Lyrics Or Melidy

LYRICS OR MELODY


I’ve occasionally been asked, ‘When you’re writing a song, what comes first? The melody or the lyrics?’ The inference seems to be that the two can’t possibly coexist in the heart and mind. Yet, that is exactly how it invariably plays out for me: the melody and lyrics do coexist for me. I’m not saying that this is the ‘correct’ way to go about writing a song, I’m just saying that’s how I do things because I’ve found through time that this method of writing works best for me.

When I first started songwriting I tried various methods. Sometimes I’d compose the melody first and other times I’d write the lyrics first. Invariably, both methods led to disaster for me. When I’d write the melody first and set the mood, the trick was to come up with lyrics to showcase that melody and mood. Most often, it was an undoable task. Conversely, if I wrote the lyrics first I always found it nearly impossible to come up with a great melody to wrap around those lyrics. It was a real struggle to write anything at all. Then I started to experiment and finally things began to fall into place as I developed my own method of songwriting that works for me.

I most often begin with a line of lyrics that has become ‘stuck’ in my head and won’t go away. Most often, that line will come with its own music but when it doesn’t, I just play around with melodies till I find one I like. At this point, my mind is already open to the fact that I’m on the way to writing a song and I begin to hum (most often with my eyes shut so as to lock out distractions) while I let myself fall into the muse. Generally, what is written at this point are the lines that will become the chorus, and they materialize along with the melody for that chorus.

I always write at my computer so I am free to change and refine things immediately—and that is what I do. I play with the words till I’m satisfied that they will convey my message accurately and then I record both the words and lyrics into my recorder so that I can’t forget the melody I’ve chosen. Of course, the words are saved in a separate file and I’ll come back to work on those later if this session isn’t long enough.

Now I’m ready to write the body of the song. Again, using the same method of simultaneously writing both melody and lyrics, I begin to flesh out the song. Often, I’m not at all sure where I’m heading at this point. Although the lyrics of the chorus hold some indicators, I’ve found that at times I start out heading in one direction and the song demands to go in another. It is important to stay open to possible change as you go along because if you’re writing from your heart instead of your head, chances are that the muse will take you where it wants to go instead of where you may want to go. Sometimes it happens that a line of lyrics will present itself and demand to be included in your song and you start arguing with it. You don’t want to include it because it ‘doesn’t make sense’ to the song. I’m going to guess that nine out of ten times you would be well advised to include that line because it’s coming from the deep unconscious and even though you don’t understand its value today, I’m almost certain that if you come back to this song at a later date you will realize why it insisted on being included.

To illustrate: I was writing a song about a lover’s old blue shirt which I’d worn on many occasions when he was out of town, and that I’d thrown out when the affair was over and done. When I wrote the chorus a line kept appearing and demanding inclusion and it just didn’t make sense to me—but I listened to my gut and injected it. The line was ‘I don’t need something old, something borrowed, something blue’. I wrote that song but left it lying for a few weeks and when I came back to it I was astonished to see that the line demanded to be included because it belonged there.

I’ve heard some people say that when writing a song one ought to write it fast, making no attempt to arrive at finished copy in the initial draft. Just jot down the key elements you wish to include and go from there. I disagree. I say you need to do what works for you. That method simply does not work for me because if I ‘rough draft’ a song there will be no sense of rhyme. I will merely have an unworkable outline of sorts. I will still have to rework the entire piece and will likely have to change (radically change) every line of this song. I find it much easier to write and edit as I go along. This gives me the freedom to explore various rhymes, the words of which will simultaneously convey the message accurately. My method also allows me greater freedom to access my unconscious or creative sphere. For me, that is one of the joys of songwriting—the not knowing for sure what the finished product will be until the end.

In the final analysis, it really doesn’t matter much what method of writing you use. What is most important is that you find a way to convey your message in the most creative way you can find. Good luck in your songwriting!