help with lyrics.......

i've already posted this in the writers forum, but then realised that this was a more appropriate forum so decided to post here aswel!

im a songwriter..... i find that i can write music easily, but struggle with lyrics. my 2 main problems are that;

::: i can't find inspiration from anywhere
::: i can never transfer thoughts and feelings from my brain to paper

i've asked ppl for help b4 and they've just told me to " write wot you feel". as i said i find it really difficult to write what's in my head and making it sound good.
anybody got any suggestions for a struggling, 16 year old songwriter in desperate need of help and advice??

cheers

peace

 

go and sit outside somewhere that inspires you, because writting (atleast i think) is a very visual thing. if i see something that inspires me, i'll write about it, be it the sea or the city

 

do you like your voice ? maybe you got a style that you ain't sure about ... like some people just fit the blues , and some people's got nothing , and sure it's hard to make something of nothing unless nothing is everything and then it's still hard because everything keeps getting more and more and who can keep up with that ... ?

 

why dont you read some poems, but dont just copy them into your song, adapt them.

 

Go sit in a club listening to music you enjoy. That always gives me ideas. Be careful not to steal though. Gotta be original but listening to some local tunes helps jive the mind

 

~*hey ~ maybe carrying around a taperecorder with you for spontaneous brain drool thoughts that may turn out to be snazzy lyrics... or always having a trusty ol pencil & paper handy for when the moment hits ya? some fantastic person said once that if you want to be a writer then read, if you want to be a painter then look at art, so maybe learning more about poetry or some musical lyricists you're interested in will help kick start the ol inspiration? hope that helps sweetie!*~

 

hey, cheers fer all the advice i'll try to use some of the ideas you have all just given me.


cheers

peace

 

well....here my suggestion....ive written alot for school and for myself. and people have always said its fantastic and good. but my secret for flat out writing is alcohol....for lyric styles....i go for shrooms....though it pisses me off when i write something really good and people ask "whered you get those lyrics from" cause im not about using other peoples words....and i tell them i wrote it myself.

 

I'd definetely use a tape recorder...and well...I always sing nonesence stuff when I'm doing chores or something and I wish that I had it down so I would def. keep one handy just in case something comes. I'm sure its not what you'd like to hear but the best stuff comes when you least expect it than when you sit down and say "I'm going to write now"...its too forced...

...but that's just me...

 

what i do is watch people or things (as spyder said) and write from there, but also write the thoughts in your head and try to adapt them as more sorta lyrical thoughts....so you kinda adapt your thoughts to lyrics....a thesaurus can help for different more interesting words too. hope it helps! roly.xxx

 

Hi Mowgli,


Yeah, I totally agree with PrairiePixie about the tape recorder...it has been invaluable since I started using it. It supports 'stream of consciousness' improv vocalizing without imposing the strictures of left brain organizing/writing.
I've been writing songs for about 15 years, and about a year ago went into the worst writers block I'd ever known (lyrically speaking ). I have surmounted this by attempting to avoid the 'first person perspective' or 'self reflective/introspective' premises for the songs. Instead I've been trying to start by just telling a story. For example, it's the difference between:
"So this is what I think I got out of my relationship with that goat" ,
and
"In the mighty fishing village of Goderich there was this depraved lunatic who
enjoyed playing lawn darts with his goat lovers after ritualistically shaving them".

Also, trying to write as soon as you wake up is a good practice I've found.

Peace

 

write about a special moment out of your life or something that has happend to you

 

But if you do steal, its not that much of a problem.

Probably every band recording music right now does it in one way or another, but nobody's as open about it as Oasis.


Led Zeppelin are huge theives too.

 

i dont feel lyrics are a visual thing at all for me. i write my music. then i hum a vocal line over the top and as i do that i make sounds and broken words or phrases into the notes im singing, and ill record it. then ill look back and hear what i recorded and see if that gives inspiration for feelings or themes. and ill just try and implement the ideas into verses and fitting in words with the music that its flowing onto. i feel the music speaks, and i need to put the right words into it to convey the message in almost real-time (not retrospectively). if you know what i mean. like, the music will be singing the words but only i can understand them so i have to translate the music's language into english as it moves along.

so i very much get the themes from the music. and ive found it really works best for me this way. my latest song i think connected heaps of progression in the lyrics with changing sounds (minor and major sorta change) and i used this method to the bone.

oh and getting stoned helps

 

I've been reading lately, and getting inspiration from things I read... Emily Dickenson poems are cool.

 

1. Get inspired. That's your work to do.

2. Try other methods such as typing.

 

This is what David Bowie does (so he says):

1. Think of cool phrases. ("ground control to Major Tom", "the 20th century dies", "where were the spiders")
2. Write them down on slips of paper.
3. Pour them on a table and arrange them like a jigsaw puzzle. Refine.

But if you use this method, PLEEEEZ make sure you arrange them in some sensible fashion! This exercise is not intended to substitute for good old fashioned intelligence.

 

The William Carlos Williams method! Beautiful stuff.

IMO, if you want to be a good writer, you have to write alot. The best way to get better is to get critiqued, and to be open to criticism. Start critiquing others' work as well... help others get better and you'll get better yourself.

 

listen to some songs, read some poems, and think of what's going through your mind, eventually you'll come up with a song title and some lyrics. I'm going to name some of my songs-stuck up bitch, sympathy and remorse, and drifting apart. gonna start workin on them tonight.

 

Thank you...i always carry paper around, for whatever i need to remember. whenever an idea hits me i write it down. there isnt much of a point to us telling you what we are inspired by, since you need to find your own inspiration and it would be best for you to find what inspires you