About writing!

TheBig3 · 04-26-2006, 09:12 AM

The thread I was refering to was the one called "Poetry."

I don't know why people here like to come up with absolutes like "all lyrics are poetry."

First of all, no they are not. Secondly, any time you have an all inclusive maxim like that, it can never be right.

"all X are X" = not correct. But this is going to lead to people trying to prove me wrong. The point is, theres a long and historic culture to poetry. It rarely rhymes, its often alot more structural than lyrics (poets will often use grammar and word play) and has set patterns in some cases (sonnet, villanel (sp?))

The closest I think poetry ever came to music was in two places:

1. Leonard Cohens "Suzanne" which was a published poem before it was put with music.

2. When, out of mutual respect, Shakespeare had his poetry made into instrumentals by the leading Lute player of the day (whose name escapes me).

The point is, lyrics aren't the most poetic because they are dealing with more than just words. They are often attempting to adhere to a strict pacing with the music, and the music changes. The most famous poetic pacing, Iambic pentameter, would make for a horrible song because musically, its too repeditive.

Im not the worlds foremost poet by any means, but im telling you, as someone who, at least dabbles, they are not the same. I know someone will come out of the wood works with some "well I read this and you're wrong" type argument, so hold off for a couple days while I ask some good poets and give you their opinion.... (to be continued)

DontRunMeOver · 04-26-2006, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

The thread I was refering to was the one called "Poetry."

Haha, I was being a bit dumb there. Pretty sure I'd already posted in the thread you made when I asked that question.

Quote:

so hold off for a couple days while I ask some good poets and give you their opinion.... (to be continued)

I'm looking forward to it already!

TheBig3 · 04-26-2006, 09:24 AM

Well im sitting in class right now and one of the guys in here recently was asked to read at the Concord poetry center, thats concord of American Revolution fame, and its since become this snooby-upscale community. So it was a big honor with this awfully-pretentious wine and cheese reception afterwards (this was all to show he's not just a hack).

Anyway, I've shown him the site before (UH's top 100 to be exact) and im hoping this might get him to actually join up. But if not I'll get his and other opinions ASAP.

DontRunMeOver · 04-26-2006, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

Anyway, I've shown him the site before (UH's top 100 to be exact) and im hoping this might get him to actually join up. But if not I'll get his and other opinions ASAP.

That'd be great. Particularly if he's willing to annihilate our lyrics for us.

On a seperate note, my band now writes songs over the phone too! The guitarist just phoned me up (while I was reading Big3's post) and started playing a new riff over the phone to me. Sounded pretty nifty, it did...

A_Perfect_Sonnet · 04-26-2006, 06:44 PM

http://www.answers.com/topic/lyrics -> Even though nothing is absolute, the history of the word and general knowledge of poets and poetic societies agrees with me.

My songwriting process: Write until I feel like I'm done. I start from anywhere in the lyric most of the time, varying from song to song. I don't think up a topic beforehand most of the time because I'd rather let my subconscious do the thinking for me. Most of the time I don't revise, unless an area feels weak or redundant. Going to music, I usually have the guitar part written up on an acoustic, and either scream (if I see the lyric as being more of a full band thing) or sing (if it's going to be solo/duet) the words into the song. Works out fine for me, but most of my lyrics just remain poetry.

Doc.DGAF · 04-28-2006, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skiesofganymede

I was just wondering what people's personal thoughts on lyric writing were (why you do it? personal aims in writing a song? way you go about it? personal inspirations?), and what kind of music you tend to like or emulate. Just thought it might be an interesting point of discussion, because I imagine it would be wildly varried across writers.

Well alright...
I write because it's the only talent I've really got...that and business(I'm a salesman/spokesman). Every now and then something will hit close to the heart and I take it for inspiration and write on it. I don't worry about what people will think of my music/lyrics, there's over 6 billion people right here in the U.S. so I'm sure a few of them will feel it. I usually start from the hook and work my way out. I'll rewrite the same verse 20 times if I have to to make it sound good to me. I don't stick to one genre either, I'll write a song however I want to hear it, mix and match if I have to. but as far as emulating somebody, there's a top five musicians that inspire me in music: Busta Rhymes, Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, ZZ Top, and Eazy E. in no particular order.

A_Perfect_Sonnet · 04-28-2006, 09:20 PM

The world population is like 6.5 billion. I think your figures are a little off.

Doc.DGAF · 04-30-2006, 07:50 PM

Read my name. It says Doc DGAF.

~~bungalow~~ · 04-30-2006, 07:53 PM

I don't understand...

swim · 04-30-2006, 07:55 PM

me either but their are about 280 million people in the us

04-26-2006, 09:12 AM	#51 (permalink)
TheBig3 killedmyraindog Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 11,172	The thread I was refering to was the one called "Poetry." I don't know why people here like to come up with absolutes like "all lyrics are poetry." First of all, no they are not. Secondly, *any* time you have an all inclusive maxim like that, it can never be right. "all X are X" = not correct. But this is going to lead to people trying to prove me wrong. The point is, theres a long and historic culture to poetry. It rarely rhymes, its often alot more structural than lyrics (poets will often use grammar and word play) and has set patterns in some cases (sonnet, villanel (sp?)) The closest I think poetry ever came to music was in two places: 1. Leonard Cohens "Suzanne" which was a published poem before it was put with music. 2. When, out of mutual respect, Shakespeare had his poetry made into instrumentals by the leading Lute player of the day (whose name escapes me). The point is, lyrics aren't the most poetic because they are dealing with more than just words. They are often attempting to adhere to a strict pacing with the music, and the music changes. The most famous poetic pacing, Iambic pentameter, would make for a horrible song because musically, its too repeditive. Im not the worlds foremost poet by any means, but im telling you, as someone who, at least dabbles, they are not the same. I know someone will come out of the wood works with some "well I read this and you're wrong" type argument, so hold off for a couple days while I ask some good poets and give you their opinion.... (to be continued) __________________ I've moved to a new address

04-26-2006, 09:24 AM	#53 (permalink)
TheBig3 killedmyraindog Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 11,172	Well im sitting in class right now and one of the guys in here recently was asked to read at the Concord poetry center, thats concord of American Revolution fame, and its since become this snooby-upscale community. So it was a big honor with this awfully-pretentious wine and cheese reception afterwards (this was all to show he's not just a hack). Anyway, I've shown him the site before (UH's top 100 to be exact) and im hoping this might get him to actually join up. But if not I'll get his and other opinions ASAP. __________________ I've moved to a new address

04-30-2006, 07:50 PM	#58 (permalink)
Doc.DGAF Uhh-I am Octiposter-huhuh Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: South Florida Posts: 232	Read my name. It says Doc DGAF. __________________ Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.-Confucius Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.-Friedrich Nietzsche Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure; men love in haste but they detest at leisure.-Lord Byron Popularity's bad for you. I avoid it like the plague.-Brian Mulrooney

04-30-2006, 07:55 PM	#60 (permalink)
swim dontcareaboutyou Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: North Carolina Posts: 5,188	me either but their are about 280 million people in the us __________________ http://nakednaps.bandcamp.com/

04-26-2006, 06:44 PM	#55 (permalink)
A_Perfect_Sonnet Dinosaurus Rex!!! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Winchester, VA Posts: 896	http://www.answers.com/topic/lyrics -> Even though nothing is absolute, the history of the word and general knowledge of poets and poetic societies agrees with me. My songwriting process: Write until I feel like I'm done. I start from anywhere in the lyric most of the time, varying from song to song. I don't think up a topic beforehand most of the time because I'd rather let my subconscious do the thinking for me. Most of the time I don't revise, unless an area feels weak or redundant. Going to music, I usually have the guitar part written up on an acoustic, and either scream (if I see the lyric as being more of a full band thing) or sing (if it's going to be solo/duet) the words into the song. Works out fine for me, but most of my lyrics just remain poetry.

04-28-2006, 09:20 PM	#57 (permalink)
A_Perfect_Sonnet Dinosaurus Rex!!! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Winchester, VA Posts: 896	The world population is like 6.5 billion. I think your figures are a little off.

04-30-2006, 07:53 PM	#59 (permalink)
~~bungalow~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hot-lanta Posts: 3,140	I don't understand...