We’ve already talked about how much easier it is to write a song when you’ve already picked out a song title. Now let’s take songwriting one big step further by taking advantage of already having a song title, and figuring out ways to come up with lyric ideas and phrases for the song.
Next time you write a song try this:
1. Take your song worksheet and underneath all of your noun, verb, and other words entries, and leave some space on the bottom for lyric phrases.
2. Take your title, and start asking, “Who, what, where, when, why, and how?” and use the bottom of your worksheet to enter the following method: For example: If my song title is, “I’ve Known All Along,” first I need to clarify in my mind what I’m trying to say with the song title – this is the song idea or theme. The song could be about (a) someone catching the other cheating, (b) someone saying they never doubted themselves, (c) someone saying they were sure the other would fall in love with them, etc.
For this example, I’ll pick (c) as my song idea to illustrate this method.
Now I’ll start asking questions, and I’ll write ideas, not necessarily lines for the song in finished form, just basic thoughts that come to my head:
Remember the song idea for “I’ve Known All Along” was (c) someone saying they were sure the other would fall in love with them.
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Who? – figure out the “players” in the song
you
me
my friends
everyone
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What? – things occurring to support your song’s belief
I could tell you liked me
I was sure I could at least get to know you
I’m not surprised
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Where? – possible places where the song takes place
at home
at work
while I’m talking to you on the phone
down the aisle to the altar
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When? – when is this happening?
as I sleep
while walking together
whenever you look at me
when I see you
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Why? – reasons that support your belief
the way your eyes were always in my direction
the way you talked to me
your smile spoke a thousand words
With this as your starting point you should have enough ideas to begin putting your lyrics together by starting out with powerful opening lines in your first verse and chorus.
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For example, in this song, my first line in the first verse could be:
I can believe it’s come to this………<< taken from “I’m not surprised” entry in, “What?”
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The first few lines in the chorus might look like this:
I’ve known all along…………………………………………………<<song title
I’ve known all along…………………………………………………<<song title
Your eyes have always told me………………<from “the way your eyes……” in Why?
With you I could never go wrong……………< unrelated to this exercise
The last line “With you I could never go wrong” was a line naturally sparked by the other lines as a result of this method. Now, this is by no means a masterpiece of a line but it’s certainly a great starting point. And that’s exactly what this method is about, sparking ideas and creating a starting point!
Sting recalls how he woke up in the middle of the night with the line, “Every breath you take, every move you make dancing in his head, so he sat down at the piano and wrote the million-seller “Every Breath You Take” in 30 minutes. Countless other songwriters talk about a short phrase or melody suddenly and unexpectedly taking over their brains and hit songs literally “writing themselves” with little effort!
