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Lyric Writing…
This project was my first attempt at seriously writing lyrics. I’ve written before but never from a personal angle or for songs I’ve directly written. My first move was to study all the artist I enjoyed-from Chris Cornell (SoundGarden) to Rakim to Maynard James Keenan (Tool) to Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins). I wanted to try to understand how they put things together.
From Chris Cornell and I learn how to find ways to use metaphors combined with cool imagery. “Black Hole Sun”, “New Damage” and “Outshined” are all songs which I can relate to. Outshined creatively talks about insecurity and how other people relate to who they THINK you are.
From Rakim I learn how important efficiency with specific words and timing. Combing rhythms, structures and words that emphasize mean and match the timing of the music became the goal. “Move the Crowd” and “Know the Ledge” strongly influenced how specific I should be with words.
From Maynard James Keenan I learned to look internally and externally to look at how I look at I look at things and make those things subject matter for my own personal growth. “Lateralus”, “Forty Six & 2” and “Vicarious” heavily influenced my writing and subject matter and how to present them.
And from Elizabeth Fraser-whom often uses sounds and non specific words without any meaning, I learned to listen for sounds and hear words that fit the music. I began to close my eyes and write down what ever words I heard and then find the meaning and subject matter.
It all became a process of looking inside and writing things when ever they came to me. That started to become melodies, whole phrases and specific titles. It became a refined process where I could listen to a track-hear a rhythm and words that fit what was happening.
By the end of the 8 songs I wanted to write, it had become my process-listen, open up, write and refine.
I would love to hear how others create theirs…
J
The Opposite of Faith
From Chris Cornell and I learn how to find ways to use metaphors combined with cool imagery. “Black Hole Sun”, “New Damage” and “Outshined” are all songs which I can relate to. Outshined creatively talks about insecurity and how other people relate to who they THINK you are.
From Rakim I learn how important efficiency with specific words and timing. Combing rhythms, structures and words that emphasize mean and match the timing of the music became the goal. “Move the Crowd” and “Know the Ledge” strongly influenced how specific I should be with words.
From Maynard James Keenan I learned to look internally and externally to look at how I look at I look at things and make those things subject matter for my own personal growth. “Lateralus”, “Forty Six & 2” and “Vicarious” heavily influenced my writing and subject matter and how to present them.
And from Elizabeth Fraser-whom often uses sounds and non specific words without any meaning, I learned to listen for sounds and hear words that fit the music. I began to close my eyes and write down what ever words I heard and then find the meaning and subject matter.
It all became a process of looking inside and writing things when ever they came to me. That started to become melodies, whole phrases and specific titles. It became a refined process where I could listen to a track-hear a rhythm and words that fit what was happening.
By the end of the 8 songs I wanted to write, it had become my process-listen, open up, write and refine.
I would love to hear how others create theirs…
J
The Opposite of Faith
Comments
Yeah, what I'm loving right now is that a lot of times the words come with the melodies and then sometimes the songs title themselves.
Trying to look from another's perspective-or even trying to look at your own external is a very effective way to work. I've read that MJK actually thinks about the aspect of his personality that frustrate him and then starts to write ('The Grudge', 'Vicarious')...