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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Music Revision Notes > Creating Unique Lyrics for a Song

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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Steps 3 Tips 4 Warnings

Introduction

It can be hard to think of lyrics to a song, and even harder to think of good ones. Here's some steps to create unique and unusual lyrics that will get everyone singing.

Steps

1. Choose a fresh subject or a fresh take on a subject, this makes everything much easier. Many songs are about your own experiences (e.g. Your journey to school, your pet) as these are easiest to write about. But you could think of a situation that you feel you could write lots about but is completely new to you and your listeners (e.g. living on the street/in a 3rd world country) or surreal (e.g. entering a magical land). If you want to write lyrics on something you know has been done a lot before then try it from a different perspective.

2. Decide how you want to write your song: Tune first or lyrics first. Whichever you write second is likely to be harder because you have to fit it to the other part you wrote so save your particular talent until second.

3. List things that you might want to say in your lyrics. Write as many ideas down as possible and words that relate to it (especially useful if you want to make your lyrics rhyme). Write as much detail as possible - remember it might not all go into your final lyrics.

4. Start with the chorus. Sing it to yourself to make sure that the rhythmn and words are catchy.

5. Write in accent and dialect, one british band called Arctic Monkeys has managed to rhyme 'something' with 'stomach' (summat, stomach), also, use local sayings/phrases. This tends to make the piece sound very individual.

6. Think of an unusual rhythmn for your lyrics. Maybe you could have lots of repeated lines, an unconventional rhyming scheme or a range of very short and very long lines.

7. Listen carefully to how people around you talk and what they talk about, you could base your lyrics around this.

8. Exaggerate your words by using similies, metaphors and other writing techniques english teachers are always talking about.

9. Include things that are funny or make references to current affairs and trends as people tend to remember them more. However, this may not be the the type of song you are writing.

10.Create a thought-provoking title but make sure it is relevant to your lyrics too. Don't make it too long and complicated or people will forget it.

11. Always just be yourself, if anything just write about something around you, it may seen silly at first, but alot of great songs start out this way.

Tips

• You don't always need fresh lyrics if you have a fresh tune.

• You can create dada music by putting a bunch of random phrases in a hat, pull them out one by one, and put them in that order. Radiohead, for example, used this technique on their album 'Kid A'.

• Another clever idea for thinking of a theme for your lyrics is to write about something obvious but actually there is an underlying meaning and the song is actually about something very different. (The Beatles' song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was rumoured to have been about LSD. If this had been the case it would be an example of a hidden meaning)

• Song lyrics don't need to follow strict pattern of rhyme, meter and rhythmn so it means you can really say whatever you want without feeling restricted. In this way it's very similar to writing a poem.

• If all else fails, simply make the lyrics a less prominent feature of the piece.

Warnings

• While offending people and infringing copyright may make people remember your song, it won't be for the reasons you want.

• Don't stick together any sentences just because they rhyme - make sure the rhymes are good and interesting. Words like "fly", "high", "sky" are very over used and will make your lyrics seem tacky.