How to Write a Song Lyric

How to Write a Song Lyric

This topic has been wondering for many years now. I am not a GREAT musician, but I think I know enough to try and get you started. First of all, this article is only for those who want to know how to write the lyrics, because the tune and melody are things that I can’t teach, they come from YOU, and I am not YOU. Anyway let’s get started.

Before we begin, this will take time.

Starting Point – Title!!

First we start with the Title, odd isn’t it?

Try and think of a title that you feel you have a connection to.

After you have that, think of some words that link to that title and jot them down. As a last resort you could look in newspapers and other places with subheadings to fin a title you like. Now you have your title and you’re connecting words. We now select what style of song we’re doing.

1.     Verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus

2.     Verse/verse/chorus/verse/bridge/chorus

You can also come up with your own style if you want to. Jot down your style. Now to start the chorus…

Chorus…

Your title is going to be in here somewhere, you just have to decide where it goes. Try to think of rhyming words that have a connection to the title and also think of lines that could fit those rhyming words. You don’t need to use rhyming all the time, but find something that will fit and make the song sound good.

Sooner or later you will have a chorus…

Now to work on those verses,

Verses…..

I think a song should be a story, you may think otherwise, but I am going to show you how to make a story lyric. You need to start off somewhere. One technique used a lot is:

Verse 1 – A man/girl has his/her eyes on another man/girl

Verse 2 – He/she goes and talks with him/her.

Verse 3 – He/she figures out that he/she actually liked him/her and they have a good life together.

You may want to use something different but first we need to find a starting point. Now ask yourself, who or what is going to be the main focus of the song? What is it/he/her going to do? After you figure this out think of lines that you feel will fit in your song, I can’t run you through what exactly to do because I feel songs differently to the way you feel songs.

Eventually when you finish the verse you may have to change the chorus to make it sound more together, remember, the chorus doesn’t have to be the same every time it is sung. Try the same verse-creating technique you used to the other verses.

Then all that is left is the bridge……

Bridge – Ending Point

Nearly There!

The bridge might be a change in the song, and might change the feel of the song altogether. So when we make the bridge we must think differently to the thinking styles we used in the other parts of the song writing process.

The bridge only needs about 2 lines and it doesn’t need to rhyme. Think of 2 simple lines that will change the effect of the song altogether

Here’s a bridge I made to fit in with the 3-verse technique above:

“I shouldn’t have been lazing around that much…

Cause now that I’ve got her, I’m in luck!!”

I rhymed that only because I felt it would be of good use there. So that’s what you have to do, it’s all about feeling if it will fit in or not.

That’s it! You can add your own things if you want to it, but that’s an outline of where to start.