Songwriting!

Today we'll look at song lyrics. First, think about a song whose lyrics you particularly like. In the comments, post links to these songs, either just the lyrics or the lyrics with music, and why you like them. We’ll take some time to check out the different songs we’ve posted and discuss them.

Next, the songwriting:

Start with a “mantra.” Think of a phrase you could say over and over to reflect a mood. Are you meditating to calm and relax yourself, enduring a physical activity like running, thinking of a person you have strong feelings about? 

Now try to make that mantra “singable.” Try different versions of the wording. Think about the way the vowel and consonant sounds work together. Say it out loud–does it flow? Chant it–that is, say it without any particular variation of notes but in a rhythmic way. Does it have rhythm? Is it easy to say–and to sing? 

Next, take a simple tune, for example, “Amazing Grace.” This is a very common structure for both poetry and songs; many of Emily Dickinson’s poems, such as “I heard a fly buzz when I died,” can be sung to this tune. This is, in technical poetry terms, a four-line stanza whose meter is iambic quadrameter interspersed with iambic triameter. The rhyme scheme would be ABAB or ABCB. 

Less technically, this would be four stressed syllables alternating with three stressed syllables, though in music you might also make every measure (or line) four stressed syllables or beats. In between the beats or stresses, you can have as many unstressed syllables as you like, though two or three tends to work best. (Not all songs have four beats per measure; Pink Floyd's "Money" has a truly bizarre seven beats per measure, for example, but the vast majority go with four.)

Use the “mantra” as a refrain (like the chorus part of a song), and create a verse that can lead up to this refrain. Be flexible with your wording–pay attention to where you would normally stress a syllable in speech, and see if you can match that up to where you’d stress it in a song. The refrain itself could simply repeat the mantra line several times or else variations of that line.

Most of all, enjoy the writing process, as always. Write something that makes you want to sing!