Serious Lyrics

Heres eight simple rules to greatly improve your lyric writing.

01. Tools Of The Trade. Always carry a pad and pen with you wherever you go because you never know when brilliance may show itself. For me, I often think of my best lyrics when I'm already tucked up in bed or in the shower!

02. Don't Beat Around The Bush. In my hometown I see so many hip artists struggling to impose their genius. The answer is you simply must write about things you are VERY familiar with. How many times have you seen an agonised beret clad writer holding his/her pen mere millimetres from the paper only to lift it again with a grimace of contorted despair? This as known as "showoff stalling syndrome" and it can affect all of us if we are too ambitious.

03. Music Makes The Differance. So you've polished off enough little couplets and verse lines to build a song but on the final reading you find it sounds just too weak. Do not waste your efforts! You will be amazed how much those timid, little words can grow if you a play a decent guitar or piano riff along with them. Let's consider a song we all love: "Where Is My Mind" (The Pixies). 2nd verse goes like this:

I Went Swimming In The Carribean
Animals Were Hiding Behind The Rocks
Except The Little Fish Who Was Scared
But Said He Was Gonna Talk To Me To Me To Me

This is not the highest standard of literature and yet when sung alongside those four rolling barchords and tensile lead guitar it steps up to legendary lyric status.

04. Not Always Your Words. They say it was Thom Yorke (Radiohead) who pioneered the use of the dictaphone for recording lyrics, and maybe it was. The dictaphone can have two uses:

If you are not so good at writing you might prefer to record your lyrics by voice. It simply might help you to express yourself in a more articulate way where writing is more difficult.

You can record other people (smarter people) in speech and put their words into a song. They'll never know. If you're a hell bent political twat then you can record politicians and transcribe their quotes straight into your music. Endless possibilities here... cafes, lovers, cinema, in church, at work, school, the police station.

05. The Mighty Thesaurus. You might say this is cheating but come on... If writers didn't use a thesaurus then who else would? It is a priceless tool if you wan't to replace one word for a cooler sounding one, or one more in harmony with your music. Or you might stumble accross a word which better expresses your meaning.

06. The Sounds Of Silence. Maybe not everyone will agree with this but I find it helps if you don't listen to music while writing lyrics. Except possibly classical music. It is because when you are writing you want your mind to be as open as possible, so that you can pick up as much inspiration/information as possible. If you're sitting there rocking away to Velvet Revolver or New Order or whatever your mind tends to focus too much on that music and not enough on your lyric writing. Sometimes I listen to Joy Division and find myself writng down his lyrics instead of my own. No good.

07. Anything Goes... It can be one word per minute or a packed full rap sort of thing. Or the whole song can be one bloody long sentence (smashing pumpkins). As long as you're happy with your expression on the page then you've done well. Moulding the lyrics to the beat of a song can be left til afterwards.

08. To The Guitar Forum. Theres no need to be shy, nobody knows your real name unless you were silly enough to put it in your title. So follow the other budding lyricists to the guitar forum and give us all a listen!

Comments

[Eddie_Van_Halen]

Good advice, ive been struggling on lyrics with my band so we'll give your points a try.

[Nadz]

not bad...i think alot of song writers have to higher expectations on their lyrics

[Eddie_Van_Halen]

Another thing you should have mensioned is the beatles. Some of their lyrics would sound absolute bollocks if you read them off paper, think about that song, "I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, coo-coo-ca-choo" what the hell was that about? who cares! the song rocked! long live the (remaining) beatles!

[stiff-upper-lip]

nice advice, thanks

[FenderStrat1337]

good advice, ive tried to right lyrics, but i suck

[guitarjared]

nice advice, man good article.

[smilifile]

gud article

[PsychoWolfD]

Yes, good the advise is very helpful. Great article.

[SLAYTERA]

best advice to be an ultimate lyricist....Be a rapper!

listen to immortal technique,necro,krs-one,k-os to give you an idea of good rap.

[Blackbullet]

................and cue the rap haters who will destroy the comments section now.

[aliceinnirvana]

A thesaurus is definitely a must for any lyricist. I don't prefer to listen to first grade vocabulary all the time.

[RainMustFall]

Good article...

[Diceman42]

Yeah this works. 5.

[Paintedblue]

I liked it. I write lot's of lyrics but i'll give your ways a try and see what i like better. Good Job.

[TheWalrus135]

super duper!

[zakk_wylde4]

My friend showed some of Necro's songs. The guy is seriously retarded. His rhymes are like "I'm gonna grab you and stab you and make you get on your knees, spread a disease" it's just really weird stuff...

[RiseAgainst]

Thats great advice thanks. i guess the problem w/ me was just listening to music and trying to write down my own lyrics, but actually they sounded almost the same as the band i was listening to. but keep writing man need some more advise on this kinda stuff.

[<<< Frantic >>>]

damn straight, I write heaps of lyrics and stuff, and it just comes naturally, the best ideas just flow. The biggest thing I feel is to tap into emotion, if you feel it then write it. Good article man, cheers

[Slasher_Sloth]

best advice to be an ultimate lyricist....Be a rapper!

aahahhaahahaahahaha! do you honestly believe rappers write GOOD lyrics?! seriously, every rap song is about the same things: Killing people, dealing drugs, getting laid, and sometimes a bunch of nonsense shit about them being "cool". Good lyrics? not at all.

[Bluejay451]

Uhhh....no. Not every rapper raps about that, and there are some that have very good lyrics. Now don't get me wrong, I don't listen to rap, and a lot of it IS like that. But don't stereotype something because you've heard a small portion of it. That's ignorant, and it gets under my skin when people act like the authority on something and they don't know jack about it.

[Bluejay451]

And good article

[buckethead101]

aahahhaahahaahahaha! do you honestly believe rappers write GOOD lyrics?! seriously, every rap song is about the same things: Killing people, dealing drugs, getting laid, and sometimes a bunch of nonsense shit about them being "cool". Good lyrics? not at all.

yeah rappers don't always write good lyrics. I f***** hate something like 50 cent but i love Black Eyed Peas instead.

[n_punx]

i like point no 5. i actually use it. i write my lyrics in microsoft word and when i think the word doesnt sound quite right i highlight it and check out other possible words that can replace it. haha. cheating...

[Hammet15]

about the black eyed peas, at first when they came out with "wheres the love?" I respected them because it had meaning besides all the other crap you see with 50 cent and so on, but now they have fallen into the mix with shake it momma, rather sad

[rockguitar417]

good article....i suck at writing lyrics but im gonna try your tips thanks

[Wormboy]

thanks

[Tim Woodrow]

Good article 5 stars

[vinniebeast]

Originally posted by Slashe_Sloth:
aahahhaahahaahahaha! do you honestly believe rappers write GOOD lyrics?! seriously, every rap song is about the same things: Killing people, dealing drugs, getting laid, and sometimes a bunch of nonsense shit about them being "cool". Good lyrics? not at all.

[vinniebeast]

^^^Agreed!

[Alien_from_a_cd]

great article...sometimes Ilisten to music, write down the lyric, my own lyrics, but I amagine it with the voice of the singer that is on my stereo at that time. And if I sing it it sounds really wierd So, thanks for the non-listening tip.

[rancidrocker]

nice article man, i'm gonna try your tips

[The Hurt Within]

In my hometown I see so many hip artists struggling to impose their genius. The answer is you simply must write about things you are VERY familiar with.

I think its a gd article...but this point you made i feel isn't true....its possible to write about things randomly or things you may not know much about....it brings a vagueness into the piece which to others could seem ambiguous or open to other forms of interpretation.....but i agree with the rest....not a bad article.

peACE

[Slasher_Sloth]

Uhhh....no. Not every rapper raps about that, and there are some that have very good lyrics. Now don't get me wrong, I don't listen to rap, and a lot of it IS like that. But don't stereotype something because you've heard a small portion of it. That's ignorant, and it gets under my skin when people act like the authority on something and they don't know jack about it.

OK im not some sort of dumbass here. i admit, i had my "rapping days" where all i could listen to is rap. unfourtunatly some of that info is still burned into the back of my skull. I also watch much music (canadian thing) all the time, and have to deal with them playing rap all the time. So, as much as i hate to admitt it, i know ALOT about rap.

[Slasher_Sloth]

PS: good article man

[Abstract_Man]

Couldn't agree more with point 1. The amount of times I've thought of something really good and not had paper to write it down is just bad. 5

[brendan666]

great article good advice

[GuitarJunkie]

Run DMC...that was rap, thats oldschool hip hop that means something

[iforgot539]

or The Roots...
people hate rap becaus of the shit they see on MTV and they suppose it's all like that. but the crap rock on trl isn't a good representation of our music now is it?

back on topic: good article

[lateraluspiral]

Nice 5 Stars

[PsycicPillow]

Iforgot... great point!! totally agree with you! as jack black said in school of rock... "there was a way to stick-it-to-the-man and that thing was called rock and roll... but nooo the man had to go and ruin that with a little thing called MTV!"

Nice article... helped lots!

[PsycicPillow]

Iforgot... great point!! totally agree with you! as jack black said in school of rock... "there was a way to stick-it-to-the-man and that thing was called rock and roll... but nooo the man had to go and ruin that with a little thing called MTV!"

Nice article... helped lots!

[shawn_cold]

ya i would agree with the Thesaurus my bro taught me that

[r_lightning]

I love advices for lyric writing! Thanks a lot

[Mick_mars_rules]

first write lyrics then destroy them then re-write them better..thats usually what i do anyhoo

DEcent article

[dogsballs]

oohhhhhhgh for crying out loud dudes. the title of my article was not "serious lyrics" it was "dogsballs guide for serious lyricists". oh well. thanks for posting it anyway.

[Mick_mars_rules]

ahh yes right underneath the article on "cats tonsils guide to arse licking" get it? cause cats lick there arses..never mind

still decent enoigh article although i disagree with some of it.

[Click You]

i have friends who like death-rap like necro, and i dont like it, but i was listening to ill bill the other day and he was like "sprinkle cocaine on my testicles"something somethin somethin... anyways it sounded tight. ummm... yea.
theres only so many offensive things you can rhyme though. necro's stuff from 10 years ago sounds EXACTLY the same as his new stuff, except the beats are higher quality. good article, but i only agree with #1 cuz your lyrics should come from you, dont try and force them out or they'll sound like everything else. listen to modest mouse's old stuff. (i rant and rave about old mm... i practically crapped my pants when i heard a song by them on the radio and it sounded like them mixed with everything else poplular) isaacs stuff is raw and unconventional, or was. write what you think.

[Voldragon]

Good article.

[Desk Jocky]

I can write riff's just couldn't get lyrics. Now i will try, Thank you.

[maiden explorer]

thx man

[Rockstar_450]

i didn't read this properly because i don't like reading other things that may influence my own lyrics. but it was good because you didn't say "THE way to right lyrics", but instead stated that it was your own way. that makes the diff between a good and bad article sometimes. gj

spam deleted.

[rocknrollmusic]

that was some advice you got there. i've been focusing all day to write some inspirational songs but all i get are songs similar to the perspectives of other lyricists such as maynard james keenan. thanks.

[giveitaname87]

"For me, I often think of my best lyrics when I'm already tucked up in bed or in the shower!"

That's so funny that you said that b/c it's so true for me. Good article!

[sanitarium017]

we need more good articles like this. i think potential writers should be screened by UG.

[ataria]

kickass article dude....helps tonnes

['69 Strat]

awesome article dude

[Mr. Clean]

Really great advice. ----About rap, I personally don't like rap, but I think it's important to be open-minded about other music, meaning it's important to not sell it short, music is only noise, just ask the Blue Man Group, but seriously, just because I don't like rap doesn't mean it's a horrible abomination, it just means I don't like it/understand it. But really if you still think it is I don't blame you. ---..About writing.
Try closing yur eyes and imagining your thoughts taking form and moving about, observe what's occuring and write it down, lyrics don't have to rhyme, if you don't feel comfortable with your ablity to do that or you just want to try something different. There are also different levels of rhyming, some which seem to rhyme more than others, if you get a rhyming dictionary you can really see how many words really rhyme with each other,m and it opens the possiblities for more combinations of wordplay.

[rocknrollmusic]

one question: how can you write while you're taking a shower?? just curious.

[Mr. Clean]

With a sharpie on the wall, but if you did that you'd be a wierdo

[noob4lyfe]

Nice advice, and a reference to the Pixies! 5 stars ;]

[Pyro128]

I always have to be careful when listening to music while writing. However, if I do listen to music, I pick a song that is totally off the theme of whatever I am writing about. For instance, if I am writing a dark poem, I don't listen to Cold, Story of the Year, My Chemical Romance, ect. I listen to Green Day, Matchbook Romance, Something Corporate, ect. Point is, if you listen to music, pick a song that goes completely in the oposite direction of whatever your writing.

[TWP man]

01. Tools Of The Trade. Always carry a pad and pen with you wherever you go because you never know when brilliance may show itself. For me, I often think of my best lyrics when I'm already tucked up in bed or in the shower!

Me too. And I thought I was the only one!

[mackdaddy]

If you're in the shower how do you sue the pen and paper? is it waterproof?

[animike123]

Good advise, i've been writing songs/poems alot lately, and i have relized that the most impotant thing is if you write of an actual event, everything has an order, and that thesaurus always helps.

[driftinguitar]

i love to shower with my waterproof pen and paper,
she's my girl and i date her,
pen and pad, inks a tad,
drying water, ink to paper sodder,
lyrical gun fodder,
someone flushed the toilet and the streams getting hotter.

[Spl!nTeRgu!tAr]

ACCTUALLY, if u wanna hear GOOD rhymes from a rapper everyone knows, listen to "Halie's Song" by Eminem, hearing that will give u a bit more respect for him as a lyricist.. and i agree witht his article, lyrics that dont just flow out of you arent ure best, ure best lyrics will come naturally

[airwalkskater36]

ya overall rap sucks, and the lyrics suck even worse. but when a rapper can actually rap about something with meaning, i award him. take that kane west dude(i dunno whow to spell it) his new song about jesus. thats good stuff. and eminim actually wrote about good stuff too. not all rap had bad lyrics. but the majority of it sucks ass

[mtboarder12]

very good article. It was very well done and organized. Everything is very acruate. One thing i would have mentioned is rythim (spelling). Rythim like rhymes (spelling) (AABA format or ABABA or ABCA ect.) And the rythims like the actual way they go with music. Anyway good article thank you very much. I look foward to reading more by you.

[da haze]

dude, wicked good advice, these r the things i use with my songwriting. kudos.

[AnyDJ]

my personal plug: write about important stuff. there are enough songs about going to clubs and hitting up chicks. not all rap is like that admittedly (eminem to start, and i wanna throw in "through the wire" by kanye west) but that's been the general direction of "music" lately. emo is just squirrel-voiced guys talking about how they feel. it's important to them, but i don't care. how about something meaningful. ex: rage against the machine and system of a down. how many of you have ever herd zach or serj singing about how some girl dumped them. admittedly, some of system's stuff is kinda pointless, but between the two take "bombtrack" and "prison song" and compare it to ANYTHING by the used. rage played outside the democratic national convention just to piss people off. let's see an emo band say something political.

[nohandboy]

yeah what type of notepad should i get a a4 page one or something different any advice on the type of paper,do you think that you can receive lyrics from drawings"

[Plumb]

excellent advice. its helped me so much. cheers mate.

[Rock 101]

aahahhaahahaahahaha! do you honestly believe rappers write GOOD lyrics?! seriously, every rap song is about the same things: Killing people, dealing drugs, getting laid, and sometimes a bunch of nonsense shit about them being "cool". Good lyrics? not at all.

yeah rappers don't always write good lyrics. I f***.. hate something like 50 cent but i love Black Eyed Peas instead.

The Black eyed Peas suck. Their biggest hit Where Is the Love, one of the topics is negative images portayed in the media and pressure to be "beautiful", while all the while Frannie (or whatever her name is) is a condradiction to that all, the little hor.
I agree with the first guy. Rap is a bunch of shit

[guitarist_gurl]

u guys r so damn ryt... rap sux! those r just words with no sense at all... i jst hate rappers...

[RHCP_FAN88]

rap isn't all bad...granted I hate most all of it, but Run-DMC was awesome, and of course Ice-T with "Cop-Killer" the most controversial song EVER...and plus some rappers have good stuff to say...note: this doesn't include Rap-Metal like Korn and Slipknot because that stuff is THE shit...its badass...

[muzakaholic]

it also helps if you decide on the framework beforehand rhyming-wise. like AABB, ABAB, ABCB, or w/e. then you can pick the rhyming word/words and build the line around it/them. helps me anyway...

[Geldof the Grey]

Originally posted by guitarist_gurlu guys r so damn ryt... rap sux! those r just words with no sense at all... i jst hate rappers...

Yes, rap is just words with no sense at all... unlike your comment which uses perfect grammar and no made up words likes "right", "sucks" or "just"... you dozey cow

[Geldof the Grey]

I read this and thought it was full of advice
It was detailed and accurate, I thought it was nice,
then I read the comments underneath and thought "christ,
if I cleaned out this spam it would take me all night"
-- see, your column really helped me develope my lyric writing

[Zeve]

Run DMC...that was rap, thats oldschool hip hop that means something

Too True...

Nowadays rap is just disgusting, i hate it and would never listen to it. I have yet to hear a song by a modern rapper without the words "ho" "bitch" "the white man" "the man" "da" "club" "yo" "momma" or "booty"

That wasnt a stereotype.

[Zeve]

how come the quote thing never works for me

[_OrdinaryStory_]

Good artical,Rap does suck,so does Rap-"metal"which is Bull since its not even metal at all,Korn Blows and so does slipknot,the only good album SlipKnot had was mate,feed,kill,repeate.Listen to InFlames,Katatonia,Opeth,Slayer if you want some good Lyrics....Nice column though guy

[garagerocker69]

closed?? huh?

good advice
but you forgot the numero uno most important thing... www.rhymezone.com !!

Warning for spam_man_123

[Lick_Soloist]

I have a notepad for just lyrics and riffs which may pop into my head whilst im out and about, You may hear somethink on the radio and think hey, I could play somethink in that time signiture and replace that F5 Power chord with an F barre appegio.

[AbstractThreat]

my whole band each has a black book for songwriting, its pretencious but it works.

[Geldof the Grey]

I ahd a thought. You don't need a dictaphone if you have a recent cell phone. Most of them have a voice recorder and mine has a memory card in it so I could, feasibly, archive my little snipets of ideas on my PC. WOW!!!

[stratstrummer40]

hey good article dude! keep up the good work

[SublimeChick]

Hey... I have written a song or two on my acoustic... I think it souunds pretty cool and no one seems to notice I made it up... they're like, "Ohh, who sings that?" And it's flattering to know it sounds good enough to sound like something you may have heard on the radio... but I cannot sing and play at the same time... and i cannot figure out how the progression of words shold go to the music... ummm... maybe I should take music theory classes or something??? HELP!!!..

[dogsballs]

the progression of words to the music is something thats really unique to every song. i dont think theres any rules to follow so long as u can sing in tune with ur guitar. i mean, instrumentally ur song is unlike anything else so ur lyrics are going to fit differantly as well. just listen to a range of music to see how its been done by other bands.

[evvo_gc_fan]

Awesome column

[guitarer]

seriously, this is bullshit.. to write great lyrics you should read the classics plath, poe, neruda, and all those guys and learn from them or even take creative writing lessons... that's how you make real poetry... and if you're lucky enough to pull something like this you won't end up with only a hell of a song but you'll probably get a pulitzer prize.. nobody has ever done that..

[super666fender]

poetry is not the main basis of music. take saturday night by the misfits (misfits r da bomb) that has no poetry in it. most of their songs don't. or take the onld punk band black flag. no poetry.

NEWAYS! good article dude, could be a bit more in depth. personaly i wouldn't listen to classical like bach and strauss and all that shit, becaouse i h8 that shit. i know that rock and punmk was based on it, but i still h8 it.

4stars dude.

[The_New_Slash]

where can i get a THESAURUS

[Deprived]

Yeah some rap lyrics are good. They just don't sound good when a guy is talking them to noncreative music, again not in every case. Check out the C-rap crap melody by ForeverDOWN at purevolume.com/foreverdown. He sings a ton of famous rap song but in a very good acoustic song. It has somewhat changed my view in rap...well the lyrics anyway.

[metal4all]

what in the bloody hell is a thesaurus? lol (i was kidding). nice column thingy. helpful

[SethMegadefan]

Awesome article; really. I was dissuaded by your username at first, but it turned out to be a kickass article. Super helpful, and I've been writing lyrics for years!
And that Pixies song you mentioned is not only a great song, but a great example. I strongly agree with your point number 3. Some artists like Syd Barrett and Radiohead never stick to ABAB every-syllable-fits formula, and like you said, sometimes it doesn't even matter.
This was really informative and helped me a lot. Thanks, and kudos on a sweet article.

[rockergurl09]

thanks a lot! Yeah, I've got a bunch of "raw materials" on hand. I've got a huge novela to make a concept album from, a few great poems, all sorts of stuff. Just need to refine it into lyrics and find the right melody.

[rockergurl09]

The_New_Slash wrote:

where can i get a THESAURUS

[quote][b]

Jurassic Park, silly! jk. a BOOKSTORE of all places.

[ss311]

Good advice, bad spelling.

[kaizen]

Thanks, it really helped me a lot