in the mood

Often, though not always, I use dummy text as a template for lyrics I'm supposed to write. It's my method when writing lyrics to match existing tunes. This time there is not excactly a tune, but rather a chord progression. Nonetheless, the method remains nearly the same: while listening to the music - to just the accompaniment in this case - I try to invent lines that fit in.

Now, that I've got a template, i.e. words that define the meter - or prosody - of the song, I need to decide on a subject. What is it that I want to write about. I actually let the music decide. Which mood does the music convey to me? Is it sad (she left me, I feel desperate), is it angry (she envies me my friends, I tell her that it's none of her business), or is it joyful (we're having a party)?

A year and a half ago I had begun recording little video lectures on lyrics writing. The first lecture was to be about "writer's block" (I love to provoke or surprise people - it's not excactly the first subject one would have expected, is it?). Actually, I don't believe in "writer's block", I don't believe that it exists at all. But it can be a little challenge to decide on a subject or story of a song. That's the real issue that hides behind the term "writer's block", I guess. I never completed the video, by the way. Other spare time occupations took priority. Maybe next year...

The accompaniment that I recorded and that I'm trying to find words for doesn't sound particulary 'moody'. It's rather relaxed, maybe distanced or impartial. Therefore, I think I should write in the third person, not about 'me' and 'my' feelings.

The kernel of a song is contained in the chorus - if there is a chorus, that is - so I normally begin with writing the chorus. This time I simply altered my dummy text  very slightly so it becomes third person:

Darlene, sweet girl
where have you gone
Darlene, sweet girl
what have you done

... Something stupid, obviously. Like run away from home without any realistic perspective, for example. I will probably also use the dummy text for bridge, with yet again only very slight changes:

all days seemed to be the same
her mind seemed to go insane

I think it's only natural that the words you come up with spontaneously while listening to music somehow will - and actually should! - 'make it' into the 'official' lyrics. Somehow your unconscious mind associates these very words with this particular music. So they are supposed to match - in some way. I won't apply this 'rule' to the verses, though. You remember?

I asked for an autograph
to receive a punch...

Well, these lines wouldn't fit into the story of a runaway. They're still just what they were meant to be: some nonsense text that's supposed to serve as a template for something else.