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I'm a fan of Pat Pattison's book "Writing better lyrics". He has some nice organizational techniques for rhyme scheme and what types of words can convey better emotion/meaning. It's fairly cheap on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779
Check this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779
Also, start doing some listening / watching / reading on the concept of Story - what makes one, what is one.
Here's a good start
https://www.amazon.com/Story-Substance-Structure-Principles-Screenwriting/dp/0060391685/
It's really hard to write lyrics without a musical context - even if you try to follow (or not follow) a certain structure, until you've given those lyrics a melody (or some other musical context, like chords or a riff or a beat), they aren't lyrics, they're poetry. Even if you go into writing thinking "okay, these are gonna be lyrics this time", without some kind of musical idea to support it and mold it, it's still just poetry. Some people do have luck starting songs by writing lyrics first, and then trying to write a melody that fits them, but personally I've had much better luck starting with musical ideas (a melody, a riff, a chord progression), and a really broad topic for a song (like "this song's gonna be about heartache" or something), and then writing lyrics that fit the rhythmic stresses and topic. Even if you do successfully write a song starting with lyrics, you'll often find yourself tweaking them anyway to fit the music you end up writing (and if you don't, there's a solid chance of your lyrics turning out awkward and forced).
I highly recommend checking out Pat Pattinson's Writing Better Lyrics from your local library / buying a copy if you can - I can't overstate how much it's helped me get into lyric writing in a more intentional way.
Someone says Brian Wilson is a genius. You can ask them to explain how and they could spend months just explaining his use of harmony in popular music.
Someone says J Dilla is a genius. You can ask them to explain how and they can write a book about how he changed beatmaking and introduced swing into hip-hop and electronic music (something Kanye bit on plenty!).
Someone says Kanye is a genius. You ask them to explain how and they point to his sales and eventually start talking about sneakers.
🤷
My MIL, Eunice, was born in 1917 in coastal Massachusetts and passed away in 2014. She ALWAYS wore a hat when she went out. She had a tweed small brimmed man’s hat she wore in fall/winter, a straw hat with a medium brim for spring summer and a small feathered mini beret shaped hat with feathers for dress. No matter if it was a trip to the grocery store, doctors office or to eat out, she wore a hat. She took her hat off when she visited. And she could pin it back on without a mirror. When I met Eunice in the late 1970’s, she was still wearing gloves. Eunice wore hats because it was PROPER to do so.
My mother, Anna, was born in 1926, passed away in 2009. She was much more “liberated” in her views and life than my MIL. She wore hats to church or when it was colder to match the coat she was wearing. Mom was an accomplished sewist and milliner. In the 1960’s, she made a hat to wear with every suit or jacket and dress she sewed. Later, she bought dress hats to wear with her winter coats, from soft berets to moderately large brimmed hats. She absolutely loved her hats for fashion’s sake. She always wore them at a jaunty angle, and with some feathers for decoration. As an honor to my mom, I wore one of her summer brimmed straw hats with one of her scarves to her memorial service.
So, in short, Eunice wore hats because it was what a proper lady wore. My Mom wore hats because she loved them. She wore them for fashion.
A wonderful book about hats in African American culture is Crowns Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats
Each woman whose portrait is shown tells what hats mean to her, and the significance of the hat chosen.
This is probably off the path for the information you were seeking, but it was nice to write about Mom and Eunice.
There were no lessons or workshops, not for Lindy Hop or other dances like that. Have you read Frankie Manning's Autobiography? It goes through how he learned to dance.
This is slightly off topic, but if you guys are interested in hip-hop/R&B/neo-soul, definitely check out the new Dilla biography. Talks about Q-Tip, Common, D'Angelo, Questlove, Erykah Badu, Pino Palladino, Karriem Riggins, Robert Glasper, Hiatus Kaiyote... pretty amazing the circle of musicians he influenced.
Consider reading Pat Pattison's Book
For anyone wanting to dive deeper into the mind of Kurt and hear/see some really cool stuff check out this book, it’s a compilation of his journal entries, scribbles and doodles & very early versions of some songs photocopied into a book! Already read it all, very very cool stuff. Journals https://www.amazon.com/dp/157322359X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_DP5MZWM02BVT87N1V45S
If you want to write better lyrics, may I suggest you become a disciple of Pat Pattison, professor of songwriting at Berklee, and start with his book "Writing Better Lyrics". He also travels and does seminars/workshops. I have attended two and came away with a lot of insight on why some of my lyrics are great while others fall flat.
His "sense writing" exercises are well worth the effort as well.
This book was immensely helpful to me as I was learning how to write better lyrics. It gives practical tips and exercises:
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779
If I had to take one book with me and my guitar to a deserted island, I would take this rhyming dictionary:
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Rhyming-Dictionary-Including-Poets/dp/0440212057
McNally's for sure. I recommend it to everyone. It's the definitive history of the band. The amazon doc was based on it, and left a lot out.
Don’t get caught up in this period that period. Just listen to the music play. If you want to know about the band. Read this. A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
This book was a gamechanger for me. One of the best activities in there is smashing together a list of completely unrelated adjectives and nouns which causes you to start thinking of some metaphors to use
If writing good lyrics is a big goal of yours, I'd strongly, strongly recommend reading <em>Writing Better Lyrics</em> by Patt Pattison. I'm reading it now (among with a bunch of novels) and his explanations for good writing and all of the exercises you can do are really fun and helpful.
Another point I'd like to make is to simply... say, get a nice chord loop going on and ask yourself: "What mood does this make me feel?" If the first thing that pops into your head is "sad" or "melancholy" write that at the top of your note pad or Google Doc or whatever.
Then, write down a list of topics that pertain to that mood. "suicide" "mental illness" "love and loss" "nostalgia" "regrets" Out of this list of broad topics, go with the ones you vibe with the most.
Then, once you've chosen a topic such as "regrets" you write as many paragraphs of text as you can about it. Just let your mind flow. You can tell a story about someone you read in the newspaper who "lived their whole life working for other people." You can take inspiration from your favorite book quotes. You can talk about how you regretted not going out with that cute guy and wondering what you could've had if you did. Don't think. Just write and spill as many ideas as you can. Perhaps set a timer for ten minutes to do this.
Once you have compiled your pile of "regret mental vomit", pick out any "gems" if you can. Don't just limit yourself to telling the story, show it through touch, hearing, smell, and taste. More concrete details will be more mentally engaging to your listener. Especially if they're paired up with instrumentals that suit the tone.
Anyway, I hope this helps. I learned these tips from the book I just mentioned above! It'll take quite a few tries before you get something you're happy with so just be patient. <3
There are a lot of places to find Kurt's handwriting. His journals were put out in book form and there's even a font of his handwriting
Buy the book Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison off Amazon. Do everything he says. I just finished it, and I found it thoroughly insightful.
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779
I really like the site rhymebrain.com they have near rhymes as well as exact rhymes. It’s a good place to start for ideas
Also love the book “Writing Better Lyrics” by Pat Pattinson. I need to review it, but the big take away in his rhyming section is understanding how vowels and consonants can be grouped together. Eg open vowels. I highly recommend reading it!
Writing Better Lyrics https://www.amazon.com/dp/1582975779/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_q9AiFbT17G0TV
Edit: Added book recommendation and clarity
Get a book. I used to think it was something you had or didn’t. It’s just something to study like every thing else. I’m still pretty amateurish but I liked this one. there are probably countless other books out there: Writing Better Lyrics https://www.amazon.com/dp/1582975779?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I took a course through Berklee school of music and loved it. The teacher Pat Pattinson has written a book on his process and it's a simple read and easy to put into practice. Here is a link to the $12 book on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779 And here is a link to the $10 masterclass he does with videos. It's totally worth it: https://online.berklee.edu/songwriting-master-class-with-pat-pattison
This is a cool and practical book https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779
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Think he had a short course on Coursera
I also find myself terrible at writing lyrics. I just started going through “Writing Better Lyrics - The Essential Guide to Powerful Songwriting” by Pat Pattinson and it’s such a fantastic resource. Do yourself a favor and dig into this book.
Two things I'm finding extremely useful:
LinkedIn Learning course with Julian Vengard: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/music-theory-for-songwriters-the-fundamentals
Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattinson: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1582975779
Some people will say "write from your heart" but I'm learning that great songs have SO much more technique and theoretical wizardry applied throughout the process.
These two resources are just excellent. I've been a musician for 20 years and I forced myself to watch all the videos on the LinkedIn course - I learned useful things I wish I'd known years ago.
This is one of the best things I've done to enhance my lyric writing. If you follow the exercises in this book, you will surely see quick improvement. It will not be all you need, however. You still need to put in hard work before you will be able to write songs you really feel proud of. Good luck mate.
This thread is going to get sloppy with opinions... I recommend everybody put down the laptop and go pick up one of these two books...
https://www.amazon.com/Miles-Autobiography-Davis/dp/0671725823
I may have misinterpreted your intention, but not your words. However, in the interest of being kind, here are probably the best books written about the early history of the band. If your uncle isn't mentioned in these, he won't be mentioned anywhere.
Pigpen had a longtime girlfriend named "Vee". No idea if she's alive or not, but it may be worth further exploration.
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Strange-Trip-History-Grateful/dp/0767911865
https://www.amazon.com/Living-Dead-Twenty-Garcia-Grateful/dp/0815411634
Totally hear you! I struggle with this sometimes, too.
I have really loved a book by Pat Patison called, “Writing Better Lyrics” . Frankly, any of Pat’s books are incredible. Echoing what others have said about not giving up. And also, remember that judging your work before it is even on the paper will get you nowhere. B-grade is better than no-grade at all. Best of luck to you!
I'm transcribing the handwritten letters/journal entries, so people can have an easy-to-read text version of Kurt's writing. If you want the full experience, I would recommend buying the book as it's got some of Kurt's artwork and comics, and much of the journal pages are best appreciated in the original handwritten format so you can get a sense of his thought process through what he puts in margins, what he crosses out/re-orders, etc. There's some pretty neat stuff in there, like cover art and T-shirt designs, Kurt's hand-drawn designs for the JagStang, and lots of fun little doodles in the margins. The Journals aren't for everyone, but I personally enjoy the book very much, and find that a good 90% of the material isn't too personal to not be comfortable reading.
But that's just my review, others on the sub have lots of differing opinions on the book. There's been some good discussion in the past.
You're making it too hard.
If it sounds good, it is good. Theory is helpful as it gives you more options (especially with regard to substitutions which you can use to "surprise" the listener and sound a little more sophisticated and "fresh").
There's two parts to writing a song. There's the music, and there's the story you want to tell. Songwriting is about telling stories. If you just want to do instrumentals - maybe you'd prefer composition or /r/musictheory
The hardest thing for any songwriter is to say a universal truth in a way that has never been said before. Your first songs will likely be filled with cliches and what we call "throwaway" lines. Lines that take up space but aren't new or clever. A major trap new writers fall into is to try to be clever by being very very vague. If the listener can't put himself in your song he's not gonna dig it.
Your first song will probably suck. So will your second and your tenth and maybe your hundredth. But every song will lead to a better song next time.
I personally have no trouble writing music but struggle to come up with lyrics. I want to recommend Pat Pattison's book "Writing Better Lyrics". Its a classic. John Mayer has credited this work with helping him improve. Pattison is professor of songwriting at Berklee School of Music. I've attended a couple clinics with him. He really knows his stuff.