What comes first, the lyrics or the music?
I imagine itβs easier to make lyrics to music than the other way around?
How do people write lyrics then? Or do they play and write play and write play and write?
Discussion
My issue is that I have lyrics on my mind but they are always to some previous music Iβve heard and nothing original.
Just think of a random main beat that you come up with and adjust the delivery of the lyrics to it, and sometimes the reverse when needed.
Music first, how it feels brings the lyrics
Paul McCartney had "scrambled eggs" as chorus for "Yesterday", before it was named such, until he could come up with lyrics.
Interesting π
I found the video with a famous interview, then downloaded it and uploaded it somewhere so you can access it. And shared it with the whole community on here. ππβ‘
π΅ πΆ
yes to the first question
chords are like coordinates. you want the music to take you to the same place that the lyrics do
fun fact: a lot of the songwriters have something called synesthesia, meaning they see music in colours/shapes, which makes unifying the music and lyrics way easier, especially when writing music to lyrics
Very cool fact
The beat IMO first then lyrics to follow.
Most of the time the music comes first. I know the Counting Crows guy just made sounds and eventually they became words (heard from his 1st keyboardist). So did the lead singer of our shittly little unknown band.
I write the lyrics first always. Starts as a little poem, then I sing it in a melody, then write the rest of the song based on that. Then I add guitar and chorus, turnaround etc.
I always do rhythm or beat first. Itβs the most recognizable part of the song, the distance between the sounds.
After that the melody, the distance of notes from each other (scale) which is what allows most western music to be written with just 12 notes!!
Then lyrics last, but we write lyrics in our minds all day long so just keep writing and you will have way more lyrics then music lol.
Also music is fucking awesome π€π»
Iβve always wondered this and how do singers find their voice? Is it innate? It all just seems so magical in a way.
I have written several songs and I donβt even know how to write music. Songs are forms of poetry.
Typically, in my case, one line/melody serves as a seed--usually some spur-of-the-moment thing on my phone. Then I'll bring music to it after and iterate from there. But I write every which way. Different approaches produce different results. Creativity, for me, aught to be largely experimental.
Iβve written it both ways. It depends on how your ability can meet your intent. Sometimes a tune pops into my head, sometimes a phrase or two gets it started.
I think it depends, each particular musician has his own creative process. I think you are right and it's easier to write lyrics to music, bc music defines the rhyme, the length and complexity of a thought or a story that is to be told in a song. And its obviously easier to put together semi coherent text when you have a catchy tune. But with some musicians its so clear that the core of their songs are lyrics. what comes to my mind is Queen's songs, almost in all of them the texts are so complex and cohesive, they tell stories, they can be published and read as poems even without music - so I have no doubts lyrics were written first and then they created music canvas in a studio. I also understood that was thier process when I watched the biopick. The Doors, Beatles, Eagles , a lot of "old" rock music is text-centric. The fact that so many songs of 60-90ss had also an amazing music just shows the level of the talent of that times creators. Obviously we need to factor the genre , for some genres the lyrics are secondary or even not important at all. What is the mechanics of the actual in-studio work process - I don't know. I think it can be very different for every band or a singer .