Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [lyrics]

Writing that's intended to accompany music

57 questions
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How to display a duet in lyrics?

I wonder if someone can tell me whether there is a convention when laying out a lyric to show different parts (or even a chorus). In my novel, there are a number of poems and lyrics. They are set in the usual style of indented and italicised.…
Miriam
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Are music lyrics copyrighted?

I tried to find copyright information about music lyrics, but it is too confusing, because it is related to the usage. There are lots of websites providing lyrics, but it seems they are somehow illegal (though no complaint against them). Most of…
Googlebot
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What language shall they sing in?

I'm writing a middle-grade novel in English. I have time-traveling kids from 1995 America who go to Ancient Egypt to join the Exodus. None of the kids speak anything but English (aside from a few words). The people they visit mostly speak…
Cyn
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Who pays for lyrics or quotes?

Occasionally, novels will include song lyrics in the story, or start out chapters with songs or quotes. In many cases, these lyrics or quotes are from copyrighted materials and would presumably require royalties be paid to the original author. Does…
sjohnston
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Is it important to consider tone, melody, and musical form while writing a song?

Be it Mowgli and balu singing Bare Necessities or Enrique singing Somebody's Me, each song (or poem) has their way of being sung. Were such songs written after selection of musical note, tone, and form? What is the order? First music is created or…
Karan Desai
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When parodying a song, how important is it to replace words with homophones thereof?

I often decide to parody songs to adapt them to different contexts -- mainly for fun, for improving my English and causing an healthy amount of groans into people who read my creations. However, I also care about putting some quality in my work.…
badp
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Is there a standard for dealing with lyrics in dialogue and narration in creative writing?

I'm peer-reviewing/editing a paper for a final in my English course and in it, the author has a character singing a song (of the author's creation). The character is singing in dialogue, like so: "It's time to stand up and be a man/Be the husband…
Ice-9
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Difference between Writing Song-Lyrics and Writing Poetry

Not sure how to jazz this question up other than to say that I've tried putting my poems to music and found it to be somewhat challenging. Question is then: what's the difference between the skillsets needed to write poetry and song-lyrics? It'd be…
robertcday
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What is this called? Using one word that has a one meaning but then is given new meaning in a subsequent clause or sentence

This is done in songs and I'm sure it's done in poetry too. For example, in the song Gray and Blue by Jaymay, she sings, "I'm with another boy (he's asleep, I'm wide awake) / And he tried to win my heart, but it's taken... time." The pause leads you…
tylertrotter
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Iambs or Trochees in songwriting

According to this website, English speakers prefer to hear iambs rather than trochees. We naturally bias our readings toward iambs. However, in my reading about lyric writing/prosody, it seems that the songwriter should align downbeats (beats 1 and…
286642
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How to transition from poetry to song-writing?

I've written poetry since I was nine, and I would say I'm pretty good at it. I also really like music, and I can create simple melodies that I hum to myself. But whenever I try to write a song, my attempts fall flat, and I don't understand why. …
user34214
5
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Elongated vowel sounds

When we speak sometimes we draw out certain sounds for emphasis. We also see this technique in song, for both emphasis as well as expanding the meter to make the words fit a certain rhythm. One way I have seen done, and I don't want to use, is…
Summer
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How should we write a passage where a character sings?

I am wondering how to do this in a novel. Do you write the song (lyrics) in its entirety in one single spurt, or do you spurt a verse at a time interspersed with descriptions of the surroundings/actions/emotions? I really want to write a scene in my…
user36239
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Proper attribution of copyrighted lyrics in a story

If I put several lines of a copyrighted song in my text, and mention the band name, how can I be certain that my attribution is sufficient and guarantees against legal action? From what I've been able to find, I need to list the song title, writing…
coldstatue
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Writing a Lullaby

I need to write a short folk lullaby as part of my story, but am having trouble getting the feel of it in my lyrics. What are the general conventions of writing a lullaby? Any general principles specific to lullabies as opposed to other types of…
Lexi
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