As a songwriter this has got to be the question I get asked the most. Which comes first, the words or the music? The answer is not so simple. First, there is no right answer. The process is different for everyone. Second, your process may change over time.
Here’s a little insight into my process.
There is no easy answer here because I’ve written music first, words first, and words and music together. But I’ll tell you about my journey and what I do now, which I think may be the best method (for me).
I started out writing lyrics. I didn’t play an instrument. I was eight years old and I played the radio, nonstop. I loved the early 1970’s Top-40 radio. So, I started emulating the lyrics and rhymes I heard.
My older brother, and later my younger brother, played guitar. From eight years old to about the age of 25, most of my songs were written words first because I didn’t write the music. I did write a few songs on the piano in my late teens and early 20s.
And then came the guitar…
After years of playing drums and depending on other people to write chord progressions for my lyrics, I bought myself an acoustic guitar. This really was the beginning of my journey as a serious songwriter. For the next 25 years I would primarily write the words and music together.
I’d simply sit down with my guitar and an idea and start working at creating lyrics and a melody to a chord progression in real time. This is a great way to write songs. I’d guess that about 75% of my work has been completed in this mode.
But in my mid-to-late 40s I started playing with other methods. I started writing poetry that I would later put to music. And I started creating electronic music that I would later write words to. My goal was simply to shake things up and try different methods in an attempt to create new sounds, new art.
Poetry and technology led me back to words first.
After taking a few years off from songwriting and focusing more on ambient and experimental electronic music composition, a new trend began to develop.
Along with writing ambient music, I was also writing a lot of free-verse poetry. I started playing with taking poems and rewriting them to fit to music. I also started moving from writing with pen and paper to writing on computers and iPhones. At first, I was trying to create unique electronic music with words, but the process led me back to traditional songwriting.
Here’s how I write 90% of my songs now. I write the words first.
I do this anywhere and anytime I get an idea: I simply pull out my iPhone, use the notes app, and write down potential verses and choruses to songs. I’ll do this for anywhere from 2-6 months. I’ll wind up with a file of 50-100 ideas. Then I’ll start trying to put words to music. Sometimes it takes weeks or more for something to click. But often, once I get that first song, it’s like someone turns on a water spigot and I’ll write a few dozen songs in a matter of a month or two. I just completed a batch.
Why I think words first might be the best method.
At the start of this essay I said there is no right way to write songs. I stick by that. But I do see an advantage to writing words first.
When I write the words and music together, once I complete a song, I rarely look back. I don’t do a whole lot of lyrical editing. So there are some lyrics that might still be improved. But in my current method of writing, I’m constantly editing.
Because my phone is always with me, once I write a lyric, I’ll go back and work on it several times, even after I think it’s done. Often, a lyric has been edited two or three times before I put it to music. When I put it to music, I edit again. I might have to change meter, tempo, phrasing, or rhyme scheme for it to fit to the music.
Already having the lyric completed also allows me time to focus on the music, choosing more interesting chord progressions to build unique melodies around.
In the end, more time and care goes into the songs that I write the words first for. Therefore, I believe it may be the better of the three methods (for me). That said, I still write a few songs per batch the old way of words and music together. Sometimes I think the spontaneity of that method gives those songs a special kind of energy.
In the end, there is no answer to the age-old question: what comes first, the words or the music? You decide. – dse
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