ample, I’m a writer. You probably figured that out already. I’ve tried writing lyrics, but
they, in a word, stink. I’m not a poet. I’m not a Byron, Keats or a Shelley. Or, a Taupin for
that matter. I’m not even in the same city as the ballpark. I’m strictly prose, it seems. In-
sert heavy sigh here.
Where To Start
In the immortal words of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, “It’s always best to start
at the beginning.” For most lyricists, that means a melody. It’s tough to write lyrics with-
out knowing the rhythm and other characteristics of the tune.
Once you have a melody, even a rough one, listen and pick out the areas where the
notes are repeated or “rhyme.” A better way of saying that is the places where the notes
or chords are repeated in sequence. For example, let’s use the Unchained Melody by The
Righteous Brothers. Who, by the way, may have been righteous, but they sure weren’t
brothers. Their name actually came at the end of a U.S. Marine performance when a fan
in the audience shouted, "That was righteous, brothers!" Isn’t trivia neat?
Alas, I digress. Back to Unchained Melody. The rhymes happen at various, predicable
intervals within the tune. It’s the device that forms the structure of the song. The beat fol-
lows the rhyme in many cases. For example, “touch,” rhymes with “much.” “Time”
rhymes with “mine,” and so on.
It’s also happens to a degree in the final line of the chorus.
As I was writing the above, it occurred to me that all this sounds rather complex. Re-
lax. It’s not. It’s an ear thing. Listen to the melody and it will become quickly apparent