Create Unique Lyrics for a Song

Writing unique lyrics can be a challenge, and it's true that it's not easy. Create it from the heart. It's also true that it's not magic—it's a craft that you can develop and become quite skilled at. The beauty is, because you're unique, your lyrics can be just as unique as you are. We'll help you find ways to search for those lyrics that only you can write, and become a better songwriter in the process. Read on!

Steps

Sample Songs

Doc:Pop Song,Song from a Musical,Country Song,Rock Song,Indie Song,Love Song

Write From The Heart

  1. Unleash your muse. So many times we start out writing a song by trying to squish what we want to say into four or eight bars with a couple rhymes and hopefully a hook. If we're lucky, we'll get the message out.
    • This is all well and great, but it's also not a very inspiring or unique way to write a song: we're locked in before we even begin. Instead, try just writing what's on your mind without the structure of a song.
  2. Practice this daily: First thing in the morning, when you're sitting down with your cup of coffee, tea, or diet soda, pull out a pen and paper.
    • Pick something in the room. Anything. It might be the coffee pot, or the mosquito that just landed on your arm. Write for ten to fifteen minutes about that object, in as much detail as you can. It can be accurate, or fanciful—but be as freely creative as you can be. Don't spend too long on this—you're not writing a song; think of it instead as exercising your creative brain so that when it's time, your brain will be ready to help you write a song.
  3. Pick the main subject of the song. When you're ready to write a song, use the skills you've been developing by practicing every day. This time, instead of an object in the room, pick that which the song is about. It might be a girl, it might be a car. It could be an abstract concept like love, or a situation like riding on a train. Now, instead of cramming that into four rhyming lines, write a story about it, and use all your senses to describe the story.
    • It doesn't have to be well written, or even grammatically correct. Think of it more like a stream of consciousness "thought poem," and write what comes to mind.
    • When you're done, examine your writing. What parts strike a particularly strong emotional chord within you? What parts are expository, and what parts bear repeating?
  4. Begin to develop your song. Some songs tell a story, while some songs are small vignettes with a central theme. As you worked the writing exercise, you probably had a sense of which way your song would go.
    • If your song is a story, get it all out in the exercise. If it's vignettes, write several short stories that tie to that to the central theme, and another story that is all about the theme itself.
    • For example, Bob Dylan's Shelter From The Storm, while having some elements of a story, is more a series of vignettes that paint a picture of a time and place, and a life of hardships, but always come back to his benefactor: "Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."
    • Another Dylan song, Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts, is a sequential narrative, and like Shelter From The Storm, always comes back to the focus: the Jack of Hearts
  5. Put together the key points of the song. These will form the backbone of the lyrics, the reason for each verse, the chorus, or both. Don't overdo it—you could end up with a 20-minute song! We'll stick to standard formats for now.
    • With your ideas for each verse sketched out, work out a verse that makes each point. Commonly, the point is made in the last line, with the first three lines building up support, reason, or rhyme for the last line.
    • Continue filling in the "blanks," until each verse is complete. You may find that there are rhymes that can be reused in other verses, and some verses that stand on their own. Remember, this is your song, and the goal is to be unique. Don't worry if it doesn't follow a fixed formula—even rhymes can be tossed out if they don't fit!
  6. Develop the chorus. Generally, a song is about something. A good way to organize your song so that "something" is the highlight is to make it the chorus. Each verse feeds into the chorus, helping to lead the listener there and enabling them to understand.
    • For example, listen to Better Together from Jack Johnson. The chorus is simple: just a simple statement that's "It's always better when we're together." Each verse paints a picture of how everything else going on always leads to being back together, where it's better. You can write a song about something that you have been through or about your friends or about someone else's life. Good Luck.

Make it Personal

  1. Make your song deeply personal. Give your audience the feeling of being let in on a secret, whilst also giving you a way to vent.
  2. Decide how you want to write your song: tune first or lyrics first. You can also write them both at the same time, which can be much easier. Whichever you write second is likely to be harder because you have to fit it to the other part you wrote, so save your particular talent until second.
    • Some pretty well-know artists start with the melody, and then find the right words to fit. There's one song everybody knows that started out with only a melody. As the song was developed, the artist sang "Scrambled eggs..." When he was finished, Paul McCartney had written "Yesterday."
    • This is also a favorite technique of Peter Gabriel, who frequently uses nonsense syllables as he works out the melody, adding actual words only when the music has been decided on.
  3. List things that you might want to say in your lyrics. Write as many ideas down as possible and words that relate to it (especially useful if you want to make your lyrics rhyme). Write as much detail as possible—remember it might not all go into your final lyrics. Express yourself!
  4. Start with the chorus. Sing it to yourself to make sure that the rhythm and words are together.
  5. Write in accent and dialect, but keep it natural. The Arctic Monkeys have managed to rhyme "something" with "stomach" (summat, stomach).
    • While making words with different endings rhyme, and making dissimilar words flow is a definite plus, do not overdo this.
    • You can use regional sayings or phrases. This tends to make the piece sound native to a specific area. Also, a common thing for British bands is to use the accent to their advantage—like South Central Heroes—and this can create a very unique beat. However, there is no need to fake an accent or dialect just to make your song sound "unique."
  6. Think of an unusual rhythm for your lyrics. Maybe you could have lots of repeated lines, an unconventional rhyming scheme or a range of very short and very long lines.
  7. Listen carefully. Pay attention to how people around you talk and what they talk about. You could base your lyrics around this.
  8. Be literary. Make your song deeper and more interesting by using similes, metaphors and other literary devices.
  9. Be humorous. Include things that are funny or make references to current affairs and trends as people tend to remember them more. They also tend to date a song, and what began as a serious song can be seen as dated or even campy a few years down the line.
  10. Create a thought-provoking title. Make sure it is relevant to your lyrics, but if it's only tangentially related, or just downright obscure, don't worry too much about it. Dylan's Rainy Day Women No. 12 and 35 means absolutely nothing to mere mortals (and perhaps not even to Mr. Dylan), but when he wrote that song, Everybody Must Get Stoned was not a title that would get any airplay or juke box positioning.
    • Be careful of overly-long names, like Joan Miro's Procession Through The Insides Of A Purple Antelope Across A Sea Of Tuna Fish by Adrian Belew. If you make your song name really long, people will either gloss over it (bad), make up their own name for it (risky), or it'll become a cult favorite simply because of the name. If the muse moves you to it, follow your muse.

Tips

  • Make sure that the lyrics and riffs are balanced. You don't want a lullaby with grunge in the background.
  • Take inspiration from things that really happened to you. The best songs express genuine emotions, so try to recall significant events that have happened to you and the emotions you felt. Your lyrics don't have to tell a true story, but they will carry much more weight if the emotions expressed come from a real place.
  • When you think that the song lyrics are cheesy, write them over again until you think it is right.
  • After you write the lyrics sing it and tap your fingers at the same time and find the beat you like.
  • If you like the song, that's all that really matters. If you want a really good song, think of strong, catchy lyrics, that lots of people like. Do some brainstorming, then read over what you wrote. You can take out the things you don't think will fit, then try to think of a catchy tune.
  • Song lyrics don't need to follow strict pattern of rhyme, meter and rhythm so it means you can really say whatever you want without feeling restricted. In this way it's very similar to writing a poem.
  • Write from the heart and base your songs on a current situation in your life.
  • Always think first what the song is about.
  • Get inspiration from other songs. Get an idea from a song you like and do something similar but don't copy it.
  • Have a drink of water before you sing to clear your throat.
  • Try basing it on how you know someone else feels strongly about something.
  • One way how to make great lyrics is just close your eyes and think of real life experiences and what you felt during that day. Then put it down on paper. It's also good to ask yourself questions like who? When? What? Where?
  • Be Yourself! A song is always better when you have your full heart in your composition
  • When something really bad or good happens to you, write it down. Get all of your feelings on paper and then a later day you can go back and turn your emotions into a really strong, powerful song.
  • Some times having someone else read back to you what you just wrote can help you continue the process.
  • Make sure you don't try idolize one current song and make your song 'like theirs'. It's OK to try be like one style, but try grab from a range to make your own unique blend, likening to your favorites, but still your own.
  • Think about someone important in your life, you could even write a sad song.
  • You don't always need fresh lyrics if you have a fresh tune.
  • If all else fails, simply make the lyrics a less prominent feature of the piece.
  • Run out of words before the song is over? Repetition is your friend: "Na, na na na na na na, na na na na, hey Jude" (Repeat 80x)
  • You can create dada music by putting a bunch of random phrases in a hat, pull them out one by one, the case it would be an example of a hidden meaning.
  • Let feeling flow and write the true masterpiece of your words and thoughts.
  • Record your song and listen to the sound of your voice. Fix your intonation the second time you sing it.
  • If you don't know if your song is good, record it, and ask yourself if it could be better.
  • Try making songs in hard times. It might sound strange, but you might find that your most heartfelt lyrics will be inspired by your struggles.
  • When creating a song, tell a a story. Express the way you feel. Do what your heart feels.

Warnings

  • Don't stick together rhyming sentences just because they rhyme—make sure the rhymes are good and interesting. Words like "fly", "high", and "sky" (cry is becoming one of them) are very over used and will make your audience sigh. Don't ask why, Don't even try, They'll just lie, or lay down and die, In a bucket of pie.
  • While offending people and infringing copyright may make people remember your song, it won't be for the reasons you want.
  • If you are expressing a specific mood in the song, stick to it, because a song can and will be very draggy and boring. Try immersing yourself in that mood, it will get you more into the writing.

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Sources and Citations

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