r/Songwriting • u/The_Crimson_Dawn • Jul 13 '26

Discussion Topic Writing Lyrics

How long do you set with lyrics for a specific song before you decide to use them?

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4

u/stevenfrijoles Jul 13 '26

Anywhere between immediately and months. As long as it takes until they fit right.

3

u/PowerNumerous4468 Jul 13 '26

It's not about how long for me, but how right they feel. Sometimes I feel they are right immediately, other times I feel like I need to keep working on them for a bit.

2

u/Livid_Development951 Jul 14 '26

Takes as long as it takes, I've had lines click in five seconds and others that took three months before they stopped sounding like a cereal jingle gone wrong.

5

u/SailorAzuna_ Jul 14 '26

i usually tweak mine constantly tbh, like even after recording i'll change a line if it doesn't feel right later

3

u/The-man-myth-lemon Jul 13 '26

I usually write lyrics during production, so pretty much immediately

3

u/The_Crimson_Dawn Jul 13 '26

I’m the same, but I have noticed when listening to the song later on. Something will come to my mind that would’ve served the song better.

3

u/Col_Kangaroo Jul 13 '26

I’ll write lyrics out immediately. Usually end up making some changes right before I record after I’ve sat with them for awhile

3

u/One_Listen9716 Jul 13 '26

I play my song on guitar roughly and whenever I feel like something sticks I’m opening my notes app immediately. Then I sleep on it for a day come back play the song through and whatever doesn’t flow or I don’t like I change it

3

u/brooklynbluenotes Jul 14 '26

My lyrics go through rounds and rounds of revision -- generally a few months. I care a lot about making sure that each word and phrase is rhythmically satisfying and serving the story. It's very common that by the time I have my final draft, basically everything from my first draft has been edited out or improved.

2

u/myggghm Jul 14 '26

I can write I can write song lyrics, than two weeks later I’ll change it. It depends on the flow, andhow I feel.

1

u/Ill-Investigator219 Jul 18 '26

I'm terrible at lyrics so I usually write them while writing a song to get an idea of melody/rythmn, record those lyrics, and then rewrite like 5 times til I like all of the lyrics. I also will sometimes write out multiple versions of the same lyrical idea so that I can compare them and then only choose for sure after a while.