Lyric writing

[ben mourningwood]

We've got a couple of new tunes on the go at the minute . One is finished and one is a way off yet . Im struggling to write some for the second. Normally when we write a song phil handles most of the lyric writing and i chuck the odd bit inhere and there. But im trying to have more of an input with these tunes.

How does everyone else go about their writing ? Iv been writing some for a bit now. I end up putting something down and then a couple of days later coming thinking, "Christ what the hell was i thinking!" haha Does anyone else have that problem?

[stephen]

I tend to keep a notebook with me at all times. The words usually go down as pretty much stream of conciousness. Then I take the best bits and refine them, chop and change between different ones.

Other times I tend to come up with a title or chorus hook, and then write the rest of the song around that. That's more for Baby Bitch than my solo stuff though.

[ben mourningwood]

I have a note book full of stuff from like the past to years , id say theres about 90% bollocks in there and the rest is worth keeping.

[Fugazi]

I tend to let shit wait in my head for a while first, and let my memory decide which bits to hold on to. Then I eventually write stuff down, but it usually takes a few weeks. If I rush it I end up writing stupid clichéd bollocks. I tried keeping a notebook with me for a while, but all that did was artifically pressure me into using it, and the stuff I wrote then was even worse.

[godonlyknows]

I tend to keep a notebook with me at all times. The words usually go down as pretty much stream of conciousness. Then I take the best bits and refine them, chop and change between different ones.
This. Though I use a phone and text stuff to an online list service that I keep stuff in. I then have a laptop with me when I've got time alone with a piano.

As I've got older and less interested in how some bitch made me feel about a thing or other "me me me" business, I'll often sing completely random words along to the "important" bits of the tune, and some will eventually stick.

It'll be something like

"until the house hits the sunshine"

which I then pretend I didn't make up and try to guess what the song's about. If a coherent, interesting story comes together in my head, I proceed to make the rest of the bits build that story, if it's just nonsense, I change a word for another one that sings just the same, and repeat the process.

Eventually there'll be a way to interpret the randomness and the song writes itself from there using bits and bobs of nice ideas from the aforementioned list. It's important to cull that list and lose your ego about it, It's only about 5% gold. Every time I read the list I remove anything that doesn't seem as interesting as it did the first time. The key to this strategy is volume and filtering.

The net aim is to create the illusion that the story was always the plan, and I've painstakingly crafted some words around it to feel "right". In reality, I've just taken a right feeling and let it find its own meaning. Because I am myself, the result will end up reflecting how I think and feel about something anyway.

[stephen]

As I've got older and less interested in how some bitch made me feel about a thing or other "me me me" business


This pretty much describes all my lyrics!

[Nipples]

im absolutely crap at writin lyrics, i got to a point where i was getting friends (namely thehuk) to help me write them. obviously i did the whole im pissed off at everything for whatever reason, ive come across a couple of really random ideas and they have produced some listenable lyrics....

the first is me sat in my room havin a sesh n looking at the back of game/dvd boxes and re-writing things i like

the second being me again in my room havin a sesh getting an idea of what i want to write about then looking on the net for info on it and taking things and re-writing them again.

sorta works but its WAY! better than what i used to write about

[Good Soul]

David Bowie used to cut random headlines and sentances out of magazines etc. then rearrange them all up on a table.

[Doctor C]

To be honest when I come up with lyrics for my stuff at all it's rarely about anything whatsoever. I usually treat lyrics as another musical element, coming up with words that are poetic/aesthetic without actually attempting to express anything. One or two attempts break this mould ("Swinging The Chain" being the most obvious I suppose), but yeah, mainly I am post-Faust/Eno/Suzuki when it comes to words

[Nipples]

writing lyrics in general no matter what its about kinda sucks for me as im no the best person to look at for big words (hence why most of my lyrics are crap).
though its amaising what kinda of lyrics u can find hidden on the back of ghost recon 2 and resident evil! im currently trying to write about the dreaded z word but getting stuck at every corner.... ive tried to come in at a couple of different angles and ended up re-writing a couple of times........ should i give up? or for sheer amusement of wanting to do this continue?

im writing for metal tunes--- nothing extreme just plain old simple metal

[thehuk]

writing lyrics in general no matter what its about kinda sucks for me as im no the best person to look at for big words (hence why most of my lyrics are crap).
though its amaising what kinda of lyrics u can find hidden on the back of ghost recon 2 and resident evil! im currently trying to write about the dreaded z word but getting stuck at every corner.... ive tried to come in at a couple of different angles and ended up re-writing a couple of times........ should i give up? or for sheer amusement of wanting to do this continue?

Dude what we started on the PC the other day had really good direction. Keep running with it, remember the research and avoid the usual cliché. You'll be fine.

www.dictionary.com and www.thesarus.com are your friends!

[Nipples]

Dude what we started on the PC the other day had really good direction. Keep running with it, remember the research and avoid the usual cliché. You'll be fine.

www.dictionary.com and www.thesarus.com are your friends!

u changed ur name too? or was that rus?

[Doctor C]

im currently trying to write about the dreaded z word but getting stuck at every corner....
I know the feeling, ziggurats seem to resist all attempts at lyricism

[Nipples]

I know the feeling, ziggurats seem to resist all attempts at lyricism

yer i know wat ya mean im always gettin my Sumerians and my Babylonians mixed up