Writing Lyrics

[impete]

make it simple - big words confuse and lose

Yes, that is very good advice. It was fun for me though to show that I could create something interesting from a paragraph of technical instructions.

lyrics are being sung best when written by the singer

Well you well be right, but not everybody is actually good at writing lyrics.

There are lots of people (my brother Tim included!) who are great at music, but simply can't write lyrics. To get their songs to the demo stage, they need some sort of help in creating lyrics, and tools like liptikl can help! There are also great singers who can't write lyrics (or music, for that matter), and they need help too.

With best wishes,

Pete

[Emerald Tablet]

well and sometimes

some words do the trick
no lyric needed
like in my song "when i died"

when i died
bright light
no tunnel
just a bundle
of white light
no ground
no sound
no body
no pain

[chardin]

Anyways: that took me 5 to 10 minutes, including typing this all up!

Thanks for the detailed explination Pete! I'll have to give liptikl another try.

[Ivan_C]

A question about rhymes : do you know a good english dictionary of rhymes reference ? I am not been able to find any on amazon.com

Thanks !

[Kim Lajoie]

A question about rhymes : do you know a good english dictionary of rhymes reference ? I am not been able to find any on amazon.com

Thanks !

I use Rhymezone. It's pretty ugly (gives me flashbacks to the mid 90s), but does the job quickly and easily.

-Kim.

[Ivan_C]

Thanks for the tip But I need a book reference, I can't be online everywhere...

Some other advices ? Thanks !

[Ivan_C]

There is no rhyme book in the market ?

[Cordelia]

Write in the pattern of speech. Good lyrics usually sing with the same inflection as they are spoken.

Somebody mentioned "Yesterday". Whether you think it's a good song or not, I'll use it as an example of a successful lyric-
When you say it- "YESterday...all my troubles seemed so FAR away".
When you sing it, the accents are just the same. The melody and the phrasing are in sync.

A bad example for contrast-
"I write the songs of love and SPE-e-cial THI-ings"

It sounds shit and corny. If, on purpose, you want to sound naive, then it's one way to achieve that. If you marry that bad technique to a serious lyric, it'll be a hoot.

Don't rhyme for the sake of it, and vary the rhyme scheme if you do. AA BB gets old really quickly. Not rhyming can be a powerful tool.

Don't think "lyrics". Don't get "poetical". As John Lennon said, say what you mean and then give it a backbeat.

[opia]

It wasn't my intention to totally derail this topic, but I always seem to do that.

For your amusement, here is some sample output from my random language generator:

ligdesq udoi orrue ol alogiat,
stecil un ehiobpu asmaf al.
utmo buar ilrao tott ophaa eno,
ohpeu gukau a omtaivi.

osuraoc ou macois e,
skur i kiusael it i ouae uorn.

yobtihn posioc nii lusme a.
uor atreda a hunuuad gii gednoit,
lianr a beikb e ucfau.

eteeta nanre ore cocen anuefwi,
esal or royra en daer hune goedeim.
ofre ottuas yutyeps baa rasqahr rini otanib.

au oao eweypt eye ypbeyu agere,
moatn leuecia a loobne byaura.
foabael eky ensemr muaryac vuefaer zim,
riimb yehek agate oom ac nit tir.

wow

Liz Fraser couldn't have said it better

[Meffy]

There is no rhyme book in the market ? :(

Of course, there are tons of them. If you really need one, search Amazon.com for "rhyming dictionary" and you'll find dozens, including several intended specifically for songwriters... and one dedicated to Hip Hop. =O.o= But as others have pointed out, a good rhyme depends on a lot more than matching final syllable sounds. Think of rhyming dictionaries as helpers who can provide suggestions you might've overlooked, not workers who will do your job for you.

[Ivan_C]

OK, with the right words, it's easy to find on amazon.com

Don't worry Meffy, I'm not looking for something writing lyrics instead of me. I have begun writing english lyrics for a short time, as a way to increase my english writing knowledge, and for my music. I have used some tips I have seen in this thread. But I need a rhyming dictionary as a tool, I don't want it to do the whole job for me

[deastman]

wow

Liz Fraser couldn't have said it better

Actually, I believe she claims that her lyrics are in English, although its clearly some version of English I'm not familiar with.

Here's another online rhyming dictionary, btw...
http://www.rhymer.com/

[debra1rlo]

It wasn't my intention to totally derail this topic, but I always seem to do that.

For your amusement, here is some sample output from my random language generator:

ligdesq udoi orrue ol alogiat,
stecil un ehiobpu asmaf al.
utmo buar ilrao tott ophaa eno,
ohpeu gukau a omtaivi.

osuraoc ou macois e,
skur i kiusael it i ouae uorn.

yobtihn posioc nii lusme a.
uor atreda a hunuuad gii gednoit,
lianr a beikb e ucfau.

eteeta nanre ore cocen anuefwi,
esal or royra en daer hune goedeim.
ofre ottuas yutyeps baa rasqahr rini otanib.

au oao eweypt eye ypbeyu agere,
moatn leuecia a loobne byaura.
foabael eky ensemr muaryac vuefaer zim,
riimb yehek agate oom ac nit tir.

wow

Liz Fraser couldn't have said it better

First thing I thought of when I read that lyric.

[artepobre]

work on the coluor and the shape, not on the meaning... remember you're not trying to say something that the music hasn't, you're most trying to translate rythim and melody to words... be casual, and don't be afraid of changing words accents, don't be afraid to fell like you're not saying anything 'cause this is not poetry, is lyrics.. it makes no sense without music, or at least, it losses a big part of its being without music.

One last thing, try to be cautios about the common places... you got a limit in the repeated formula and that limit its your origninallity

[Hink]

OK, with the right words, it's easy to find on amazon.com

I'm sorry, but given the fact writing lyrics is about finding the right words this really struck me as very funny