[Lcjones]

Hey Nem,

Good to see so many writers on board! What I'm going to mention below is about how I work. I'm sure professionals may frown on some of my ideas. But after many years of putting pen to paper, these are some of my thoughts on lyric writing. I also write these notes to help me better understand my own work.

It is a rare thing indeed to write a lyric that is completely finished and polished on the first time out. And when that does happen, that writer was truly inspired.

For as many lyricists as there are, there are at least as many ways to write a lyric. With that said, I hope I can shed some light on the subject.

I'm not going to get into the mechanics of lyrics right now. Rather, the way to start getting your ideas down and on paper. In the world of lyric writing, re-write is king. Rewrite, rewrite rewrite. Learn that term right off the bat. Now on with it ......

One of the first things you should do is get a notebook or journal to write down your moments of inspiration. (..at the very least, make a directory on your computer and call it "MyLyrics" and use a text editor to write your ideas down..) I mean, those times when in a flash, brilliance, inspiration and creativity all meet at the same point in time and space, like that Beatles lyric, umm, what was it now, yes, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". At the moment that single was line penned, way back when, all the Beatles could have retired and lived a very prosperous life the rest of their days.

The primary objective is to get your first gut feelings and ideas on paper. And that idea maybe nothing more than a single line. It maybe an entire verse. Maybe something as simple as the sky is blue and so am i. So now you have this idea on paper and you've spent some time on it and have a couple of verses and a chorus.

That was the easy part. Because now you've got to make sure what you've written actually makes sense. And this is the re-write rule. The process of rewriting is where all the work is done. This is where you muster all your word mastery skills (I like term "word-smithing") and start making your lyric "unique" and entirely different than what any one else may write. This is where you make a lyric your lyric.

Even after you re-write a lyric, you may fine new words to refine your lyric which prompts another rewrite session. And now, just as you're banging your head against the wall saying, "What? Re-write again?", let me also say, there is a time to put it away. There is a time when nothing more can be done for that lyric, so call it a day.

We can get into the mechanics of lyrics later on if you're interested. There is a lot going on. Like rhyming, assonance, consonance, timing, which is not to be confused with meter, bridges, choruses, AABA verses and just a whole passel load of things.

Well, thats a very fundamental and broad start. But I hope is gives a little insight to whats going on.

Thanks.

Les