The ability to memorize lyrics to new tunes as 'quickly as possible' is a skill every vocalist entertainer appreciates. Some lyrics seem easier to memorize, because the lyrics evoke clear visual images and/or include rhyming words to support them, while others song lyrics prove difficultly challenging, as it not only contains lots of verses, but easily interchangeable words: 'is/was/in/on' of which can confuse, or in which a clear 'visual and/or (mental) image' is difficult to associate with the lyric line.

As I've mentioned before here, and on several occasions, when I want to memorize a song's lyrics, I usually work on this away from the keyboard and devoid of the melody altogether. I first manually (with pen) write down the lyrics on a sheet of blank paper and read (recite as a poem) them over carefully line by line in order to gain a full understanding of what the message (story) to me is personally. The important thing is to figure out the: who, what, when, and where (stage scene) of the person delivering the line, as well as Who are you (character in a movie/play/musical), (singing to), what message, story, or idea are you trying to express to whom, and when & where (time and place) is the setting (scene)? Developing a clear sense of your character role not only helps with the memorization process, but ensures audience convincing BELIEVABLE lyric line delivery as well.

I'll usually spend 10-15 minutes memorizing the lines of a song this way, without music whatsoever. I typically like to do this in the car while commuting to/from a gig, or when waiting in line at the bank, etc. The advantage of memorizing the lyrics devoid of the melody is this allows you develop your own personal sense of phrasing, especially because many songs (especially the standards) can often be re-interpreted differently, all depending on how you choose to phrase the lyric line. Only after I've got the lyrics confidently down(& delivered convincingly as lines in a play) do I then add the accompaniment music (which I play on the keyboard). Another vocal tip I'd like to share is applying prosody when singing. The 'sound' of certain words actually conjure up the 'action' they represent. Take the word 'roll' from the lyric line: "Those things roll off my knife" from the song:
Give Me The Simple Life . If you lenghten & extend the R+vowel in roll before adding the consonant (L) you can enhance the meaning of the word roll to make it sound like the word itself is 'rolling' off the knife.

Ok, before I digress further, back to that lyric 'memorization phenomenon' subject which initiated my desire to post this trhead in the first place. What I notice is that no matter how long my practice session is spent practicing lyric lines, it still takes 2-3 days for me to get solidified permanently in my memory. I may seemly be able to memorize an entire song's lyrics in a single (or two) practice sessions, and recite them , but it will slip from my memory later that day, yet if I merely sleep overnite on them, the next day, they're a lot more solidified in my memory. I'm convinced there is something going on unconsciously in sleep which assists in processing all this. Curious if anyone else has experienced this sort of thing as well.

Regards,

Scott