SOT: Music or Lyrics

[Drifter182]

I know there's no right way to make a song, just curious if you guys usually have the lyrics first or the music.

[loomer415]

For years I wrote the lyrics first, but in the past year I started writing the music first and just singing what came to mind...best songs I've ever written.

[archofmusic]

I'd say music first as well. It sets the framework and rhythm for how the lyrics are to be written. Lyrics, good lyrics, take a long, long time to write. They require constant editing and rewording to get them just right. The first thing you spit out is not the best work you can do. They must be thought about, rewritten, looked at again, some parts thrown away completely until you get to a point where it is barely discernible what you originally wrote. Think, how can I say that differently? How can I say it better? Is there a metaphor I can use here? A simile? The English language is a powerful weapon and how you wield it takes time and effort to master.

[Fatso Forgottso]

instrumental music ftw

[tommyld]

Usually music first...but ya never know. Sometimes certain lines or lyrics/melodies start in my head. Then I work with some music, which usually changes what I had in my head...

[ZMD]

 

instrumental music ftw

 

 

this

[mueller]

music first

[jorhay1]

like you said either one is fine

[MuffFuzz]

 

For years I wrote the lyrics first, but in the past year I started writing the music first and just singing what came to mind...best songs I've ever written.

 

 

 

Same here. Although after the music is done I will go back and re-do lyrics to taste.

[mike.sartori]

I'm not sure if I can say, really they always come together for me; usually a few words with a melody, and then I put some effort into it to finish it out.

I'm actually writing songs for the first time in years right now.

[Instrospection]

One thing that I really noticed today when I was writing a song with vocals (I usually don't have vocals, but sometimes do), is that it's difficult to fit the words that you want into the chord scheme--syllabically. It may look great on paper, but it may not flow well. I do like lyrics and vocals here and there, but I generally like instrumentation, because then i'm not having to worry about lyrics being too cliche. That's the thing--because I like to be veiled, but I also don't like something that makes absolutely NO sense, either, and that requires careful editing/ reworking of lyrics.....especially when you sing it against the rhythm or the song and it just doesn't flow.

 

In that sense, no wonder tons of lyrics are cliched---because it's easier to fit the syllables in with certain words or phrases that you're used to hearing than it really is to have complex, multisyllabic words that are too "wordy" and too obscure for most audiences. That's why I like instrumental music, you sort of have to make up your own words and your own story. Vocals and lyrics are really demanding on bands and audiences.

[archofmusic]

I found myself watching the romantic comedy "Music and Lyrics" a while back. It's a decent enough movie (a good romantic comedy is not a terrible thing), but there was one thing that was said in that film that stood out amongst everything else. It is that Music is like the raw attraction you feel when you first meet somebody, and the lyrics are who that person is once you get to know them. Instrumental music is O.K., but even with Billy Corgan's whiny voice, I prefer Siamese Dream with words.

 

Writing lyrics, good lyrics, is just as difficult, if not more, than writing music. It is accessing a different part of your brain that you don't use when you play music. If you don't exercise it by reading other people's work, analyzing it, and constantly writing and re-working your own you won't ever get good at it (just like writing music).

 

Personally I don't mind lyrics you don't get on the first pass. Usually there is an overtone that you can tell what the writer is talking about even when it is not blatantly said with two syllable words. That is good writing. Cliche lyrics don't have any substance, they assume the audience wants to hear simple love songs. We don't. Tell us a story. Give us something to know we are real, and that you are as well.

 

A Perfect Circle, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Tool, The Doors, Alice in Chains, The Black Crowes, Blind Melon, Deftones, and Failure all wrote great lyrics. And to this day I don't know what half the lyrics are or the story behind most of the songs. But people write about them and analyze them all the time. I guess you just know good writing when you hear it, but it takes time and effort to write like that. You can't just spit out some words and expect a Rembrandt or Picasso. It just takes time and effort. But at least with some music you have a framework to work around (which can always be changed as well).