by Ryan

When beginning your quest for the perfect lyrics, it's best to focus on a subject that is important to you.  Many songs draw inspiration from the songwriter's real-life experiences and emotions.  Maybe you just found a new love, or you may have lost somebody close to you.  Try incorporating these experiences into your writing - particularly how they make you feel.  Whether you want to shout love's praises from a mountain top or crawl into a hole and sob, writing about how you feel can certainly be cathartic.  it also, as a byproduct, provides a wealth of ideas for creating lyrics. The inverse of this technique can also help a considerable amount.  If you practice writing lyrics that have absolutely nothing to do with anything you've ever experienced you have the luxury of being detached, and word play may come easier. 

Another thing to keep in mind while you're trying to craft your song is your creative environment.  You want to be in a place where you are able to clear your mind and focus your thoughts without being distracted by others. You should also be aware of is the setting of your song - if you are writing a song about the city make sure you spend some time doing your research, walk up and down boulevards, people watch, and focus on the details.  Clear concise details often make a song special and paints a vivid picture for the listener.  While using details to pin point the relevant parts of your song, make sure not to forget the big picture.  You'll want to write about broad themes that are easily identifiable for your audience.  The more people who understand and empathize with your lyrics, the greater the odds are you can gain success from them.  You'll have to choose between writing for the pure cathartic nature of it and catering your style to be well received by the general public.  People have a multitude of reasons why they write the way they do, and some people can't help the way it all comes together.  Just keep at it and study your hereos. 

If you're having a day where you feel like you can barely get a sentence together, it is vitally important that you get out of the room and go for a run (or grab a beer).  Knowing when to take a break is really important to preserving your state of mind.  It's better to clear your head and come back to it than to frustrate yourself and get nowhere.  Another way around that road block is by simply listening to some tunes.  Listening to music is a hugely helpful way to find ideas.  Try to focus in on how the songs flow lyrically and rhythmically.  You'll find that most songs have a pattern to them.  For example, in blues, it is customary to repeat the first line of a verse twice before rhyming it with another line.  Jimi Hendrix's "Red House" is a good example of this:

"There's a red house over yonder, that's where my baby stays

There's a red house over yonder, that's where my baby stays

I ain't been home to see my baby, in ninety-nine and one half days"

Try taking your favorite songs and hand copying them word for word.  This will give you a feel for how they originally penned the material. Intimately knowing how the type of music you want to write works structurally can help you set the foundation of your song and give you a framework to build the lyrics.  Once you have an idea and framework - try opening up a rhyming dictionary.  A lot of poets and songwriters use these handy tool when in a bind.  Keep in mind that there are no real rules when it comes to writing lyrics.  Like poetry, song lyrics come in a variety of forms, some simple some extremely elaborate.  Follow your heart and let your ideas flow without worrying too much about the finished product.  Songwriters seldom write a song perfectly the first time; it takes editing and sharing the idea with others to turn those first drafts into classics.