Writing Songs Shouldn't Be Hard, So Here's How To Start.

Yash
Jan 3, 2022
6 min read

Updated: Jan 18, 2022

Lyric writing is a skill that even seasoned musicians struggle with quite often. Creative blocks, lack of inspiration, limited vocabulary, fear of writing something cheesy or just not being confident enough to put words to your music. Be it any of those reasons, a lot of music producers just choose the route of making instrumental music to avoid writing lyrics.

Don't get me wrong. There is a place for instrumental music, and in fact, writing an engaging instrumental is no small feat. It takes total command over an instrument or significant skill as a music producer to make a song without any lyrics and still have people bop their heads to it.

But sooner or later, you will have something to say. As an artist, you will want to express yourself in a song, and you'll need lyrics to do so. At that time, no matter how badly you wanna put your thoughts and emotions into words, the result won't be up to the mark, because you never gave it a shot before. Even if you are not a musician, but just wanna write songs for other people, this article can be useful to you.

So here are a few problems that I have identified that stop people from writing their own songs, and my advice on what you can do about them:

1. I can't find any inspiration for a topic

While it is true that inspiration can lead to works of wonder, there's an infinitesimal chance of your masterpiece occurring to you in a dream. You might believe that songs can only be written about grand themes, or strong emotions. But that is not the case. There have been tons of songs written about mundane stuff. Listen to old-school Blues music. Even if you don't like the genre, you will see that the lyrical content of Blues is as common as it gets. There's a whole history lesson behind it, but that's for another day.

Write a few lines about anything that you find even remotely interesting. No one would have imagined that 4 lines about a twinkling star would be known by pretty much everyone in the world. It doesn't have to be poetic, or rhyme, or even be verbose at the beginning. Inspiration can be in the smallest of things, so don't stop looking.

2. I don’t know any fancy words

First of all, that’s good news. Not a lot of people appreciate a song that needs a dictionary to go along with it. However, even if you don’t need fancy words, you do need a variety of simple words. But the good news is, we don’t live in the 1950’s anymore. All you need is the almighty Internet. Look up alternatives for words by searching synonyms, antonyms, rhymes, etc. as and when you need them. Register these words somewhere in your memory for future use if you want to.

And you can also find words that substitute a whole sentence. Just search “Word for <sentence>”. Replace <sentence> with whatever you wanna write and chances are, you will find something somewhere.

My point is: With a powerful search engine at your disposal, finding words is not really a challenge anymore. If you can construct a basic sentence, you can reshape it any way you want. While this may be a little bit more difficult for Hindi, or any other language that you speak except English, it is still not a hurdle that can’t be overcome.

3. I don't know how to decode or articulate my thoughts

Getting more in touch with your thoughts is a skill, and like any other skill, it can be learnt. When you find something that elicits an immediate response from you, it can be turned into a song. You see a painting and couldn't take your eyes off of it for 10 seconds? That means this painting has affected you, even if it's just a little.

From this point on, you need to interrogate the crap out of your own brain. What part of painting did I find the most intriguing? If this painting was a person, what would I say to them? Can I find the most appropriate word that describes this painting? Does it remind me of something or someone? How would I feel if someone insulted this painting?

Remember, your response to your source of inspiration doesn't always have to be positive. You can absolutely write a song about something you hated. Just explore your emotions towards it by asking questions that can be as outlandish as you want, and start writing. Asking these questions will not only improve your insight into your own mind, but it might also give you some ideas for a metaphor, which brings us to the next problem.

4. I don’t know any metaphors or poetic expressions, so my lyrics sound too direct

Metaphors can be a bit daunting, I’ll admit. I have faced a lot of problems coming up with metaphors without making myself look like a wannabe philosopher. One of my favorite songs that does this very well is "Sapno Se Bhare Naina" from the movie Luck By Chance. It’s a song about ambitions and the difficult journey towards their fulfillment. Mr. Javed Akhtar compares it to a lone walk on a path under a harsh sun. It’s a beautiful song, with every part of it refined to perfection.

So how do you fix this problem? Just like everything I said before; with practice. Metaphors and similes are not as rare as they seem. In your everyday life, try to find similarities between two things. A dog relaxing on a busy street has at least one similarity with humanity’s attitude towards climate change. The excitement you feel when you realize that someone likes you can be compared to being in the spotlight on a stage. Eventually you will reach a point where you can imagine metaphors that are just breathtakingly beautiful, like Fly Me To The Moon, where Frank Sinatra compares holding the hand of the woman he loves with experiencing spring on other planets. It’ll take time to get to this level of imagination, so be patient.

5. My lyrics sound awkward when sung

This one is a bit of a technical issue. You need to understand some musical terms like rhythm, meter, etc. and some linguistic concepts like alliteration, syllables, etc. One easy way of fixing this is writing the melody first and then the lyrics, so you have a general idea of the flow you need. If a sentence sounds awkward when sung, you can always reshape the sentence by finding other words. Go back to point 2. Find synonyms to replace the word that you currently have. Or alternatively, look at the lines you’ve already written, and find a word that rhymes with one of those lines. Then find a way to fit that word into a new sentence that makes sense with the narrative of the song.

This part of writing is like solving a puzzle. Just need to find the right pieces, or sometimes, bend a piece till it fits. And hey, that’s another possible metaphor for you.

P.S- I will be posting another article talking about the details of this process, so be on the lookout for that.

6. I don’t know how to write deep lyrics

Good. You don’t write a deep song with the intention of writing a deep song. You just write what you feel inside, and if it is deep, then so be it. Personally, I prefer a song that is engaging or relatable instead of a song that is deep. I like to paint a picture with words when writing. Describe the surroundings of the protagonist. It can be abstract, or it can be literal. As long as the listener can close their eyes and imagine themselves in the scenario, you have done your job.

Even while doing this, you can take a subtle approach. Instead of writing, “The grass was waving with the wind”, you can describe the grass as “A mirror to the wind”. That is not deep or philosophical, it’s just playing around with descriptions of a simple scene to make it more immersive or engaging.

7. Can’t I just get someone else to write lyrics for me?

Sure you can, and I will shamelessly plug my lyrics writing service here.

But even if you do decide to ask someone else to write for you, you still need to tell them how you feel about the theme of the song. You still need to express yourself, and some of the points here can be used to improve communication with your lyricist.

However, in all honesty, when time comes to express yourself through your music, you want to be the one writing it even if it is flawed. Because that’s as genuine as it gets, and music is nothing if it’s not genuine.