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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44428
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44428
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

There are multiple ways to write a song.

Sometimes a composer will pick up already written lyrics.

Sometimes a lyricist will work off of an already written melody and arrangement (less common for an original song but happens all the time with parody or other alternative songs).

Some pairings of composers and lyricists will work at the same time and hash things out as they go. Or any combination of the above.

And of course people who write both music and lyrics will have their own ways of working, and they can vary song to song.

If you want to write a song but don't have any music for it, at least know the musical genre and the tempo.

There are also differences in how easy it is to sing certain words vs speak them out loud. Reading out loud helps a lot when writing a song, but a singer will spot things you didn't catch.

I'm not a musician, though I sing a little, can tap out melodies on the piano, and read sheet music. I've tried writing music and I am horrifically awful at it. I wrote countless lyrics as a teen and a friend put some of them to music for me.

My only professional credit for a song came from a play (supposed to be taped for PBS, but that never happened) where the director commissioned me to write the lyrics.

I knew the genre was a light musical theater style but not much else. So I wrote them but of course didn't know how the arrangement would go. I never even met the composer. He wrote the music and altered my lyrics just enough that he took a shared byline with me for the lyrics.

If you want to write lyrics, take some music classes. Singing, piano, guitar, anything. And sit down with actual composers and try to write something together, even if it goes nowhere.

Original score: 5