Hi DJ

I think that a song lyric should get the story across in the simplest form that it can. Most of my problems when writing lyrics have been a direct result of me 'trying' to be clever or witty with the words.

Sometimes when I 'try' too hard it shows in the lyric and the song feels laboured and it becomes hard work to listen to. My best lyrics (or at least the popular ones) more or less write themselves. I just go with the flow and let it develop if that makes any sense. If that means repetition then so be it.

For example take my song 'Soldier Boy'. I was never really fond of it and yet it generates possibly more comments than most on my website and it is full of repetition. Every verse starts with the words 'Soldier Boy' and the 4 line chorus is repeated so often I got sick of singing it!!

I do think though that it is important to practice the basics and try to work within the accepted structures and rules of writing a lyric. I can get a bit obsessed with writing lyrics with tight rhymes and with an appropriate consistent meter. I think part of the 'fashion' today is to throw away the rulebook and be 'creative'. Hence (imho) half the songwriting boards on the web are filled with the mad jottings of someones mind, lumped together and called a song! No discipline or structure and it shows!

I know that sounds bad or snobby but what I mean is that it is fine to work outside the rules and be abstract BUT surely in order to do so you have to be able to prove that you can actually 'DO' the basics or the 'real thing' first?

A little bit like Picasso... loads of uninformed people look at his work and will say things like "My three year old paints like that" But look at some of his more 'conventional' work and you realise that the guy was a true artist who just took his work to a different level. In my mind his 'unconventional' work has even more merit because he had the proof that he could do 'conventional' and brilliantly.

I love to write lyrics and ultimately I do it because I really enjoy it. If other people like them then that is even better.(and such a buzz). Still I consider that I am just begining to learn the craft (and having a ball doing so) so I am happy to make mistakes and write 'dud' songs. The main thing I have learned is that you can never tell. The songs I write that I pesonally love are usually dud (probably because I was self indulgent when writing them) and the songs that I think are dud often get a much better reception.

I would not worry too much though DJ, at least you are writing, and being creative and from your past efforts your lyrics are imho really good.
Best wishes
Tony

------------------
www.tonywmusic.co.uk