My Own Interpretation of Good Advice for Writing Lyrics
Twisting the overly technical into more personal and revealing alternatives
I eat up songwriting advice from any source available. My ear pans for golden nuggets that make sense to my style and approach.
The more I write songs, the more I understand what makes me click.
Getting advice from musicians, music teachers, famous artists, YouTubers or anyone else is never straightforward. It’s a rummage sale. You have to sort through the stuff you don’t like until the right piece strikes your fancy.
My inexperience at songwriting is not a hindrance. My age is a plus. I know myself. I trust my process. And I consume music theory because it opens all the melodic floodgates.
My big advantage is that I’m a writer first and foremost. Lyrics come natural now after decades of editing paragraphs, targeting emotive words and trimming fat from sentences.
Getting Started with Lyric Writing
When cruising comments on YouTube after watching songwriting videos, the complaints are usually about how hard it is to write lyrics. This makes perfect sense.
Most guitar players are learning licks and riffs of favorite tunes that already have lyrics. Too few guitarists try to write their own stuff early on. That means lyrics never get proper attention since chords, scales and popular songs never run out.
Another aspect that suffers is music theory. It’s a game changer that’s worth every lesson. But let’s keep to lyrics first before the technical matters ruin your motivation.
Andrea Stolpe is an accomplished songwriter. She’s a rockstar songmaker and music educator. I listen to her because I like her style. Other Berklee College of Music instructors bore me.
First, watch her Tik Tok video, it’s less than one minute:
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Now, I’m going to reinterpret her 5 tips for lyric writing to show how to rethink more technical descriptions. Plus, I’ll provide examples from my own songs.
I hope it makes her advice more applicable and useful.
Write What You Know vs. Write What You Feel
Writing what you know is not the real key for songs. Every newbie blogger or writer wannabe gets this advice. It’s solid but unsatisfactory. All of us know stuff that’s interesting, but is it song worthy?
Dig a layer deeper and find a topic that is more meaningful. Choose lyrics that convey what you feel to bring out the uniqueness of your song. Remember, you’re not writing an essay on the subject, you’re writing a slice of life moment.
I don’t disagree with writing what you know, just scratch below the surface harder to expose the true elements.
Example: “When Jeff Bezos Dies” is a song written after a tornado killed Amazon warehouse workers.
Trim Excess Language vs. Word and Phasing Choices
This is a key lesson. It is also hard to implement.
Writers get attached to words. But this is where the old adage “less is more” is highly applicable. Songwriters need to pay strict attention to word choice and syllables.
Writers are told to delete all words that do not strengthen a sentence. For songwriters, the essence of the message should stay clear of clutter. A lean line or phrase creates space to absorb the meaning. It gets rid of the surrounding noise.
Example: “Hope and Change” reflects the use of certain words and images to add to the historical record that might counter the official narrative.
Play with Rhythm vs. Determine Mood and Tempo
Rhythm is about experimentation. Noodling on a guitar is just a way to find a groove. The real magic happens when your playground doesn’t let you wander too far off track.
Music theory acts as a shortcut. It sets some loose boundaries from which to use trial and error to find rhythms for each song section - chorus, verse, bridge. Selections within those broad borderlines help to set the tempo and mood of the song.
Then the lyrics you choose can naturally fall into those ready-made rhythms. I find the concept of melodies to be elusive. I target mood instead.
Example: “Quiet Fear Inside” goes against my normal chord banging rhythms to induce a more contemplative tone.
Stretch Your Rhymes vs. Right Words Over Rhymes
Dependency on rhymes is natural. It just makes the song flow down an easy river. The problem arises when your tendency is to always search for those rhyming words.
It makes your lyrics sound forced and artificial. It’s a fine line to get right.
I prefer to find the right words over clever rhymes. Certain words express the true meaning. Though rhymes can hit the mark, they also tend to convey formulas.
Be open to finding alternative ways to make lyric writing take off on tangents.
Example: “New Born Son” was my first song written 22 years ago to celebrate a new life. I wrote my second song in 2021.
Somehow, my early writing avoided the rhyme scheme:
Every day is a new beginning It's all so bright and so clear If darkness comes without warning You step into the warmth of the son
Read Your Lyrics Out Loud vs. Follow a Storyline
Again, to a writer this is common advice. Reading out loud forces you to hear the words as in conversation, not just in your head. This identifies any off-tempo or incongruent phrasing lines.
For me, a simple storyline sets the song along a journey. You can see the start and end and fill in the details. Your song can still has the freedom to choose different pathways.
Here is my storyline for “Son of Ms. Rice”:
1. Kid plays in park 2. 911 call miscommunication 3. Police kill child 4. How to heal
Example: “Son of Ms. Rice” is a tribute song to Tamir Rice, a young man shot down by police while playing in the park.
Coda
Lyric writing is a wonderful process. It uses your individual voice and creative energy to go beyond the norm.
Taking advice from professionals or amateurs helps you to choose methods and reconfigure them for your own use. It is an invaluable part of adding techniques to your songwriting toolbox.
I’ve always admired songwriters for their lyrics first. It’s an artform that resonates as much as the music.
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