A lyricist, as a good poet, understand the rhythm of speech- have you ever read a poem that made you pause or speed up so the rhyme would work?
Good Lyrics are as critical as good melody and harmony- especially in a ballad. Music is subjective and there have been many good songs with only so so lyrics.
Depending on your composing style, sometimes lyrics first, sometimes music first. When it comes to a ballad I like to read the lyrics- does it tell a story that holds my attention or is it a bunch of words that rhyme. I like to start with the lyrics- the rhythm of the spoken word helps me to create a melody to go with it.
To understand rhythm lets look at syllables-
verse 1]
I set all day and watch TV,
It is no fun for you or me.
I wonder if I'll see,
a show I like, maybe I Love Lucy.
verse 2]
Oh boy I love this show its my favorite,
Lucy is so funny,
There is Ricky, Fred and Ethel,
I wonder if they made a lot of money
Ok lets rip this apart- syllables-(the rhythm) is
verse 1 8-8-7-10
verse 2 11-6-8-11
If these are verses they don't fit- they don't have the same flow rhythmically. As you read it you will find yourself accenting the word Lucy in verse 1 and you have to rush the last line in verse 2 to get a flow. An occasional addition of subtraction of syllables (very limited - or +1 or 2) can work with the original melody otherwise you are having to write a new melody for verse 2- so how can we call it verse 2???
The other problem is the rhyming sequence- the author starts with verse 1 as AAAA but in verse 2 is ABCB. The line "I wonder if they made a lot of money" sounds like they grabbed the first word they could think of that rhymes with funny-does it have anything to do with the overall story- probably not. It sounds like a line that I refer to as a "crammed line."
Would I call this person a lyricist- not if I read this, I'm not even sure I would call them a poet. One of the best exercises you can do is number your syllables from verse 1 and make verse 2 fit the same rhythm- a good lyricist can figure out a bunch of different ways to say the same thing, and usually this is where the colorful turn of phrases comes about and what makes for a good lyricist.
Now if the music comes first you have no choice but to make the lyrics fit the melody. But keep in mind if you are writing lyrics for someone else to put music with there has to be a flow.
Tell us about how you like to co-write with others...............
