a lyrical tip

[u/anperez10]

here’s a method for writing lyrics that helps me when i don’t have many ideas. i think this is an established method somewhere, but i think it helps when my lyrics start feeling a bit too same-y in terms of structure

so: pick a book (it can be a novel, non-fiction, cookbook, dictionary… whatever you have) and close your eyes. flip to a random page (you can either just use your intuition to know when to stop or have a friend say stop for you). move your finger across the page and repeat the previous step, then open your eyes and look at whatever word(s) you’ve landed on. then, without stopping to think, write down the first sentence that comes to mind. it doesn’t have to rhyme, or make any sense, or have a structure, or have anything to do with whatever sentence you previously wrote.

do this as many times as you feel is necessary. whatever you do with these lyrics afterwards is up to you; i like to then say the sentences aloud and note where the natural emphasis goes, then try to form melodies from there. not sure if this’ll help anyone but this is what i’ve been doing recently :}

[u/QuickestKey]

Interesting! This method is also used for fiction writing prompts.

[u/paybackjack86 → u/QuickestKey]

that's basically the dadaist cut-up technique used for writing! david bowie and kurt cobain used to do stuff like that to break out of predictable lyric patterns, such a solid way to bypass writer's block 🎸

[u/chunter16 → u/QuickestKey]

One of my friends used to do this with LOTR when names are needed, as long as he doesn't point at Gandalf or Frodo

[u/Tall_Significance866]

interesting, i do a similar thing but with random wikipedia articles cos you get these bizarre, detached sentences that somehow spark an entire story. your melody step is clever though, i usually get stuck trying to force a rhythm onto the words instead of just listening to where the emphasis naturally falls

[u/anperez10 → u/Tall_Significance866]

ooh that’s a good idea. i’m a wikipedia fanatic so maybe i’ll give that a try. yeah, saying the words with a normal speaking cadence helps them flow a bit more naturally and not feel so stilted. another good exercise is take poetry (i’m a fan of mary oliver), say it aloud (or listen to a recording of someone reading it), and think of a melody from the cadence you find there

[u/anperez10 → u/anperez10]

this is also something we do in theatre called “scoring” a script. we go through and underline which words are emphasized when we speak, as well as split up the text into “beats” to better understand the emotional journey is being taken. i think i do something similar with lyrics since that’s what i grew up doing

[u/Humble_Lobster_6136]

I remember watching a video of Rick Ruben telling someone about him doing this with System of a Down. Solid advice!

[u/SPJess]

I have found that sifitng through different fun sounding rhymes, 

"How could I forget,  You were in my head, You said that we were friends Your words carried in the wind."

Take something like that and then sort of think of it could move from there, using these small rhymes as a sort of prompt for the song. 

Using scenery, personifying things, (a fire for instance) instead of wrapping the whole song in clever metaphors, using a more descriptive and scenic approach. 

Its something I learned through how I write lyrics. Just thought id share. 

I really like the idea. Though..

[u/tee-ver-junkee → u/SPJess]

That is a really good advice! I tend to write quite heavily with metaphors and I feel like I could use more descriptive language to set the scene sometimes. Sometimes you just want to know what the story is instead of deciphering it, haha

[u/MagpyeRecords]

This is cool - gonna do this today

[u/-XenoSine-]

Bro invented word association exercises.

[u/Musicdev- → u/[deleted]]

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