Sondheim writes the music and lyrics, and because he’s so smart and goes so deep with his feelings, there’s a lot to explore, get involved with and learn about.
Industry executives sacrificed art for what sells and mega-stars now saturate the market with the same tired lyrics.
‘Appetite for Destruction’ was the only thing written with lyrics and melody fitting the guitar parts at the same time. After that, I got a barrage of guitar songs that I was supposed to put words to, and I don’t know if that was the best thing for Guns.
I hate to say this, but I always listen to the music and the instrumentation first, and then grab on to the lyrics later.
I have always preferred paper and ink to a computer screen and I still write most of my lyrics by hand.
When I was younger, I was able to write with music playing in the background, but these days, I can’t. I find it distracting. Even when the music is just instrumental or has lyrics in a language I don’t understand, the clash between the voices in my head and the song can be very disorienting.
My lyrics come from my experiences growing up in life, trying to find out and express who I am. That’s basically it. I’m not trying to be a prophet or anything like that. I’m just reflecting on life.
Some things remain fragments, just the lyrics and melodies or a line or two or a verse.
My lyrics are quite train of thought, and they are all over the place, but they evoke something.
I’m very honest in my music and I’m often asked to explain the lyrics; as an introvert, I find that quite hard. And I always wear high heels on stage, which can be painful.
I used to say it was painful to write lyrics about myself and looking inward.
I had only heard about Fall Out Boy a couple months before we contacted him. I heard ‘Saturday’ and ‘Grand Theft Autumn’ and thought the lyrics were smart and the singer was insanely talented.
I write for myself; I’m trying to keep myself interested in the music. But at the same time, I want to make the songs relatable in a way; I want to keep melodies pretty simple and the lyrics open-ended so that people could maybe relate them to their own life in different ways. Something for everybody to have a piece of.
The emotion of a song’s lyrics has always been what grabs me deeply.
The lyrics are what I work on the hardest, but I’m not trying to make a perfectly clear message or anything like that. In fact, I’m usually trying to avoid saying something too directly, because usually that rings false anyway.
Lyrics over some nice beats – that’s what the people want from us.
I started playing guitar when I was 13. I’d written a few songs on the guitar over some time. I’d written a book of poetry, and I got a book of lyrics that I had when I was a kid.
The lyrics tend to fascinate people, but for me, when I listen to a record I don’t always latch on to the lyrics. I listen to the whole thing and it may be five or six days before I even realize what the song’s about.
I wrote ‘The River’ practically trying to rip off every lick that James Taylor had, so it was neat to hear him sing those lyrics because that’s who inspired you to write them.
Lyrics are important, but it’s hard, because English isn’t my first language – although it feels like it is these days! I grew up with amazing melodies, so getting that right on a song has always been the key thing for me, but there’s no reason why a great melody doesn’t deserve great lyrics.
You might remember me from Eminem’s rap lyrics.
Usually I go to the studio to write lyrics and compose music. I try to be a dad as much as possible at home.
When I write songs, I like to write lyrics first, and I think that’s different from a lot of singer-songwriters. But I heard Sammy Cahn was asked what comes first, the lyrics or the music, and he said, ‘The paycheck.’
Times are such that poetry has been slowly drifting away from our songs and the language of conversation is used a lot more as lyrics. I believe such attempts create mundane songs, and they hardly stand the test of time.
I deliberate over the lyrics; I really do. I’ll come up with one line in a day, and then it might be a couple of days before I come up with the rhyming line. It’s never been easy for me.
My music has a high irritation factor. I’ve always tried to say something. Eccentric lyrics about eccentric people. Often it was a joke. But I would plead guilty on the grounds that I prefer eccentricity to the bland.
When I wrote the lyrics, melodies, and the first themes of ‘Serendipity,’ I tried to come up with some rare things you find in life, something very special, like the calico, three-striped cat; things that have extraordinary meanings in people’s lives.
I just want to be a storyteller, and I think the way to do that is by your lyrics, by your visuals, by your choreography, by your dance. It’s imperative as an artist.
The quality of the writing, really. Simple as that. Beautiful words. It’s very nice as a singer to do great songs, which have wonderful lyrics and strong feelings underneath the song.
At first, I was using my sister Susan’s lyrics, as I could not write myself, only the music. And then one day, she and I had a fight, and she threatened to take away the lyrics from all the songs that I put the lyrics to, so it was that day that I began writing my first lyric to the music.
I’m definitely still putting effort into my lyrics, for them to be emotional and tell a story.
I believe no other singer has to remember so many different lyrics like I do.
Listening to music and lyrics and watching movies, I think, uses a lot of the same muscles we use in reading and experiencing poetry – and yet we somehow forget that we have those when it comes to sitting down with a book of poems.
I used to be on the kitchen floor, crying, wasted and thinking of lyrics. That was the only way I could create – as a tortured artist. I’ve learned that you can be stable and taking care of yourself and still create beautiful work.
People misinterpret my lyrics sometimes too, but I mean, it is what it is.
Poetry and lyrics are very similar. Making words bounce off a page.
Image, lyrics, content, storytelling, cohesive body of work – that’s Prince to me.
It doesn’t bother me when people try to deconstruct my songs – because at least they’re looking at the lyrics, and paying attention to the way the story is told.
The riffs, lyrics, and drums of ‘Open Your Omen’ will tell you a lot.
It’s a total big difference between a person that got lyrics and a person that can make hit singles. I’m a person that can make some hit singles. I’m not in no booth trying to be a lyrical genius. I’m preparing to make me some singles, and as I develop as a man, then they’ll respect my emcee skills.
Nobody wants to sit there and study lyrics the whole time, driving back from work when they just got their check after a long shift. It’s not the same. Everybody just wants to be happy with life.
I don’t think writing open-ended lyrics is necessarily an important part of writing good pop songs.
I had Madonna parties; I dressed like Madonna, and I had all of her records because we had records back then. I knew all of her lyrics; I was obsessed with her movies and the whole thing.
One of my favorite lyrics is ‘Clams on the half-shell and roller skate, roller skate.’ So they can be just really party-inspiring lyrics or just something brilliant like ‘Tutti Frutti.’
Songs with simple lyrics really take off in Irish nightclubs.
When I’m writing with John Leventhal, the music that he’s written mostly comes first. And I’ll write the lyrics and the melody.
I’m really focused and obsessed with writing things that are specific. I don’t like big rock lyrics – I find them infuriating.
Lyrics came quite easy early on in my career. But I always wanted to push it further and stand out a bit more. We were coming from the garage era when lyrics were simplified, purposefully, to work in the club environment. They were about hyping up a crowd or bigging up a DJ. Moving into grime, our lyrics became more in-depth.
I don’t see myself as the boss. I sing and write the songs, and it would feel strange if somebody else wrote the lyrics I sang.
I say if you don’t write your lyrics, then you can’t be the best rapper alive. Not at all. You can be one of the best artists, especially in rap, you gotta write everything yourself.
‘White Rabbit’ was mostly done in about two days, the music in about half an hour. The music is a ‘Bolero’ rip-off and the lyrics a rearrangement of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ You take two spectacular hits and throw them together, and it’s hard to miss.
Sometimes I like to write the lyrics while I’m on the road, because then you get even more melancholy.
‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,’ if you go through the lyrics, is such a haunting melody, and the words are, for a pop song, pretty deep and dark.
Lyrics are so important, but they’re really underrated.
I’d always tended to regard song lyrics as sort of a bastard medium because they’re subjugated under the music. If you were to regard them as poetry, it would be bad, embarrassing, confessional poetry – a lot of the lyrics I love.
One of my first favorite books was ‘The 12 Days of Christmas,’ and I would just go up to people and say, ‘I can sing ‘The 12 Days of Christmas,’ and I would make them sit through me reciting it, and I’d go all the way, each time. I’ve always hooked into lyrics.
