by : T. Fennel Crenshaw

"Signs Of The Times"

"…every one of those words rang true and glowed like burning coals, pouring off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you."
Bob Dylan

"Da do do do - duh da da da ...it's meaningless I know it's true."
The Police

When writing is not fun anymore. When we find our self searching for a subject to write about... or we write about one subject over and over again - when we loose the perspective of why we write in the first place - which is to simply communicate with ourselves and others. It is at these times when we must guard ourselves from humbuggeries that can kill creativity.

One illusion that can stop creativity dead in its tracks is the outlook that everything one writes…. is going to be received with open ears. It's not. The greatest songwriters throughout history got to be great because they started off by writing not so great material and pushing themselves forward to be heard at the right time (even Mozart was terrible on piano at age 2.) Everything has to be learned, and the best way to learn…is by making mistakes and learning the craft through educated eyes and ears. Be patient with your songs-when you are ready to be heard, the moment has a way of being there so you can.

Another illusion that can send the muses fleeing when you most need them is the illusion that you are only good at writing one certain style of lyric and song. The biggest restraint one can impose on him or herself is the inability to open up to diversity.

Each one of us has a bit of style and color that bleeds over into everything we write. It is innately our true selves, our core characters that are revealed through the act of creating song and music. But it doesn't mean this is all we will ever have to work with. We can find at the great big songwriting table of life different courses to ingest and digest. Our willingness to open up to diversity spreads the table out in grand fashion with caviar and cornbread, fondues to fritters. If we allow ourselves the freedom, we can fill our plate full of wonderful ideas, and enjoy a seven - course feast. But imagine finding only a bushel of wheat, or a whole fish, fresh from the ocean laying there for consumption.

A third illusion one can have that can make writing lyrics more difficult, is the illusion of there being rules for rhyming and line pattern. Don't limit yourself to the obvious; allow your consciousness to surprise you by ruling out the standard patterns, which haunt the airwaves and music industry of today.

Ideas

Take a song that may be giving you some trouble and circle every rhyming word in red ink. Now pull each line from the song that has a circled word in it. Rewrite those lines so that they take on the same meaning but don't end up rhyming at all.

If you have a melody with which to base your lyrics on, concentrate only on complimenting the music with mouthed sounds, meaningless syntax, or humming until the moment is ripe to discover the right words. Paul McCartney's "Yesterday" was at first entitled… "Scrambled Eggs."

Write a song composed of 6 verses with rhyming endings and then end with the chorus that doesn't rhyme. Write a song that starts with the chorus, which ends up rhyming with the last word of each verse (you will have made a study in the unique and rewarding writing style of Bob Dylan.)

Above all, remember that writing songs, music, and lyrics is not rocket science, nor is it everyone's calling…it is passion, otherwise everyone would be writing songs and we would all be famous. Passion has a way of leading us to where and when we are ready. Follow your bliss by not forgetting we all can't be "great" in this exact moment, and prepare for that time when you may have your chance to sing and do great things.

Think about this...

If left pure and unadulterated music would closely resemble wheat and fishes, or base elements resting on their own composition, even religious doctrine; an inspiration from the highest power, consciousness in the from of sound-waves and meter, entrusted to us for delivery through our artistic form. How rarely do we ever go with what is first conceived, with what we first compose, without some form of editing and crafting.

Which is a good thing... and a bad thing, depending on our purpose and inspiration for writing, and here is where we, as musicians, must part paths with other writers. We must consider how the music conforms to the words, or the other way round - how the words conform to the music. As free as music is, it must adhere to certain laws and forms to be effective. The fastest, most blazing guitar solo (if one bothers to sit down and write it out note by note in the correct time signature) is a study in mathematics which guarantees that each note of music adheres to a certain beat in time. Even in seemingly chaos, there is order. Guaranteed.

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