How I Write Meaningful Lyrics

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

 My earliest memories of diving head-first into composing and writing lyrics date back to my coming of age period. In some shape or form, many of my songs are inspired by the people around me and life’s experiences. It’s not to say that every tale is my tale, but all the lyrics tell a story of lessons learned, ages passed, or a hope for the future.

I can remember, quite vividly, one of the best birthdays presents I ever received: A brand-spankin’-new red acoustic guitar (Thanks, Dad!). I was a teen, and all the craze was playing an instrument in the local youth praise and worship band. Mind you, this period was the 90s where the live band was king!

Whether one craved a bit of the Goo Goo Dolls, Aerosmith, or Third Eye Blind, or perhaps TLC, No Doubt, or NSYNC was your thing; it didn’t matter. Everyone ran home to catch Total Request Live (TRL) with Carson Daly, singing along to their favorite tunes bopping on the radio after class.

Even with everything going on with pop-culture, gospel musicians heavily inspired me. I was mesmerized by how the drummer could seemingly bring a song to life, even in the absence of a pianist or bass player.

I have experienced congregations where the only percussion was the sound of the hands coming together and the vocals being lifted in the spirit. It all sounds very colorful now, but it was certainly inspiring for me, as a young musician, to try my hand at making some of those sounds that seemingly made the spirit move.

Out of the blue, a melody would come, and I would rapidly record what I incessantly hummed with no regard to spelling, rhyme, or reason. Somehow, the message was always evident. I can’t take the credit.

And I’m sure many of you are wondering, no seriously, how do you write the songs. And I could sit here and tell you about key signatures, tempos, and scales; why certain notes sound great together and all that, but I have never approached song writing from that perspective.

Even though I have a great foundation as a classically trained flautist, self-taught pianist and guitarist, and frequent member of local gospel choirs and praise and worship groups. Surely, It’s important to understand that stuff in due time, it will only make you better, but I know plenty of hits that can only be explained by He who puts the music in us.

Personally, one concrete measure of practice is to spend time writing poetry, which is the distilled form of lyricism. So, if you get consistent at that and the lyrics are any good, you can always set them to music later. Plenty of my songs started that way, just thinking about a person, place, thing, or idea I’m passionate about. Being able to evoke emotions and ideas indirectly through the use of language is where the art and the science collide. 

But in a future article I will break down my song production process along with how I track vocals to give you an idea of some of the tangibles that bring music to life.

I just want you to know that you’re not alone if you cannot explain it. Like so many others, I had my own set of experiences that I expressed in the power of the pen. Writing became an escape of its own. The songs were the thoughts, wishes, and songful melodies of the heart.

And now, so many years later, I am living my purpose and sharing these works with the world. No matter the outcome… “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).”

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