What's in A Word?

Words are wonderful. I love putting together words to make beautiful, coherent sentences. Shaping, sometimes rhyming, repeating and pulling it all together in a tidy little bundle. No, not a blog. Not a poem. That my dear friends is what we call lyrics.

I’ve written many lyrics. I’ve edited many lyrics. I’ve also trashed volumes of lyrics.

Writing song lyrics can be child’s play or a tension mounting headache when there is a deadline and an album to complete.

There are many, many great songwriters out there. There are many, many really bad songwriters out there. I’m talking about contemporary pop/rock/folk. Lyrics for Broadway musicals are an entirely different blog. So many lyrics to consider.

Two of my favorite American songwriters are Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Their music is good but their lyrics are stellar. The lyrics of their songs can stand alone without the support of the music. They are my inspiration when I create lyrics.

Writing song lyrics is similar to writing poetry. But not really. I know, it sounds like a confused mess. In fact, most of the modern poetry of today (in my opinion) is a jumble of random words thrown together in a pattern on a page. Look at this:

It’s cold outside

But I feel the warmth radiating

I am under

A layer of down

So cold, so warm

It’s crap, right? But let me tell you, I see new volumes of poetry on a regular basis. Award winning poetry. And my dears? Most of the time it’s no better than the drek that I just  wrote for you. In my opinion.

Back to lyrics. For the past few years I’ve been writing lyrics for an Italian rock artist. Hard rock. Not metal. Just good hard rock. The music is driving and I love it.

At first, I was correcting and editing his lyrics. The problem was the simplicity of the words. Easy rhymes. Why? Because the thought process was in Italian and then translated to English which didn’t work. Another problem was that the command of the English language was at elementary school level. And so, I’ve been given free rein.

Easy, right? No.

I write the lyrics to fit the music. I am given a quickly recorded music file and a title. And then, I write. No theme. No boundaries except for the musical phrasing. He always has a title in mind and that title must somehow fit into the song, usually the chorus. But it’s up to me to decide what the song is about and where it’s going. The songs are long. It’s a slow process and each song takes me weeks to complete. But I love it. And when it’s finished, recorded and performed I feel a great sense of accomplishment.

I’m no Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan and I don’t think I ever will be. But then again, who knows?

Have a great week!

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