What does your band sing about?

scrunks11 · #1 01-09-2010, 08:01 AM

If you write your own music, I want to know what subjects you write the lyrics about eg. love, death etc. I'm stuck on writing lyrics at the moment so this could really help me...

SIXXAM · #2 01-09-2010, 08:50 AM

we dont play anymore but the old band i was in mostly sung about drinking and getting drunk....it was a fun band i miss those days

brett7276 · #3 01-09-2010, 09:03 AM

for me as a songwriter lyrics usally end up being about a girl....but I seem to struggle a bit these days with that- the stability of married life while nice- doesn't inspire the great lyrics that some chick ripping your heart out does....I could use a few new topics myself..I like religon/spirituality- but I have no intrest in becoming a chruchy type of band-I'm just not quite wholesome enough!

jbl71004 · #4 01-09-2010, 09:03 AM

I don't write any lyrics, but I really like our songs. With that said, I have no idea what they're about

.

Richland123 · #5 01-09-2010, 09:45 AM

Interestingly, I have rarely been involved with writing songs about love, girls, etc. since there are so many of them in our song list. Not that love songs are a bad thing. Usually they are songs about music, dancing, having fun, positive encouragement, even nuclear war. I do have lyrics for some relationship type songs that I never finished but they are far from love songs. We play one original tune frequently called Boogie Music that always gets the dance floor packed. It is about playing music and dancing and having a good time and people sing along with the chorus since it is very catchy.

deaf pea · #6 01-09-2010, 09:55 AM

The songwriter in our band writes about what's goin' on in the neighborhood . . . and the fans seem to identify with the stories.

In our case they are all TRUE STORIES . . .

. . .

Bootzilla · #7 01-09-2010, 09:56 AM

I like a good story. I used to be all about criticism on the state of the world and irony and all that jazz but who am I to tell how things should be done so now it's all about story telling and random stuff (I like blues and folk themes).

JohnMCA72 · #8 01-09-2010, 10:46 AM

Not that I'm any good at it, necessarily...

I keep a running list of topics. I add something to it whenever an idea finds its way into my head. It can be anything at all, & has gotten pretty diverse. Things from the news, topics of idle conversation, dreams, anything at all.

At irregular intervals (I really should try to do this on some sort of schedule) I review the list & expand a little on some of the basic themes & thoughts if I can. Some get fleshed out more than others, & some finally get enough content that they might be workable into "something".

varunkapahi · #9 01-09-2010, 11:33 AM

nothing ground breaking, usual everyday stuff. running away from cops, chicks and stuff

geeza · #10 01-09-2010, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbl71004

I don't write any lyrics, but I really like our songs. With that said, I have no idea what they're about

.

We must be in the same band.

rosanne · #11 01-09-2010, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnMCA72

Not that I'm any good at it, necessarily...

I keep a running list of topics. I add something to it whenever an idea finds its way into my head. It can be anything at all, & has gotten pretty diverse. Things from the news, topics of idle conversation, dreams, anything at all.

At irregular intervals (I really should try to do this on some sort of schedule) I review the list & expand a little on some of the basic themes & thoughts if I can. Some get fleshed out more than others, & some finally get enough content that they might be workable into "something".

This is pretty much what I do. I keep a notebook with overheard phrases, ideas, stray lines that pop into my head, etc. Then I look at it every now and then and pick something to expand on. If I write about a person it will be about someone I know, or have elements of the stories of a few people I know worked into it. If it's an emotion it needs to be one that I have felt myself.

Sometimes I will write folk type stuff about world events, or positive feelings. Sometimes I write a song only to toss it thinking "who's going to want to hear this?" Like a song about a person I knew who froze to death b/c he was so drunk his family would not let him into the house. LOTS of songs get tossed.

Elrend · #12 01-09-2010, 01:34 PM

We don't sing, we play.

Red Rover · #13 01-09-2010, 01:35 PM

I've been in my current band for about 2 years now and I still don't know what the lyrics are... much less what they're about. I've never been a lyrics kind of guy.

JohnMCA72 · #14 01-09-2010, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosanne

This is pretty much what I do. I keep a notebook with overheard phrases, ideas, stray lines that pop into my head, etc.
...
LOTS of songs get tossed.

I don't ever actually toss anything - you never know what might make sense someday - but I am amassing a good-sized pile of sure crap!

Can you imagine the s***-piles that people like McCartney, Jackson, Manilow, etc. must have, that nobody will ever hear? Probably railcar-loads!

rosanne · #15 01-09-2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnMCA72

I don't ever actually toss anything - you never know what might make sense someday - but I am amassing a good-sized pile of sure crap!

Can you imagine the s***-piles that people like McCartney, Jackson, Manilow, etc. must have, that nobody will ever hear? Probably railcar-loads!

Right you are, I often save a final copy to mine from, unless it's total crap and then the whole thing goes. Many more songs go unplayed than played.

Yes, there must be *huge* piles of never heard songs out there. Untold amounts! BTW have you seen that book that goes into the writing process of each Beatles song? Not into as much detail as I'd like but still it's interesting. Can't think of the name of it.

CaptainWampum · #16 01-09-2010, 02:49 PM

My band has a bunch of songs about the graphic design teacher at the local high school.

_DOM_P_ · #17 01-09-2010, 03:01 PM

I write pretty much all the lyrics for my band and to be honest i write about most things. Lust is a big favourite though, but drugs, religion and nsanity seem prety good to write about. you can get some really dark twisted themes. with double meanings if your good at writing

rosanne · #18 01-09-2010, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _DOM_P_

double meanings

I love to put hidden meanings in my songs. Songs that are (on the surface) about one thing - but are also about something else. Somehow I find it very fulfilling to sneak in a second meaning.

JohnMCA72 · #19 01-09-2010, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosanne

...
BTW have you seen that book that goes into the writing process of each Beatles song? Not into as much detail as I'd like but still it's interesting. Can't think of the name of it.

No, but I'd like to. I'll look for it. If anybody else knows it, please pipe up!

One of these?

http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Song-S...081963&sr=1-20
http://www.amazon.com/Long-Winding-R...082056&sr=1-33

knumbskull · #20 01-09-2010, 05:08 PM

mostly i don't go near lyrics but most singers i have worked with end up singing about their girl/ex girl/girls in general

the only lyrics i have contributed were about the time our old drummer took mushrooms and thought he was Jesus.