Some good things to know when writing songs

[moxham123]

Some good things to know when writing songs

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple. No, Nurple does not count!

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

[songsmith]

"Roses are red, violets are purple
Sugar's sweet, and so is maple syrple" --- Roger Miller, "Dang Me"

Songwriters: Study Roger Miller. Rulebreaker of the highest order, and absolute songwriting genius. Country music is NOTORIOUS for not rocking the boat creatively, and Roger Miller turned it over, dragged it to the riverbank, and jumped up and down on the hull. Listen to King of The Road, England Swings, or Doo-Wacka-Doo, nothing else in country sounds even remotely like them.
That said, he kinda cheated by making up a word, but in a really cute way, which turned a near-impossibility into a hook. Jean-Yuss!

I have to look through my back catalog to see what my most outrageous rhyme is.

[felix'apprentice]

"Roses are red, violets are purple
Sugar's sweet, and so is maple syrple" --- Roger Miller, "Dang Me"

[Naga]

Some good things to know when writing songs

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple. No, Nurple does not count!

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

"Pilfer" is about as close as you can come to "Silver", which is closer than others have, and while I can't see a good reason to put them together, "Orange" may go well enough with "Porridge"

Some food for thought. Yes, it's bastardizing something that can only be bastardized, but it's still an idea. There are a lot of musical rules that must be broken to make a great creation!

[moxham123]

I always thought that Neil Diamond must have been having a hard time coming up with the right word to rhyme with the word "there" when he wrote this line in the song, "I Am, I Said".

I am, I said
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair

[Slothkill]

Do lyrics have to rhyme?
I think Sammy Hagar said it best with.."I'll meet you half the way well. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr. " 5150.
You don't have to ryhme your lyric, context counts as well. If a song has a great melody then lyrics naturally will fall into place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zdoXgGnKdc

Great song, underappericiated singer.

[Mysterytrain]

Orange - George

Silver - Fulfill her

Purple - Circle

Her hair was long and silver
Her dress was bold and orange
Tryin' to find a man to fulfill her
So she married travelin' George

The sky was painted purple
Smoke rings were in the air
They dance around in a circle
Then took off for who knows where

[FATTY]

Orange - George

Silver - Fulfill her

Purple - Circle

Her hair was long and silver
Her dress was bold and orange
Tryin' to find a man to fulfill her
So she married travelin' George

The sky was painted purple
Smoke rings were in the air
They dance around in a circle
Then took off for who knows where


That's a good one man you should make that into a tune.

[Mysterytrain]

Whoops....

Month - Funk

Chorus:
Give me days, give me weeks, give me at least a month
Maybe I'll make it home
Highway miles with a band called funk
I may be gone for good

Da-da-daaaa-dat-dat-dat

[bassist_25]

Kid Rock showed that you could ryhme a word with the same word.

[shawnk_ent]

Kid Rock showed that you could ryhme a word with the same word.

Lmao So did Eminem. I'm just sayin. lol

[moxham123]

There are different types of written and spoken poetry as well. Free Verse and Blank Verse poetry do not rhyme but song lyrics are considered a type of singing or spoken rhyming poetry in another sense. The rhythm or cadence of free verse and blank verse varies throughout the poem. Though the words don't rhyme, they flow along their own uneven pattern. Song lyrics "normally" follow a specific rhythm or cadence and having words in the lines rhyme makes that more appealing to the listener and usually easier to remember the lyrics. Sometimes, words in songs rhyme from line to line, every other line, or at the end of each entire stanza (a grouping of lines). Of course, there are songs that have lyrics that do not rhyme. There is no set rule to writing song lyics but most songs do follow some type of rhyming no matter what language they are written in.

[songsmith]

Yeah, but Em rewrote the rhyming dictionary, he can get away with it.
There is a teachable moment here, we should all be looking up things like "eye rhymes," "near-rhymes," incorrect rhymes, masculine/feminine rhymes, alliteration, etc. "Cheap" rhymes are the hallmark of a local songwriter who will always be a local songwriter. There's a reason the word "love" is rhymed with "stars above" so often: it was easy to think of. The easiest thing to do is write a line, think of a quick rhyme for the last word in that line, then build the rest of the second line from that. It's also the worst thing to do. It often results in two disjointed thoughts that have no point, and always results in a hackneyed verse. You're far better off to think of what you're trying to say as a whole, and build your lines based on that. It's harder, but tough sh*t, are you trying to paint a masterpiece, or fingerpaint? (Or you may actually be metaphorically trying to write "F**k You" on a bathroom wall, which also has artistic merit, but doesn't really have to rhyme!)
Anyway, I believe songwriting is a high artform unto itself, I'm sure many of us do, and I think any time spent on improving our grasp on it is time well-spent.

[Jasaoke]

don't forget or let your mind slizzle,
you can make up rhymes however you fizzle

last night thunder, today the rain drizzle
I think I want some chicken McNizzle