Okay, the reason why I post this is because I know there are people on this forum who are interested in music. Some of those are in a band or solo-artists who want to make music. For the lyricists it will be handy, to have a kind of tutorial to make professional song lyrics. If you use this structure it will definite benefit the impression you leave.
NOTE: This will not work for rap lyrics
NOTE 2: Tutorial song will be a love song
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Subject matter
Most people have the most difficulty to find a good topic to address. A good topic is half of a good song. So what makes a topic good and what makes a topic bad?
- Originality
How often have you heard a song about love.. about problems. I've heard them always. On the TV, on the radio. But almost none of the songs sound the same. None of the lyrics are the same. (Outside of covers)
So originality is definitely in play. For this tutorial we'll make yet another love song. But saying "I love you" seems dull if you do it constantly. So think of a good way to say it.
- Working it out
For example, I love a very special every day of the year. I definitely want to be with her, though the bad-side is that we're apart from now. So I want to go to her, who can blame me? A way to get to her is through a plane. What does a plane do? It flies. It flies heading West, in my case. So I'll be flying on the eastern-wind.
There we have it, a good subject... the eastern-wind flying me to my love.
Chorus
A chorus is the thing people will remember, and is broken down in a few things: title-line, hooklines and filler.
- Title-line
This is that special line, which gives you the title of your song. For our topic, the line "I let the eastern-wind take me away towards you" would be good. Don't worry about it's length, we'll work this out later.
- Hooklines
These are the lines which will be stuck your listeners ears, the thing which makes the song catchy. But how do you make it catchy? Relating and repeating, the double "R". Love is a subject which people can relate to. So all we have to do is repeating it.
"I want to be there, I want to be with you"
That may work. Again, we'll work this out later.
- Filler
This is basically everything else in the chorus. Which makes it sound good. For example the words between the title-line and the hooklines are filler. They're not important, but they make it sound better.
- Laying the pieces in the puzzle
Okay, we now have a title-line and a hookline.
"I let the eastern-wind take me away to you" and "I want to be there, I want to be with you".
Now how do we make a good chorus out of this? By puzzling.
First thing we do is breaking out the most important words and parts.
For the title-line those are "Eastern-wind", "take me" and "away with you".
For the hookline, they are "There", "With you" and "want to".
Now just play around with until you find a good chorus, that you like. Here are a few examples for this one:
Version 1:
Eastern-wind, won't you take me away....
I want to be there, I wanna be there with you...
I want to be there, I wanna be there with you...
Version 2:
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, together with you, my love...
Owh Eastern-wind, why won't you take me away..
Version 3:
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
In my opinion, I like the third version the most. So I'll keep that one in mind.
Pre-chorus
Beside the chorus, a pre-chorus is also important. These take the listener from the verses to the chorus, without any loss of sense and building up the tension.
A best thing to address in the pre-chorus, is the main reason why the person singing wants to do what is said in the chorus.
So in our example, why do I want the eastern-wind to take me to my love? Because I love her, I want to spend time with her and because we're too far apart.
That contains three examples which are all useful. Now keeping in mind that the verses usually are examples or filler, and sometimes showcasing, we have to build it like it starts from scratch.
So we firstly need something to introduce the topic.
"I guess you all know how I feel
Seeing as we all have some love"
Then we need the next lines to address the desire.
"And all I want in this lifespan
Is to be with the girl I love"
And the last lines to run up to the chorus.
"But we're an entire ocean apart
Owh, eastern-wind take me away" (!!! Note the repeat of the title-line)
Now we have 6 lines, which is the normal pre-chorus length. But it doesn't rhyme too well. Let's make it rhyme well.
This is mostly hard for a lot of people, but let's think of what a rhyme is. A rhyme is not the same letters in the last syllable. A rhyme is making the last syllable(s) sound similar. Think of the pronouncing of words, both in general and in your accent.
Note: Disregard the rules of grammar here. If it sounds good, it sounds good. Don't let yourself be limited by grammar.
(Before rhymes)
I guess you all know how I feel
Seeing as we all have some love
And all I want in this lifespan
Is to be with the girl I love
But we're an entire ocean apart
Owh, eastern-wind, take me away
(With rhymes and grammar disregard)
I suppose you all know how it goes
Boy loves girl |\-------- (means length the last syllable)
My one wish in this life I chose
Is to share my world |\--------
We're so far, lay me up the nose
Of the |\------ eastern-wind
Notice all those "|\-------" signs? They are a reminder to lengthen that syllable. Because of the last line, it's smart to insert it, otherwise I might forget it.
Verse 1
The first verse has one very special purpose. It's to build up the entire feeling for the song. It's the first thing people will hear you singing, so you have to make sure this sounds good.
Like the pre-chorus, it needs to build up the tension. Together with the pre-chorus is assures a climax on the chorus and make people be enstrangled by the song. That makes an amazing song and possible singing, because it has profitable potential.
But, let's get back to the verse. We have to start from nothing. From silence we have to make a climax. So we have to grab the attention of the listener with 8 lines. Remember that song from Eminem "When I'm Gone" and "Mockingbird"? They are a good example of the building up and grabbing the listener. The both start with expressing the feeling of love. And they immediately expose the problem the topic is.
Those are the two things you need; expressing the feeling and exposing the problem. You have 8 lines for that, so I strongly advice you to use the MC way for it. Use half of the 8 lines for the first thing, and the remaining lines for the second thing. So that means 4 lines for each. Let's get started.
Firstly, the draft..
Have you ever felt so strong for a person
That you want to be with her day and night
From dusk until dawn, just the two of you
Beyond this superficial earth
How would you feel if space devides you then
And all you have is the daydreams
You think of it at night, but it doesn't come true
So you're stuck with the longing for her
Now, we'll disregard the rules of grammar. Together with that we make it rhyme and show why you're such a good lyricist.
You've ever felt to relate to this portret
Two people in love with one another
Beyond defined love, never to reword it
Through all the days and nights
But then suddenly the image is ripped
And alive only when I close my eyes
I think of it at night and when I've tipped
My mind for longing to be with her
Now that looks way better, doesn't it?
Verse 2
The second verse has a lot less to worry about. All you have to mind, is keep up with the level of the song. So make it as good as you can. The best way to do this is to go in more deeply in the feeling of the song, in this case the desire to be with the one you love.
So how we do that? We can say how bad we want it, but we can do better. Keeping in mind it's a love song, we can go into a more sappy verse. By saying what you'd do if you were with her.
Things that come to my mind are the practical things, so I'll go with that. With whatever you get in your mind, you can work.
So, again, let's start with a draft.. Let's list a few things I want to do then.
If I'm there, I want to walk the sandy beaches with you
I want to have a candle dinner
I want to kiss that very special girl
I want to fullfill all your wishes
I'm I'm together with you, I want it to last forever
I want us to have a good time
I want to lay with you at night
I want to put your dreams to reality.
That's got a lot of potential, so let's work it out. A good idea would to give as much detail as possible. So that you can kind of see that image in your mind.
It's okay to leave out a few things, as long as the overal seems good. You can leave grammar out of this, if you want, just make sure the rhyming works.
Just want to walk in the branding of the ocean
Under the pale moon, together with you
Just want to share my food and moisture
Right before our lips meet in the candle light
I want to share those moments through time
Just to be able to always see you smile
And as we're laying down, together interwined
I want to make all your dreams real
I think we have a good second verse here.
Verse 3
- Verse or instrumental?
Not all songs have a third verse, some songs have a guitar solo or an instrumental part instead. Or have another vocalist on it.
So how do I know what will be best? I suppose that depends on having a band or being a solo artist. If you're in a band, it might be nice to have an instrumenal solo from the guitarist, the drummer or bassguitarist. Just let them do their thing.
But assuming not all songs are done by bands, I'll explain the third verse as well.
- Third verse
The third verse should be independant, so having a total new perspective. On happy songs, a more sadder part works best. The reason why it should be a different perspective, is because it should be able to be put out easily, without wrecking the song.
So think of the titlelines and the hooklines of the chorus again. Then think either a bit of a sad point of view for it, an acknowledgement for it, or something similar.
For this one, we'll keep it to the perspective that it isn't reality as of yet. So it's basically a dream.
Just remember to make the thought pattern go back to the pre-chorus in the last lines.
And as ussual, we start with a draft...
Yet as I lay here in my bed
After just signing out of MSN
I'm left without you close by
Missing you next to my side
As the hours get late and I miss you more
I somehow find myself with a smile
Knowing what time will bring
Knowing the wind will bring me to you
So now we have a draft, we can make it a verse. Same routine as normal; forget grammar, make it good and make it rhyme.
Yet as I lay with the pillow under my head
And your memory fresh inside me
I miss your pressence so very bad- |\------ ly
Missing you so close, so next to me
My clock shows the hours getting later
And I'm partial able to fall asleep
Knowing what time has in her cradle
Knowing the eastern-wind will bring you
Bridge
If you choose to have a third verse, you must have a bridge. This holds the sole intent to "bridge" the gap between the third verse and the rest of the song.
So from
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
To
Yet as I lay with the pillow under my head
And your memory fresh inside me
I miss your pressence so very bad- |\------ ly
Missing you so close, so next to me
Knowing that we have 4 lines to do this, makes the bridge the hardest part. I personally, do a 2 line outroduction for the chorus and a 2 line introduction for the third verse. While doing this, I use the whole pattern of the chorus.
So, this is how it'll be then:
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, but alas I know it's a dream
(I want to...)But somehow I find myself blue
Sad from being so far apart from love
Assembling the song
We now have all the pieces, so it's simply putting them in the right sequence.
Which is very simple, here's the blueprint for it...
[Chorus] (Optional, depending on the introduction)
[Verse 1]
[Pre-chorus]
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
[Pre-chorus]
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
[Bridge] (Optional, depending if there's a third verse)
[Verse 3] (Optional)
[Pre-chorus]
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
How the song goes
[Chorus]
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
[Verse]:[1]
You've ever felt to relate to this portret
Two people in love with one another
Beyond defined love, never to reword it
Through all the days and nights
But then suddenly the image is ripped
And alive only when I close my eyes
I think of it at night and when I've tipped
My mind for longing to be with her
[Pre-chorus]
I suppose you all know how it goes
Boy loves girl |\-------- (means length the last syllable)
My one wish in this life I chose
Is to share my world |\--------
We're so far, lay me up the nose
Of the |\------ eastern-wind
[Chorus]
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
[Verse]:[2]
Just want to walk in the branding of the ocean
Under the pale moon, together with you
Just want to share my food and moisture
Right before our lips meet in the candle light
I want to share those moments through time
Just to be able to always see you smile
And as we're laying down, together interwined
I want to make all your dreams real
[Pre-chorus]
I suppose you all know how it goes
Boy loves girl |\-------- (means length the last syllable)
My one wish in this life I chose
Is to share my world |\--------
We're so far, lay me up the nose
Of the |\------ eastern-wind
[Chorus]
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
[Bridge]
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, but alas I know it's a dream
(I want to...)But somehow I find myself blue
Sad from being so far apart from love
[Verse]:[3]
Yet as I lay with the pillow under my head
And your memory fresh inside me
I miss your pressence so very bad- |\------ ly
Missing you so close, so next to me
My clock shows the hours getting later
And I'm partial able to fall asleep
Knowing what time has in her cradle
Knowing the eastern-wind will bring you
[Pre-chorus]
I suppose you all know how it goes
Boy loves girl |\-------- (means length the last syllable)
My one wish in this life I chose
Is to share my world |\--------
We're so far, lay me up the nose
Of the |\------ eastern-wind
[Chorus]
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
I want to be there, I want to be there with you...
(I want to...)
I want the Eastern-wind to take me away...
Finishing it
All you have to do now, is give it a small introduction and outroduction. This I leave up to you. You have your own style for that.
And all that remains now is practice it a couple of times and you have a good song.
Post edited at 1:25 pm on Aug. 21, 2006 by Tri argentum
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Angel, even though we're geographicly oceans aparts
Forever I know that you're the most closest in my heart
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Patron
That was a very good tutorial. I love to write music, but one of the hardest things you could ask me to do is write lyrics. 
