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...
Butterflies and creativity are similar. They come and go somewhat erratically, you never quite get a hold on them, if you want to keep them you have to kill them. I love butterflies, I used to raise them. This could become the chorus of - rather mean...
I've written about this before. The message at that time was: when you're old enough - like me - there is plenty of experience to draw on. If you're young, you might just take advantage of other's experiences. You could choose articles from the newspapers...
Typically there would be two different approaches to writing lyrics. It's either lyrics first - possibly with some kind of tune in the mind that will not necessarily play any part in the further process, or music first. Actually, the first approach means...
Often my songs and lyrics ideas start with a vague idea what I might write about. Recently I've come up with three new subjects which I would like to cast into songs: - lost revolutions or rebellions, or rather the eternal rebel (catch phrase might contain...
Two verses, two chorus versions. For the latter Karsten had provided ideas which I only altered slightly: rise and fall they think themselves so tall fly high'n touch the sky, but finally they'll fall and cry rise and fall they think themselves so tall...
I've thought about a chorus for "lost". So I'm lost I don't know a way out Have I crossed the point of no return? Will there be a final last straw just for me so that I can turn I don't like the rhyme "return" - "turn", neither am I happy with the "final...
This is one of my early songs. A song about the internet hype when the world-wide-web was taking off. Its text was inspired by a programming colleague who was more impressed by the many fanciful features of the web technology rather than their functionality....
Tony from Scotland suggested to exchange the lines of the chorus to give the title phrase an extra punch. Quite! glad that you bear with me glad that you’re here with me My wife has recognized my love statement immediately: "glad that you bear with me",...
Another 'unusual' title I wrote for Marc from Austria. And another he never set to music either. I later recorded the title myself - it's one of the few songs of mine which had the verses completed without any melody associated with them. Actually, the...
I will change the third verse altogether: we protested 'gainst a culture of conspicious consumption bein' able to live just on grass based on a large assumption we had our time of love and peace, but soon we had to function Besides coming quite close...
I like Brigitte's smile - and I like Brigitte smile, or so. And I wrote a little poem, must've been in the late 90's: Her smile I glimpsed at her and caught a smile, and quickly stored it in a jar. When sometimes I feel blue awhile relief is not so very...
Quite often I need two syllables where the melody would require only one note. This need not be a disadvantage, though. Occasionally, singing two short notes instead of one can actually even enhance the song, giving it more variety, thus making it more...
Today two little ideas came into my mind which could make it into a song, maybe even make a hook line. The first is the expression "walking on memory lane" because that's what I've been doing the last weeks. Well, that line has been used before, it's...
Once the basic idea for a song is there, the next step, in regard to lyrics, is gathering phrases, rhymes, sentences, or just single key words. I intend to write about the 1970's ideals and misconceptions (?). And these were my first notes: propagated...
I'm caught in your eyes and I could be losing myself but your smile always puts me at ease I even love the peach fuzz on your tummy and arms during the nights I'm watching you breathe my love's grown beyond compare I'm lonesome when you're not there I'll...
You can work either way. When I write lyrics for Motorplanet (a blues-rock trio from Bremerhaven) I write the text to existing music. Holger sends recordings of complete compositions. Only the text he sings is 'Gibberish' (some English sounding nonsense...
I corrected the meter for one verse, and wrote a third one. So here's the new version for the second verse: we were proud to be surrounded by a mob of enemies, mistrusted all authorities, would destroy all hierarchies our overall ideal was a life in total...
To sum up the history so far: first there was a chord progression (actually a little exercise for learning power chords), then there was a - maybe only provisional - melody for the verse (the meter is important, not the notes), and the accompaniment for...
Don't ask me how I came up with the idea for the verses. I simply don't know. I just had this line "you took me by surprise tonight" in my head, and proceeded from there. As for the bridge I looked up rhymes for "time" (mime, dime, also: I'm ..) in a...
I haven't heard from Alex again. Maybe he doesn't like my writing style. Anyway, since I didn't receive a new or altered composition I simply completed the lyrics for the tune that I've got, which I actually like a lot. The pattern for the verses goes...
After I had figured out that the subject of the song had to be happy memories rather than dismal ones I simply had to invent a few joyful moments one might like to remember about a partnership. It was as simple as that. Rhyming was not so simple. Consequently,...
For quite a while a melody and the lines for a chorus have been in my mind. The lines were: we tried to kill the master and rescue all the slaves bein' led into disaster we're crying at their graves This would have to be about some mislead revolution,...
To write a text which matches the new song I need to know the number of lines, the number of syllables per line, and their intonation. Therefore, I have added a - probably only provisional - melody for my chord progression (life is provisional, if you...
Originally, I intended to restrict the irony to one or maybe two verses. Somehow, yet, it made it into the chorus as well. Truth be told, I didn't come up with a proper chorus, i.e. a serious text. So I have contented myself with an ironic chorus as well....
Marc, a young Austrian, had come across my lyrics and asked me to write an unusual title for him which would stand out. Maybe in the manner of "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down. Since I had never heard of them, I first bought their CD to get an idea. Obviously,...
