Just keep writing, Steve. It will come to a place where you don't even think about it. Tell your story and move on tot he next one.

Just think about how you walk with a certain rhythm. ONE two THREE four. You wouldn't write a lyric that naturally flowed ONE two three FOUR if the music flowed the other way.

Like "LOOK what I got", vs "OH no you DON'T". You wouldn't say "OH no YOU don't" in normal conversation.

Otherwise you end up with that annoying melisma that was in every Pretenders record because Chrissie Hynde was not a particularly good lyric writer. Like "I'm on my way-yay-yay-yay-yay-yay-yay". When you have to stretch a syllable across all those notes, that's called melisma.

Rule of thumb is that when the cadence of the lyric is not the same as the cadence of the melody, rewrite the line.

In the case of having the lyric presented to you and having to work backwards fitting the music to the lyric, it can be tougher. Think of the difference between a coach trying to force his passing offense onto a team built to run the ball and a coach adapting his offense to his team.

Or in nerdspeak, you can't use a 5 1/4" floppy in a 3 1/2" drive by folding the disc over and forcing it in the drive.

Last edited by eddie1261; 01/27/18 06:15 AM.