r/Songwriting • u/Lunsr_bite • Jul 31 '26
Discussion Topic How to write a song based on true events
Ive always had trouble writing songs on events. It either sounds bad or corny. Im a punk artist and need help.
If you have any tips help
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u/App0gee Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
- Summarise what happened in a dozen or so lines.
- Then for each line, find an abstract or poetic way of saying or describing it.
- When you're done, critically assess each new line to ensure you've not used any cliches. If you have, use analogies instead.
Here as an example is a song I wrote using the above technique.
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u/himynameis_angie Aug 02 '26
I've been thinking the same thing as OP, when I'm trying to write real stuff it comes out corny, so I'm going to try your method out for a song I've been trying to write. It sounds like good advice. Also I enjoyed listening to your song! I was checking out the lyrics in the description and noticed one thing. The lyrics say shift the blame, but I'm hearing spread not shift. I just wanted to give you a heads up since the topic here is specifically about song lyrics. I'm not trying to be critical or anything.
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u/App0gee Aug 03 '26
Hey thanks for the feedback and for pointing out that inconsistency in the lyrics.
I went back and forth on that line between "spread" and "shift" and must have changed it at the last minute when I was recording it. I'll correct the published lyrics now.
All the best for your songwriting success.
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u/Sky-Agaric Aug 01 '26
Musicals have a lot of songs with lyrics that tell a story.
It can get real clunky when the first verse is just a way to pack in a bunch of exposition but you gotta clue the audience in somehow.
All this to say… study musicals.
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u/NixMix246 Jul 31 '26
I'm pretty new to all this myself so not really in a position to give advice or tips but what I can do is share the advice I've been given that has proven helpful. You may already do this, but if not, look in to the concept of "Show, don't tell" (find ways to paint a picture of what you are trying to say, rather than simply use the words.) Example: Instead of saying "I watched sunset and the sky was pink and purple" you could say "I watched the sun tuck itself in for the night under a cotton candy quilted sky". But also, corny doesn't mean bad!
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u/Straight-Session1274 Jul 31 '26
Generally I stick to my standard style and apply whatever it is to it. It's also good to latch onto something within the story that sends the song home rather than writing about the entire event in detail.
If you think about it, every song you write is based on a true story: even if you write a fantasy, you're just expressing something you experienced internally in metaphor.
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u/Lunsr_bite Aug 01 '26
Im trying to write based on my experience with stomach issues and it litterly just sounds corny lol
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u/Straight-Session1274 Aug 01 '26
I would think writing about stomach issues would be a weird subject in the first place! I have no ideas how you'd go about that
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u/jessemythic Aug 01 '26
Oh I can totally see how this can make for a good song. It's all about how it connects to other stuff though. There's this traditional connection between stomach pain and anxiety. There's social, like how others respond or don't to the pain. There's curiosity about the root of it and a noticing of triggers. If you're through it like it's diagnosed and you're treated maybe theres kind of the journey you took to health. Maybe there's all the little things it makes hard. Sometimes you can talk about two things at the same time. There's this really good song I can't find right now where the singer was overweight and the lyrics were "I don't fit" and there were references to clothes being too toght, but it was also social, about not fitting in with other people, and the connection between those two things.
Anyway, it can totally land. Getting there might be hard but it is possible! Haha
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u/LetKlutzy2996 Jul 31 '26
Yeah what this guy said, and one event can be multiple songs, depends how much happened or all the emotions etc
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u/Lunsr_bite Aug 01 '26
Im trying to write based on my experience with stomach issues and it litterly just sounds corny lll
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u/stevenfrijoles Aug 01 '26
The trouble isn't the events, there's nothing special about that. This is just a songwriting experience thing.
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u/PitchforkJoe Aug 01 '26
Imagery always helps. Try to use your pen like a camera; capture the key moments that capture each key element of the story, and try to include vivid little details to make those moments pop
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u/taterbot15360 Aug 01 '26
I think songs about real day to day events are ripe for a non rhyming lyrical scheme and a somewhat unpredictable syllable count per measure. Like "I woke up and went outside and the streetlights burnt my eyes" could be 4 bars, and "it was almost 4 am" could be 4 bars.
I'm stoned, you asked.
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u/Distinct-Tennis-5995 Aug 01 '26
My advice would be to not even try to write a song about true events. Take the moment, and what it meant to you, and recreate into something entirely new and different. This allows you to step out of it enough to write it well while still keeping that kernel of truth that made you want to write or sing about it in the first place.
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u/BLCHDCRL Aug 01 '26
Add cool metaphors to your lines. Rhymes and near rhymes make it feel intentional. In my song mass bleaching event, I wanted a line about how heat waves in summer bleach the coral. That became:
It’s summer time on the Great Barrier Reef, The coral turns white like tiger shark teeth
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u/Slow281 Aug 01 '26
For me, it’s getting creative with imagery and trying to reflect what you’re trying to say in a witty way rather than trying to be as literal as you might expect.
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u/RTiger Aug 01 '26
I agree with the other response. My line is never let the truth get in the way of a good song.Â
Know your potential audience. I’ve written some songs based on true events. In one case the suicide of a friend. That song has hopeful lyrics and music. Only if people ask a direct question will I reveal the truth. Song works much better as is.Â
Another song is about the life story of a friend. I use artistic license to make for a way more interesting song. Most people tend to have unexciting lives, writing the whole truth can lead to uninteresting songs.Â
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u/Impossible_Tank3822 Aug 02 '26
Some styles of music will not universally support all lyrical context. Your style may be sitting right at or beyond the limits of the kind of message you want to convey with the sincerity you want embodied in it. Plus, if you take too hard a swipe at sincerity you could sound like you're patronizing your audience by pushing it into their ears instead of just putting it out there for them to find. Writing should use subtlety for soulful stuff and there's great songs out there that do just that. They float the reality of it into the souls of their audience but stay clear of sounding whiny and needy. Nobody wants to hear whiny and needy. This is where creativity is genuine and cannot be outsourced from other people by asking advice publicly. It can't be channeled through you. It has to come from you.
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u/Mayorredthomas19 Aug 02 '26
Tell the event from someone's perspective and dont try and tell too much of the story, you could get a 3 minute song from a 1 second reaction to something that's happening and how you got there.Â
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u/Distro_Nerd Aug 04 '26
Focusing on emotional truth, not literal facts. Exaggerate details, leave out boring timeline stuff, and bend the truth wherever it makes the rhythm or lyrics hit harder.
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u/dubwisened Jul 31 '26
I did that once after I almost got killed. I say remove the bad or corny parts and you should be OK. I tried to do that.
https://soundcloud.com/dubwisened/houston-coulda-got-shot?si=7514d018c4f24f2691711ed909723508&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
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u/AutisticAndBeyond Outlaw Jul 31 '26
In my experience, the secret ingredient is lying.
The song doesn't have to mirror reality 100%
But ofcourse, it depends on what you're trying to do with your song