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Some Ways of Writing Songs

When I first started writing songs I largely imitated what I listened to on the radio at the time. I didn't copy the tunes and words exactly because even then I respected the uniqueness of other writer's efforts but the songs I wrote were very similar in their feel to what I heard. The phrases, both music and lyric, were very similar (if inferior) to the radio songs.

I wrote about 65 or 70 songs in a two year period and many of them were very derivative, not particularly original, largely just parroting the ideas of established (or at least published) songwriters getting radio airplay. The songs were rarely about my experience of life so most had almost nothing of "me" in them. I couldn't play a musical instrument when I first wrote songs but, fortunately, if I wrote down the words I could usually remember my tunes. When I did later learn to play guitar I found that my early songs largely fell into the 3 chord category.

My apprenticeship

I found this was not a bad way of learning to write songs and it's a method which can be employed at any time if you're stuck for inspiration. Turn on the radio and write a song similar to something you hear. It doesn't matter if it's not the greatest song ever written. No-one ever has to hear it but, as an exercise, it might just get your creativity flowing and lead you on to other songs which you consider to be more worthwhile.

My songwriting "apprenticeship" was similar to a real apprenticeship insofar as towards the latter part of the two years I noticed that I was starting to write songs that were not so dependent on what I heard on the radio. So my songwriting was becoming more "independent", more "my style" and not so derivative (as you'd expect of an apprentice as he/she gains knowledge and experience in the craft). My "apprenticeship" taught me some of the fundamentals of writing songs - structure, meter, rhythm, rhyme and giving a song an ending. Some of this was also at least partly due to the influence of an English teacher who encouraged her class to write poetry (or in my case song lyrics). She also encouraged us to listen to a wider range of music and songs. I think she had a modern view, for those times, that popular song lyrics were a good way of getting teenagers more interested in poetry and English literature!

I remember the same English teacher once gave a tremendous lesson. I don't think it was part of the curriculum but she simply devoted a lesson to talking about language and creative writing (particularly poetry or lyrics). She talked about using natural language when writing, avoiding archaisms (eg "he did say"), cliché and forced or unnatural rhymes and about writing the way we speak. She spoke about parts of language, metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia and the ways in which these can add colour to writing. She spoke about writing styles such as humour, satire, tragi-comedy and writing techniques such as doubles-entendre, sarcasm, and the use of alliteration, consonance and so on. She gave many other tremendous lessons but this was one I particularly remember because it profoundly influenced my lyricwriting and songwriting.

About the same time I learned guitar well enough to be able to work out chords to my songs as I wrote them. This was a newer phase of songwriting for me and it led to songs that were more original, at least lyrically, (in my view) than most of the previous efforts. This is generally how I still write and finish songs, with a guitar on my lap, a pen and paper or computer keyboard and mouse at my fingertips although I usually start a song just by writing a line or a phrase on a scrap of paper or humming a snatch of a tune into a tape machine for later reference (more often than not never referred to again!).

Time and creativity

Making time also enables you to lock into the creativity process and "sort out" your left brain/right brain activity. It's said that the logic and editing side of the brain is most active during the day, parsing and analysing day to day existence. The creative side of the brain works best just as we're falling into sleep (it's associated with dreaming) or just as we're waking and it can be encouraged if we put ourselves in situations which minimise the need to switch to edit mode.

I've noticed that I have to have complete quiet, often in the wee small hours of the morning when all the televisions are off and everyone else is in bed, to seriously undertake a song and finish it. I have to be in another room, not in bed to do this. One suggestion is that it's also possible to do this upon first waking, before you turn on the radio, before you make that cup of something and creating at this time forms the basis of Julia Cameron's instruction book The Artist's Way. This requires much discipline especially if (like me) you're not particularly a "morning person".

I have written one complete song just before I slipped into sleep. Luckily my guitar was just by the bed as well as a pad and pen and I was able to capture a song in my almost somnolent state. Most other times when I've tried this in bed I've just fallen asleep! I've always admired people who have the facility to switch into creative mode and start writing or composing even in crowded, noisy situations such as pubs, taxis, outdoor cafés and with plenty of people around. I've never been able to write in those situations.

Emotion is at the heart of music (not just in the lyrics). It's not necessary to be in an emotional state to create (and in fact the emotion of the moment might impede creativity) but when I write I often find I'm referring back to or reflecting upon my emotions about some event, person, place, situation or maybe just what a particular emotion feels like and implies. These emotions can be sadness, pain, joy, regret, anger, pride and much more. In my songs the emotion is sometimes "raw", in others I've usually tried to analyse or distil that emotion.

Songwriting approaches

• Someone once suggested I should learn and use new chords because frequently changing chords gives a song more interest. This is certainly the case in some jazz music and some of the best popular music of the 1930s and 40s and it's not a bad idea to familiarise yourself with jazz chords even if you don't use them.
• Beat boxes or keyboards can add a dimension to rhythms. Someone told me once that composers and songwriters who used these often were using rhythms that they considered that drummers and percussionists would find impossible to emulate - only to find that many drummers and percussionists were indeed emulating (in real life) the artificial beats once they heard them.
• I saw a new fangled MIDI keyboard demonstrated once (probably old technology now). The presenter said it was possible to set a basic beat going (even with an intro and outro beat, layer over various sounds based on the chord structure you want and build a song that way. Dump it to recorder and add vocals and you have a finished demo. I've never tried this but I can see it's not only possible but probably the norm for writing a lot of keyboard based songs. More recently a similar and more sophisticated result can be achieved on computer with loops, sequencers, samplers, multitrack programs - the lot! Certainly this is a good technique for getting the basic tune down or a lyricist might do something similar with an accomplished composer who gets a tune together and keeps playing it while the lyricist works out some lyrics. Some people might say that this is an artificial or not particularly creative way of composing but, although I've never tried it, I think it has just as much validity as any other technique.
• Songwriting is a muscle and needs to be exercised every day even if you just write crap most of the time is one view that has been suggested (by songwriter Terry Bradford). This seems related to the suggestion for stimulating creativity by making a regular diary booking. Other songwriters take the (opposite?) view that creativity sometimes takes time to develop and eventually "your creation" will come out without having to go to all that effort. I think the truth of these views for me is somewhere in between (tending more towards the lazy, wait-for-it-to-happen, end!).
• Get a piece of sheet music of a song you don't know, don't learn the song but use the chords as the basis of a new song. Songwriter Chris Davies suggested this. I've never tried it.

Researching the song

1. a review process
2. an ideas process
3. a testing process
4. a gathering process and
5. a reporting process.

Review

Ideas

Testing and Gathering

I admit that sometimes I can't sustain this intensity. I might decide that the song I'm working on is not going to meet my standards and I decide either to leave the song unfinished (perhaps for another time, perhaps never to be finished) or I try and finish the song quickly with nothing like the same intensity, scrutiny and testing. Sometimes I surprise myself with the result but often the completed song is something I regard as "not my best effort". Occasionally I've completed a song but returned to it at some later time and completely rewritten the words.

Reporting

Originality

I always try to "research" that element of "unfamiliarity" whether it's a way of expressing something or an unusual combination of chords, a particular sound, an original and interesting melody, a "killer riff" or a different or unexpected rhythm. Sometimes it's only in the recording studio (the arrangement) that this is achieved. I'd have to say too that in some songs the "unfamiliar" is only achievable in what the lyric expresses. I think a former SAFM Music Programmer was expressing this at a talk at a SCALA AGM years ago when he spoke about "the ninety words that matter" - there are about 90 words in a standard popular song. Other music industry people talk about the first 15 seconds of a song being the most important.

Tools

• A Rhyming Dictionary (Words to Rhyme With Words by the late Willard Espy is my favourite. It's just been released in a new paperback edition).
• Any number of Dictionaries (Macquarie, Oxford)
• A Thesaurus (Roget)
• Books of guitar chords, preferably with jazz chords (or I just try unusual fingerings or alternate fingerings of common chords on the fretboard). I'd imagine there are similar books (and fingerings) applicable to keyboard and other instruments.

If I can draw a conclusion from this excursion into my songwriting experiences I'd say that, like any job, to be successful at songwriting (or any kind of writing), one has to work at it. This involves a degree of discipline, perhaps even treating the task of writing songs like a regular job, starting writing at 9, working until 12, taking a lunch break (or midnight feast!) and then resuming after lunch or the feast. For many, songwriting can only be a part time job so perhaps the discipline of balancing your songwriting with "another" job, study or homelife is the challenge you need to face.

To be good at any job you also need to keep abreast of what other people are doing, industry trends, new technology and new ideas, new sounds and means of expression. It might also be a matter of finding out what you're best at doing. I know some people who've tried to slave away writing songs with "meaningful" (or any) lyrics but have discovered that their talents are best put to use in the area of composition and have forged careers in areas like dance music, music for computer games or in animation and multimedia. And there are some who struggle with tunes but write lyrics with some ease who might find that they either need to collaborate with a composer or venture into other areas of literary expression (poetry, short stories, novels, scriptwriting, research - whatever).

Whether it's a "job" or a pastime remember that songwriting should remain a source of satisfaction, pleasure and perhaps self-fulfilment rather than a chore.

Copyright © Robert Childs 2004

Abridged and adapted from Some Ways of Writing Songs by Robert Childs - first presented as a workshop for SCALA on 20th July 2004 then printed (in an expanded version) in SCALA News # 101, January/February/March 2005.

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Writing unusual, colourful and memorable lyrics

As a judge of the SCALA lyrics section in the FOOM Festival, I am aware that many members are already accomplished songwriters. I love reading the entries. There's always a great variety of subjects and styles. And the finals night speaks for itself. I mainly write poetry but I also write songs which my husband sets to music. I admit, that although I write these lyrics with a rhythm or tune in my head I am not an experienced enough musician to write the music. So I will be dealing with the lyrics side of song writing What makes lyrics memorable? How can you write lyrics when you have no ideas?

I was employed as writer for Flim Flam's Singing Telegrams for a number of years. I was told information about the victim/recipient, then I would write it into the form of a song. I wrote to well known tunes like Coming Round The Mountain. I didn't write good lyrics but I had fun with words. I learnt how to use humour and how to write to tight deadlines. Some busy Friday nights I'd have to work late, with Arthur Ape and a few bunny girls breathing over my shoulder while I typed. Even though I cringe at some of the rhymes I used, it was good experience at word economy and writing with music in mind.

I must say, I'm grateful to be a writer here and now. We live in sped up times but at least we have a standard of living which allows us to write we have computers to make life easier, we have access to books and information, we are educated. A few centuries ago I would have had to write in secret and publish under a man's name. Even nowadays, if I lived in a third world country I may not know how to write or I may have 10 children to look after and a field to plough. So really there are no barriers to stop us writing. I try to write every day. I don't write something great every day. Some days I write things that don't work. Getting into a routine with your writing is important the imagination is like a muscle the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes!

For me, writing is all about having fun with words playing games with words. If I'm excited and 'driven' while I'm writing, it shows in the piece. I like to explore all my thoughts and ideas even though some might lead nowhere or might be painful or seem silly or be about taboo subjects. I try not to labour too long over the same piece of writing. A song might go through ten drafts or more. I work on a few things at the same time. When I feel I've done all I can on one, I put it aside and work on another then come back to the original piece after a week or two and it is like reading it from a new perspective. I have a policy not to show anyone a poem or song until I'm fairly happy with it, or the piece may lose its 'energy' before it's finished.

Figurative Language

Details

Lyrics which are rich in detail can also verge on surrealism, like Procol Harem's A Whiter Shade of Pale which is based on Bach's Air on a G String. It is a strange song, rich and full of imagery and detail. The writer probably had the Bach cantata running through his head and just wrote what came. I've tried this method and it can work well. I listen to a piece of music 4 or 5 times until the tune is roughly in my head then I write what fits. I write for as long as possible. The problem I find with this style of free writing is that the piece is usually much too long and too abstract I have to prune it and pull it back to reality by adding some everyday lines. Although, writing with a tune in mind helps set the rhythm and can free up ideas.

My husband likes playing medieval music so I wanted to write a song which would suit this style of music. I read a book of medieval writing and I noticed that most songs were sad, about tragic events or lost love. There was also a lot of repetition so I wrote a piece in this style, trying not to use any modern sounding words or phrases. I had a rhythm in my head, and I used a medieval rhyme scheme it helps to read about, and imitate the styles of songs you are interested in. I find that lyrics are more 'loaded' when the first draft comes in one burst. I write down everything as it comes and try to make this initial stage last as long as possible. I scrawl things all over the page, in no particular order; I don't worry about spelling, structure or rhyme. The initial stage is the most exciting stage of writing later comes the editing stage and I find it is much better to have too much information to pick over than not enough then you can choose the best bits instead of padding it out. In the second draft I look at rhythm, possible rhymes, line order, chorus etc. If I am going to have a chorus which is repeated a lot, I like to vary the words slightly. I might try leaving a word out or playing around the words to get a different meaning, eg Leonard Cohen sings When it all comes down to dust, I will kill you if I must, I'll help you if I can. Later he sings. When it all comes down to dust, I will help you if I must, I'll kill you if I can. Clever word play can really enhance a song.

Hyperbole

And no one remembers yet another song about the red rose of love! Dare to be different! Robert Childs mentioned at his workshop [see above] how it is important to get the right balance between the familiar and the unfamiliar, between the concrete and the abstract, between the strange and the normal. In songs, more so than in poems, it important to engage the listener and to speak to them on a personal level. So mixing unusual poetic language with everyday language gives the listener something familiar to grasp while they absorb the other. For example: Led Zeppelin's metaphor of a stairway to heaven is a strange and old world metaphor but they make it appealing to a modern audience by adding colloquial lines when she gets there she knows if the stores are all closed.

As writers/entertainers we have to try to keep evolving. Try new techniques new styles of song writing. If you rhyme, try not to, and vice versa. Try writing a song that breaks the rules or is completely ridiculous. Look at songs like: Pop Toaster / Mouldy Old Dough I'm not saying they are great lyrics but they are totally original and that's what made them hits. It's always better to liven up your words, rather than tone them down!

Being a mother, a writer, a shop assistant, a freelance editor and helping to run a small farm doesn't leave me much spare time. So when I do get a few hours, I don't have time to wait for inspiration. As Jack London said: You can't wait for inspiration; you have to go after it with a club. So I go to my notebooks (I have notebooks in the car, the kitchen, the bedroom, my knapsack, etc). Sometimes these notes will spark an idea, or other times I may have seen or read about something which I want to write about but often, I don't have any ideas so I set myself exercises . Over the years I've found some great ways of getting started.

I bet Casey Chambers didn't get up in the morning and think to herself, You make me feel like a river. No, she would have played around with the metaphor. And Joni Mitchell's song Borderline comes from nothing but a train of thought. Songwriters and poets are always looking for the unusual connection and seeing where it leads. For example How many songs have the line - 'love is ...' like oxygen/ not a dirty word / a many splendid thing / a lie. or - 'I am ...' a rock/ an island / I am woman / I am the walrus / I am the moon. or - 'You are ...' my sunshine /my wonderwall / my world, etc. I like to find connections between odd things. How is a paper clip like a broken marriage? Anything! Test the power of metaphor - the more obscure, the more memorable if you can pull it off. Why not write down a whole lot of interesting lines and see where they take you? Treat it as a game and you may be surprised by the results. Minds are like parachutes they only function when open.

Another exercise which I enjoy involves listening to a song, then writing alternative words to it. It's a good exercise in meter and rhythm 'Weird Al' does it very well. Just take a song which annoys you. For example, I like the singer Sting, however, his lyrics in Every Breath You Take annoy me. How terrible - someone watching every move you make, every breath you take. It sounds like a stalker! You couldn't even go to the toilet without him watching. So I wrote the woman's response: Every breath I take / every step I make / he is watching me / I can't fart or burp / without that little twerp / watching me. / Oh can't he see ~ he is smothering me and so on.

Another way of writing lyrics when you have no ideas, is the collage method. Take a pile of books, fiction; non fiction; instructive, etc. If you have half an hour to spare, just flip through the pages and write down a good line or two from each book. You will come up with some great lines to hang your lyrics on and these 'borrowed' lines will give the lyrics the advantage of sounding authoritative and wide ranging.

Rhyme

Alliteration

Ninety nine percent of all songs are about people. Probably 60 - 80% are about love. So it is important for songwriters and poets to observe people, to eavesdrop and to notice the differences and the similarities between people. As writers, we try to put ourselves in others' shoes and think about how it feels. I find that writing in first person is always more direct, so use you or I instead of she and he, if appropriate. Present tense is also more engaging. Try to be consistent with tone words like 'thee' and 'thou' alongside words like 'modem' or 'taxi' can jar and make the writing lack authenticity.

Copyright © Jude Aquilina 2004

Abridged from Writing unusual, colourful and memorable lyrics by Jude Aquilina - first presented as a workshop for SCALA on 19th October 2004 then printed in SCALA News # 101, January/February/March 2005.

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