A Grunge Cut Up Technique case study – Something Awful Happens
It’s been almost a year since I first read about the Cut Up technique and how artists such as David Bowie and Kurt Cobain used it to create the lyrics […]
Writing better lyrics
Lyrics that linger long in the mind
The essence of lyric writing is that songwriters string words together that they hope will resonate with listeners. Of course, the prime objective when creating the song is to create […]
Why you shouldn’t just write what you know
Writers are often told to write what you know. This seemingly sage advice is trotted out for a variety of writing genres: novels, short stories, poems, and lyrics. However, I […]
How to generate inspiration for song lyrics – part 2
In part 1, I described a couple of techniques that aspiring lyric writers can use to generate lyric inspiration. These were the Cut Out technique (favoured by Bowie and Cobain […]
How to generate inspiration for song lyrics – part 1
How do you generate inspiration for song lyrics? Do your lyric ideas come easily, or does it involve a lot of staring at a screen? Maybe accompanied by a low […]
Is there a magical formula for winning lyric contests?
Lyric Contests – exploring whether there’s a formula to win them Is there a magical formula for writing successful lyrics? Something that the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and […]
Case study – Creating a character to base a song around
In the last couple of posts I’ve provided some tips around how to create a character for a song lyric. In part 1 I provided some examples of well known […]
How to create a character to base a song around – part 2
In the first part of this topic I highlighted some examples of characters from famous songs. That included Stan from Eminem, Eleanor Rigby from The Beatles and Stagger Lee from […]
How to create a character to base a song around – part 1
In my last post I recommended re-using main protagonists from your lyrics in other songs. I talked about how artists such as Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, and David Bowie have […]
Re-using characters in songs
I came to writing lyrics having first of all spent several years writing comedy sketches. In the world of comedy sketch writing it’s considered normal, indeed extremely desirable, to re-use […]