check out a program called MasterWriter. It won “Best of Show” at MacWorld in 2003. I’ve had a quick perusal through it and it does look like a great little program. In addition to providing a dynamic environment in which to develop your song lyrics, the program also features a simple and easy-to-use recording section, which includes many built-in drum loops to help you select an appropriate groove for your song. These are just some of the features of the program, so if you want more information, visit www.masterwriter.com.
Another thing you might want to try and which I stumbled on recently is the tune-up catalyst for GarageBand. It’s a great little dashboard widget that is a free download, and it contains tons of ideas to inspire and trigger your brain into thinking of things you might not otherwise have thought of.
Let’s start with the first thing you usually hear of a song, its title. For a title to be memorable, it should be:
1) identifiable after one hearing
2) resounds with one meaning
3) summarizes the essence of the lyric’s statement
A strong start is absolutely essential, as it will pull the listener into the song, but it is also just as important to keep the listener’s attention throughout the song. Some techniques that will help to hook the ear from the outset: use a question; a greeting; a request; a provocative statement; a time frame; a situation; a setting; an image.
Songs can be so powerful because they help people get in touch with their innermost feelings, experiences, and thoughts. They give people a vehicle to express hopes, dreams, and inner conflicts that they might otherwise keep inside.Words carry alot of power. Lyrics should reflect a universally shared emotion, a universally understood situation, or a universally comprehended meaning. They should conjure up mental pictures in the minds of listeners who will in turn react according to their own belief system, past experiences, and attitudes on various subject matter.
The most effective songs are the ones that involve us in a scene, or one we feel is cut so realistically from the fabric of life that we could be a part of it. Often, the more “commercial” songs are the ones that not only express more personal situations and feelings, but they do it in a way that everyone else can easily understand and identify with
They should be sequential time-wise (i.e. not jump all over the place), should be rooted in a real-life situation or universal emotion, and should use vivid imagery (word pictures) that appeal to the five senses, and bring out a deep emotional response. Such images allow you to bypass your listener’s intellect and connect directly to their ear and their heart. As a songwriter, you’ve got to get your listeners in the heart, in the head or in the feet.
Make your lyrics so down to earth , conversational, simple, sincere and honest that they strike the dominant chord that connects all of us to one another. This will make your listener come back for second helpings.
Writing songs in the first person, but not about yourself, is very effective. The “I” point of view and the “uninvolved storyteller” point of view are the most effective; the former lets listeners internalize the message by saying “I” along with you; the latter avoids moralizing/preaching and still manages to effectively relay its message. Second and third person are also feasible, depending what you wish to convey and how you wish to convey it.
Let the music show you what words and sounds are needed. This is mostly the way I work. I say “mostly”, because I do usually think of a phrase or a catchword first, and from there I let the music guide me. I try to think of a melody that fits those words properly, and from there I compose the rest of the music. Once the music is done, or mostly done, I write the rest of the lyrics. I also just used the word “properly”. By that, I mean that the words should flow with the rhythm and meter of the music, without the forcing of any word syllabically or otherwise. If it is awkward to sing the words within the melody you’ve created, you should probably consider a rewrite, either of lyrics, music, or both.
An effective way of writing words to a melody is to listen to the melody many times with no intention of thinking up words that will fit; instead, simply listen to what the melody says to you: what is it about? what feelings does it create in you? what pictures does it paint? is it a love song? is there a time, a place, a person?
Jot down these ideas and see if you can form any kind of structure for the content of the song. Then follow this up by creating a story containing the specifics you have discovered - time, place and character.
A technique used in poetry seminars to help writers find connections between words is one that’s also useful when writing lyrics:
write down 4 verbs, 4 nouns, and 4 adjectives. Then write a few verses about a single subject in which you try to use all of these words. Use other words as well, but see in which direction your list of 12 might lead you.
Variety is very important too. Make sure that your lyrics have changes in density, meter, and rhyme scheme. This holds true for the music as well; changes in the music’s intensity, volume and texture, will help people to better absorb your message and most importantly, to remember it.
Earlier, I listed a number of activities you can do and resources you can consult in order to generate fresh lyric ideas. When it comes to musical ideas, many people aren’t aware of the fact that many classical, country, folk and musicals tunes are now public domain. Public domain means that you can use the music (melody and harmony etc.) without paying any kind of license fee.
In order to find out whether or not a song is public domain, you can consult either the US copyright office, performing rights societies, or go online and do a search for the music in question.
If the music you are interested in using is public domain, you can then make new arrangements of it, copyright it and publish it with new lyrics (and maybe even collect $$ on it!).
In conclusion, a song is a combination of words and music. If your music is weak, your lyrics will suffer, and if your lyrics are weak, your music will suffer. Songwriting is a fine balancing act between those two elements, and mastering that balancing act can take many years of practice. The lyric information I have outlined above contains just some of the most salient points to keep in mind when you are writing lyrics for a song. I hope they come in handy on your next songwriting project!
The above information was gleaned from “Successful Lyric-Writing” by Sheila Davis, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Songwriting but Didn’t Know Who to Ask” by Cliffie Stone, “Beginning Songwriters’ Answer Book” by Paul Zollo, and “The Complete Handbook of Songwriting” by Liggett.
