Songwriting Idea - How To Give A Lyric Line New Life
When you are working on your lyrics, have you ever wondered why it's so hard to think of a good way to say what you want to say, without it sounding boring or clunky or awkward ?
Are you sometimes not happy with the lines you have written, and would like to say the same thing only in a more powerful or unusual way ?
I think all songwriters and lyricists come against this from time to time, and as a friend recently asked me for help with some lines he wasn't happy with, I thought that I would share the way that I personally try and overcome this when it happens.
It's pretty simple, I brainstorm, with myself, alone, on paper. Yes I know, I'm old fashioned.
How I brainstorm:
* I write the offending line, or pair of lines, at the top of the page.
* I then write every conceivable variation of how I could write the same thing using different words and phrases, that I can think of. No matter how silly, daft, weird or over the top sounding they may be.
* Just write them down. Until you have at least 15 or 20 new lines, or fill the page. Keep going if you can do more !
* Then put the paper down and leave it for at least a day, maybe more.
* Come back to it after that and read back what you wrote.
* Some lines will jump out at you as being much better than others. I use a highlighter pen to highlight the ones I like.
Usually I seem to end up creating new lines using parts of the highlighted ones, sometimes one particular highlighted line jumps out more than the others and I use that. Whichever happens, you now have many ways of saying the same thing, hopefully at least one of them will inspire you.
Of course, if you are so modern that you don't possess paper and a pen, this works equally well on a Word doc or something similar.
Are you sometimes not happy with the lines you have written, and would like to say the same thing only in a more powerful or unusual way ?
I think all songwriters and lyricists come against this from time to time, and as a friend recently asked me for help with some lines he wasn't happy with, I thought that I would share the way that I personally try and overcome this when it happens.
It's pretty simple, I brainstorm, with myself, alone, on paper. Yes I know, I'm old fashioned.
How I brainstorm:
* I write the offending line, or pair of lines, at the top of the page.
* I then write every conceivable variation of how I could write the same thing using different words and phrases, that I can think of. No matter how silly, daft, weird or over the top sounding they may be.
* Just write them down. Until you have at least 15 or 20 new lines, or fill the page. Keep going if you can do more !
* Then put the paper down and leave it for at least a day, maybe more.
* Come back to it after that and read back what you wrote.
* Some lines will jump out at you as being much better than others. I use a highlighter pen to highlight the ones I like.
Usually I seem to end up creating new lines using parts of the highlighted ones, sometimes one particular highlighted line jumps out more than the others and I use that. Whichever happens, you now have many ways of saying the same thing, hopefully at least one of them will inspire you.
Of course, if you are so modern that you don't possess paper and a pen, this works equally well on a Word doc or something similar.
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