How to write lyrics

[Dantheman]

Hey Everyone,

I'm Dan and I'm new to the songfacts forums.

I play piano, trombone, and percussion and have been trying to write a song but haven't worked at it seriously yet.

Songfacts.com rocks, and now that I'm a member I'm hoping that someone here could help me out.

What do you think is the best way to write lyrics?

Do you write the melody first and then add the words, or write the words and make a melody off of that; how do you choose a subject to write about, etc.

I would very much appreciate some tips, so if you have something to say, please say it here.

Thanks for your help.

[bluesboy]

Hi Dan

Take your choice...

will this help?

songwriting

____

Wild horses couldn't drag me away. Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them someday ~ M.Jagger / K. Richards

[scott]

What I do is I'll think of a riff one night play around with it, and write down the tabs, and then file that away, then maybe another night I'll write down some lyrics, and maybe by chance, the mood of the melody will fit the mood of the lyrics, I don't like to force a sound though, most of the time I'll take a riff I've already 'done' and modify it *slightly* to fit the lyrics.

As far as writing lyrics, I usually base them around one line, or one concept, and then as I write and write and write, more complex meanings come to be giving the 'tiered' effect.

I've got way more to say on this, but that's a basic overview of how I do it, but you could have a Completely different way that works for you.

[Aunt_Acid]

First off, you are going about it all wrong. Just forget everything you said in this post. Forget you want to write lyrics, because truly, you don't. Completely wipe away the want for lyrics from your mind. You should never try to write lyrics. That's like traveling east at night to get to the sunrise. If you stop trying to find it, it will eventually come to you. Same with music. You write something that pops into your head, or you write somehting based on what you are feeling.