Songwriter Forum > The Writing Process

Melody vs Lyrics

(1/6) > >>

hofnerite:
I am a melody man, I write songs by playing guitar (or piano) while humming a melody line, sometimes I put a few words in to see where I am going but melody ALWAYS comes first. I then sit down when the whole melody and music parts are done to write the words.

How do you do it? Are words or melody the most important to you? In which order do you write songs?

Personally I find lyrics the hardest part of the process and part of me really wants to find a Bernie Taupin so I have something to work from every time I sit down to write. I find melodies come naturally as I find chords. It's fascinating to me to hear from other songwriters as to how they do it, so please post your methods!

tone:
I'm a melody first writer too, although I have written one or two starting with words.  I also find the lyrics the hardest part, but I think they're a really important part of the song, at least for the kinds of songs I want to write.

I would say the music comes first, because although terrible lyrics can ruin a song to some extent, I think a terrible song is just that: a terrible song, regardless of how good the lyrics are.  I've begun to try not to see them as two separate things.  A song has melody, harmony, rhythm and words. Take away any of those ingredients, and the song loses something essential.

hofnerite:
I agree with the "all-in-one" view.
It seems that a lot of songwriting sites emphasise lyrics over anything else, often telling people that a sing is rubbish just from a review of some lyrics. There are lots of very very famous songs I can mention that have poor (on paper) lyrics but have gone on to be classics.

I was listening to "Dance Tonight" my McCartney today. On paper the lyrics are atrocious, same with the music if it were an instrumental but together it works, has sold millions and used as part of Apple's world wide adverts. I know it's Macca and all he needs to do is fart and it goes to no.1 but it just proves your point Tone that a good song is getting each part just right.

Eltoniobonio:

--- Quote from: hofnerite on August 28, 2010, 10:47:14 PM ---I am a melody man, I write songs by playing guitar (or piano) while humming a melody line, sometimes I put a few words in to see where I am going but melody ALWAYS comes first. I then sit down when the whole melody and music parts are done to write the words.

How do you do it? Are words or melody the most important to you? In which order do you write songs?

Personally I find lyrics the hardest part of the process and part of me really wants to find a Bernie Taupin so I have something to work from every time I sit down to write. I find melodies come naturally as I find chords. It's fascinating to me to hear from other songwriters as to how they do it, so please post your methods!

--- End quote ---
Hi Hofnerite. My method is the same as yours. Melody always comes first, the lyrics are usually a bit of an issue for me. I hum any ideas onto a small dictaphone and then leave it for a while so i've sort of forgotten what i've hummed. If when i play the tape back (a few weeks or months later) my idea jumps out at me i go with it. If my idea sounds bad i drop it. i have a few bits of songs laying around but when i decide to record one i stick to that one. By the time the backing is all done i'm then cornered into coming up with some lyrics. Do you record your songs?

Nathan1709:
I tend to focus on the lyrics primarily and then edit them once I have an idea for a melody.  Occasionally I will come up with a melody first but for the most part the lyrics are my main focus.  I have, in the past, written the lyrics for a whole song before even considering the melody.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page