Six Easy Steps  -  To Writing Hit Lyrics!

SIX EASY STEPS TO WRITING HIT LYRICS 
 - by Molly-Ann Leikin, Creativity Consultant
 
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 Many of my clients find that melodies pour out of them like beer
 from a tap - but they get stuck on lyrics.  I've thought about
 this for many years, and feel I finally understand why.  I also
 know how to fix it.
 
 First, melodies are open to interpretation - so when you write
 one, what you feel or intend is still safe in your heart - you do
 not have to reveal yourself or stand completely naked in front of
 the world.  But once you put words to a tune, your feelings are
 totally out in the open.  Everyone knows what's in your heart.
 Therefore, it's very inhibiting to write lyrics.
 
 But here is a process I use with my clients to make lyric writing
 simple for them.  There are six steps.  I suggest you use all of
 them.  Cutting corners is usually why a lyric doesn't work.  
 
 Let's assume, for this assignment only, that you have a melody
 but no idea of what to say in the lyric.  In a future column,
 I'll gladly give you pointers on how to start a lyric if there
 isn't any music in your head. But for now, you have a melody.
 
 STEP l.
 Play the melody you wrote, or choose one from the radio, writing
 non-rhyming prose as it plays.  Let your words be a
 stream-of-conscious exercise to warm up your imagination.  No
 rhymes.  No logic.  No continuity.  All whimsy.  Completely
 imaginative.  Totally visual.  Silly. Playful.
 
 "A tooth farmer from Fluffy, South Apricot, dug through Exxon's
 banana shoe section for kangaroo lingerie, after the De La
 Hoya/Trinidad wrist watch from Western Tire Cough Drops slid
 unnoticed into ..."
 
 STEP 2.
 Now we have you thinking and writing a little freer.  Good.
 Let's close in a smidge.  For step two, please write a silly,
 visual, non-rhyming lyric to the melody you've chosen.  Fill it
 with ridiculous pictures, as I did in Step one.  Don't be
 logical, don't make it make sense.  Every line can be about
 something different.  In this draft, try to keep yourself totally
 playful, and keep all the rhymes OUT.  Here's an example, using
 the chorus of "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing" -
 
 A lizard in algebra
 Pigs on the 405 
 Bake chihuahuas
 Serving footballs to Lindsay D
 
 STEP 3.
 Write an uncensored list of silly, visual titles that fit with
 the title line of your melody.  Try to get twenty or thirty
 outrageous possibilities on your list.  Don't write anything
 you've heard before, okay?  Let 'em roll - don't say "Oh, that's
 dumb".  Come on.  Let 'em roll.  You might find one of your
 ridiculous titles could actually be a real title.  "I love you"
 is fine.  But Jewel's "Swallow the Moon" is sensational.  A great
 title will write the whole song for you.  A mediocre one will
 leave you stranded in line two. 
 
 STEP 4.
 Based on the title you've chosen, write the STORY of your song,
 in prose. Maybe writing it as a letter would be easier for you.
 If any words come out rhyming, change them so they don't.  That
 way, you'll be able to express yourself with complete freedom -
 no constraints for rhyme or meter. 
 
 When you finish this step, you'll know the beginning, the middle
 and the end of your story before you begin the lyric.  You'll
 also be able to see if you have enough story to fill a whole
 song, so you won't get stuck half-way through with nowhere to go.
 
 In this step, you'll also be able to tell everything that
 happened - without worrying that you don't have enough room or
 time to include the whole saga.  Tell the story - in as much
 detail as you want.  Chances are you've never had this much
 freedom before as a story-teller in a song because lyrics are
 very spare, every syllable is critical and the lyric has to bow
 to the demands of the melody.  So enjoy the freedom you have here
 to tell all, without worrying about time rhyme or syllables.
 
 STEP 5.
 Using your story, write a non-rhyming lyric to the melody you've
 chosen.  Remember - no rhymes.
 
 STEP 6. 
 Now write the final lyric, with the story and the rhymes.
 
 I suggest you try these six steps.  Not four.  Not two.  Six.  My
 clients who do all of them, get great results.  The ones who
 don't are still claiming they can't write lyrics.
 
 Just remember - writing is a process.  The inspiration draft is
 just the first one - one of many - not the final product.
   
 Have fun, good luck! 
 
-  Molly-Ann Leikin

 Molly-Ann Leikin is a creativity consultant in California.  She is
 the author of "How To Write A Hit Song" and "How To Make A Good
 Song A Hit Song".  Molly wrote the national jingle for Ivy
 Mackenzie's "International Solutions" 1999 campaign, has several
 gold and platinum records, was a staffwriter for ten years, has
 an Emmy nomination, wrote themes and songs for 34 t.v. shows and
 movies, including "Eight is Enough" and "Violet", that won an
 Oscar.