I describe my ongoing lyrics writing projects. Where I get my ideas, how I match my words with other people's music, which little helpers I use...
This is a first: I've had no idea for the chorus yet, and I've had no tune in my mind. Normally, I'd begin with the chorus and a tune. Instead, this time I wrote the verses down in the correct sequence right away. And I didn't have to do any re-arranging...
I had noted a few ideas for the verses of "Welcome in Hell", and meanwhile Karsten has sent his ideas as to their melody. The result is, that my suggestions won't fit. I had suspected as much. Anyway, here are my - meanwhile obsolete - proposals: you...
I've taken the first BIG hurdle: I've examined and corrected all my lyrics so far. There are 18 rewrites, and 132 more lyrics have been altered - from simple spelling corrections through shifted, added, or replaced words and lines. That means nearly half...
A blog is okay when you follow it regularly, the current affairs coming first, the old stuff getting out of sight. Since my blog is about how I'm going about writing lyrics, hence "lyrics in progress", the old stuff actually appears in the wrong order:...
This was my first approach: loving again A: I was witness to your hardship, to your sorrow there was nothing that I could do - or say that would open your eyes B: tonight for the first time, you are happy for the first time, you feel loved C: I've always...
I checked my 'scrap book' today. This is what I found therein: I'll tear down your mask uncover your pretences I'll reveal your disguise* and destroy your defenses I added a second part (to what will become the chorus): I'll tear down your mask I'll thwart...
I've recorded "shall I live". There were also a few textual changes. One I made after singing it - you can hear that I've stumbled over the line "come over them like the final disease" (I'd already altered it once before). Now it reads "come o'r them...
Karsten has shortened the intro for "rise and fall" and considers a purely instrumental intro. This actually improves the song a lot. In former times there were two rules for hit material: the chorus must begin after a maximum of 30 seconds, and a songs...
These are two verses I wrote down for "Spartacus". They don't make much sense by themselves yet. The idea is, that Spartacus reflects about the long term outcome of his rebellion after his death. so you think that you can humble the proud men they'd become...
JD, a fellow songwriter, suggested a few corrections. It is "tear up the town" not "tear down the town", for example, if you mean "having a good time". Then I had to change the sex since KJ only has female singers, so it's a "big ad poster boy" now: big...
I've just had a discussion on a songwriter board about how in "Lost" verse 2 invalidates the content of verse 1 thus making the song "meaningless". The text could not possibly be understood by listeners. I cite: "The reader/listener has to ‘get’ what...
After "Spartacus" and "Europa" my next historic or rather mythologic project shall be "Ganymede". Yet again it's Zeus falling in love with a beautiful human being, but this time it's a boy. Other than with "Europa" this time I was having a tune in my...
Holger seems to be in a creative phase. Must be the new, much acclaimed drummer. The song he sent the other day has become "torn down". The new one has a similarly uncommon structure, no real chorus as far as I can see - or rather hear. I put down the...
Craig needed an extra syllable in the name to make the text match the tune he had in mind, so "Rachel" became "Emily". Folk-Rock. Here is the song: "Emily" on SoundClick ... and these are its lyrics no excitement, neither fun that was life to her nothing...
I dropped the word "but". I seemed to need it to match the tune in my mind, but the lyrics should work nicely - and look better - without: "I feel so bad, I come crawling on my knees" Rule: try to omit superfluous words wherever possible. Should additional...
"Welcome to hell" is one of the titles Karsten suggested and which I took to immediately. Now, how do I go from there? 1. define the subject Well, I've got a title. In the verses I would like to describe different kinds of hell, or different kinds of...
a blog is for the latest news. If you're interested in the results, i.e. the completed lyrics, here are a few links: my lyrics pages the latest additions my playlist, the same as on my MySpace site (which also contains quite a few links to Blues / Blues...
Vanity was a very, very old lady I have written and sung about. Well, she had been young once, and the "Vanitas" sculpture I mentioned the other day actually has two sides: the young, vain woman, and the old, pruney one. Every once in a while I write...
Karsten wants to change the tune for the chorus while the verses still haven't got any, so my nicely fitted text probably doesn't fit any longer. There's no use to continue working on a song with no tune. I might collect a few more ideas and note them...
I've completed yet another backing track with not the faintest ideas with regard to the tune - the vocal line - or the words. The chorus is very simple. I just listended to the track and found that there seems to be only room for four plus four syllables...
The third verse: how many were there before? and what lies did you tell them? did you tell that you would get a divorce? what kind of life did you fake? what did you tell 'bout your past? have you never been stung with remorse? [I checked RhymeZone.com...
the expression "single instance" should be okay. The rhyme "sex" - "flex" might be a bit strained. JD suggested "let me taste you there" instead of "let me taste your sex" (actually I didn't mean it that literally, but never mind), so the third verse...
After listening to the song today I have altered part "A". Although the numbers of syllables seemed to fit at first glance my lyric did not match the meter of the tune, i.e. number of syllables AND their intonation. As I had suspected part "E" did not...
It's an old one which you might have come across on my lyrics pages. I've posted it because I just discovered an archived version of my very early web pages on the wayback-machine. There is a little poem I wrote 1999 which actually became the seed for...
This is one of those rare 5-minutes pieces. I had a tune in my mind while I put down the text, and not just for the chorus, but I’ve heard the whole song sung this time. I consider it a love song. I’m past and I’m now feel like floating somehow I’m six...
