I will be reporting on ‘5 Steps to Start Writing Lyrics’ by Andrea Stolpe. In her work on Berklee Online, Stolpe gives five very useful pieces on advice for budding songwriters but it her tips are useful for writers of any level.

How easy to read and understand? This article is very easy to read and understand. Stolpe takes her own advice when she says, “Write like you speak.”. The text is also laid out in a helpful format with a four to seven-word brief at the head of each sections which describes the section’s content.

What knowledge is needed to interpret it? Other than knowing which section of a song is which (verse, chorus etc), no specialist knowledge is needed to understand this text. As this is intended to be help guide for beginners, making it unassay to have specialised knowledge is a very good thing.

Something you learned, and could apply to your own song writing. While I am familiar with the song writing process, I have never tried reading another writer’s lyrics without listening to the song first. This is something that I think could be a useful technique.

How relevant is it to your song writing, and why? These tips are useful to me as I have only every considered my own song writing process at a basic level. Reading this made a realise how useful it can to get an insight into some other writer’s process. I will move forward by reading other articles and help guides in order to improve my own writing.

Link to ‘5 Steps to Start Writing Lyrics’ below.

I have taken the poem “On the Death of Anne Brontë”, stripped it back to the basic story/scene and turned it into lyrics.

The Poem

“On the Death of Anne Brontë” by Charlotte Brontë

There’s little joy in life for me, And little terror in the grave; I’ve lived the parting hour:

to see of one, I would have died to save.

 Calmly to watch the failing breath, Wishing each sigh might be the last; Longing to see the shade of death O’er those belovèd features cast.

 The cloud, the stillness that must part The darling of my life from me; And then to thank God from my heart, To thank Him well and fervently;

 Although I knew that we had lost The hope and glory of our life; And now, benighted, tempest-tossed, Must bear alone the weary strife.

My Lyrics

Verse 1

Hold still.

There’s little terror in your gaze.

Weak gasp.

You’re out of time to waste

 Pre-Chorus

Don’t run, you’ll only make it worse.

Trust me, you’re not the first to hurt.

 Chorus

I’ll watch.

And I won’t shut down.

Black out.

It’s done.

 Verse 2

I longed to see the covers calm.

Thank god.

For taking you out of my arms.

At last.

 Pre-Chorus 2

Trust me, you’re not the first to hurt.

You’re not the first to hurt.

Chorus

I’ll watch.

And I won’t shut down.

Black out.

It’s done.

I’ll watch.

And I won’t shut down.

Black out.

It’s done.

 Poem that I turned into Lyrics - On the Death

Verse 1

And little terror in the grave = There’s little terror in your gaze.

 Chorus

Calmly to watch the failing breath/ I’ve lived the parting hour = I’ll watch.

And I won’t shut down.

 Verse 2

Longing to see the shade of death/ Wishing each sigh might be the last = I long to see the covers calm.

 And then to thank God from my heart = Thank god. For taking you out of my arms. At last.

 Song Breakdown

Why I chose this poem and what I think it means

I chose this poem because I felt the story was both emotive and easy to understand.

In my interpretation, this poem describes a death bed scene in which the thoughts and feelings of a grieving friend/relative steer the narrative.

I discovered, after some research, that this poem was written in the aftermath of  Anne Brontë’s death by her sister Charlotte Brontë in 1849.

 Structure

As this is about death, I tried my best to capture the gravity of the situation without bogging the lyrics down with over explanation.

To this end, I used a number of short lines and I think this was particularly effective in the chorus. I wanted to describe the death with a numb detachment in that section.

Although I went for an A, B, C format, I changed the second pre-chorus as, in the context of the song, after the chorus which outlines the passing away, the lyrics “Don’t run, you’ll only make it worse” should be in a passed tense to fit properly.   

Song plan 

My influences for the lyrical style are heavily grounded in the songs Heroin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM3F5tq4p-k) and White Noise (https://open.spotify.com/track/2W2XqpU22d6TL0PFn3tfzM) by the band Badflower. If/when I write instrumentation for this song, I plan for it to be far more stripped back and relaxed than those songs.

A useful source of info on the poem.

http://finkenglish.weebly.com/englush-iv-blog/on-the-death-of-anne-bronte-poetry-analysis-by-lora-sipal