I don't know if my ideas are good or bad, but it's worth a shot.

[geoff956]

Before you get unnecessarily side tracked, just remember this:-
In any creative activity, be it music, painting, sculpture or whatever there will always be an uneasy relationship between the artist and the paying public.
There are two basic approaches:-
You can write a song that you feel is an honest expression of how you feel,and you don't have to consider the opinion of anyone - and I do mean anyone - as to whether it's 'crap' or not.There's no crap in honesty of expression.
Or you write a song purely aimed at the paying public, in which case you are forced to put the 'honest expression' bit on the back burner and start looking around at what's working for everyone else, as per Wroth Ira's advice. All criticism levelled at your material is then valid, as every bit of it is an indicator of how the song will be received by the wider public.
If you take the first approach you will get more out of it and if you're lucky and everyone else likes it you've really cracked it.
Go the second route and you'll be up against an awful lot of people who are extremely good at writing and producing hit songs.

[Hunter33]

I'm gonna have to agree with what Wroth Ira said to some degree.

This is hard to sum up so bare with me but I'll try and explain what I like about lyrics I hear.
They are usually open ended which means they can have multiple meanings depending on who is listening to them and their current state of mind.
Often less is more and a well placed lyric in time with an adequate riff can trigger more than a thousand images.
Any songs that are 'last night I had a few drinks too many, went out to the yard to spend a penny' are ok but don't give the same feeling. They are more like blues. If you want to make blues or country and western then thats fine, but for me personally they won't be a song that I remember for long although that doesn't mean they won't be enjoyable. And if they make you laugh then thats a bonus I guess.

I'm no master at lyrics although I try but I have never used any I have come up with in a song yet. The best collbaorations I've been involved in that had lyrics, the lyrics were always by someone else and I had to write the riffs to go with them. I like working that way as I can focus on what images the lyrics are conjuring for me and try to reiterate those with riffs.

For me good lyrics are more about painting an picture than trying to explain something...if that makes any sense.

Good luck.

[Face]

both lyrics are cool, the first one reminds me of nickelback and the lynyrd skynyrd song MCA, I really dig the second set of lyrics.

[Superstition]

Originally Posted by Face

both lyrics are cool, the first one reminds me of nickelback and the lynyrd skynyrd song MCA, I really dig the second set of lyrics.

Yeah, I can picture it as nickelback sort of.

but once you hear the mix you'll hear my intentions.

the mix is ALMOST done, I just have to record real drumming to replace the software.

[EDIT: and I'm splitting up the guitar solo to a panned twin guitar thing . . . sort of]

[DT Chris]

There are no rules. Throw them out the window, and keep going the way you have. It will sort itself out.

[jdaug]

my 2 cents on lyric writing-I suck at at it, and therefore have given up. But what I learned is, it doesnt need to make sense if you are trying to read it like an article or short story. the best lyrics seem to read more like poetry, where grammar and "making sense" isnt necessary. i dont think you should be asking for random help in writing YOUR lyrics. not that its cheating, but that i cant see it helping the song. nobody knows how the music goes, or what is going on in your mind. if you have a vision for the lyrics, you need to do it, or colab with someone who is familiar with the song and your vision.

I have written a few songs where other guys wanted to do lyrics on. I gave it over to them completely and told them to go for it. no input from me whatsoever, other than telling them what the title of the song was, and the type of vocal style/s that i could envision with the song. still waiting to hear the final product on them, but im excited to hear my songs with lyrics, even if they arent my own.

[Superstition]

I've got a new song called gone and back again.

I don't know where it will go, but I have 3 songs, that being one of them, that I want to group on the album (three songs, one track)