Skyoma,

Another option is to join Just Plain Folks or 50/90 songwriting communities on-line. You'll find many more songwriters there as a percentage of forum participants - generally very supportive and honest. Here, there are a fairly large percentage of folks that are doing cover tunes. Nothing wrong with that, but the percentage of people with experience writing effective lyrics here is smaller than at those other communities.

50/90 forums aren't live right now. It's a yearly challenge to write 50 songs in 90 days. The forum will go live in probably 2 weeks.

The JPF lyric writing forums are fairly active - you'll get real usable results there. http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/postlist/Board/112/page/1

I think that lyrics can be posted either with or without music. If you are intent on keeping the music as is, then post with the music. If you are flexible on the music, then post the lyrics by themselves.

I've written perhaps 150 songs in my life, about 75 or so with lyrics and usually the lyrics come to me first. Out of those 75, I say there are about 15-20 for which I have received very positive feedback from people I respect; after several edits.

Here's an example of a lyric I wrote after experiencing Los Angeles for the first time in many years. BTW, Mulholland refers to Mulholland Drive in LA. Hopefully the lyric stands by itself as a thought provoking chain of words. The link to the song is at the bottom after the lyrics. I wrote many of the lyrics on the plane ride back to my home state after being mesmerized by seeing the un-ending incoming flights into LAX, the mass of humanity that one can see from certain vantage points in LA, etc.

View From Mulholland Copyright 2005 Scott Lake

Verse 1
Above the City of Angels on this ribbon I ride.
The Golden Web of Edison stretched out on every side.
Looking sideways at the stars and jewelled threads hanging in the air.
I pause to think what You must feel and if I can really care.

Chorus:
What do You see, different from what I see?
What do You see in your view from Mulholland?

Verse 2
I see a sea of humanity lost in their anonymity.
What is it that keeps You interested in each one
Like I believe You are in me?

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
Where I see lights, You know each life.
I try to care but cannot dare to imagine the pain You must bear
when You see each one, and what we've done.

Repeat Chorus

Verse 3.
The granite palace behind me as a tribute to man-made beauty
And below on Rodeo they're buying the latest thing
that they don't really need.....
just to carry more money.

Repeat Chorus to end

Link to what I call the song story:
http://rockstarnot.rekkerd.org/vfmstory.html

and the song itself

http://rockstarnot.rekkerd.org/songs/newer/View%20From%20Mulholland.MP3

If you like the lyric writing, I have some experience and can give you my opinion for what it's worth. Send me a PM if you are interested.

Generally speaking lyrics that grab me make a point that is common to man, but from an angle that is fresh and new.

Examples from this song (in my opinion and from what I have heard as critique from others that like this song):

"Looking sideways at the stars"
In an airplane ride at night, when the plane banks and you are on the outside window of the turn, you look out the window and there are the stars, that for most folks living on flat places on the earth have to look up to see. Now that I live in Colorado, I get the exquisite pleasure of looking straight ahead at the stars all of the time. At the time I wrote this song, I lived in Michigan.

"Jeweled threads hanging in the air"
Refers to the chain of planes inbound to LAX at night with their landing lights on. To me, I imagined a thin thread connecting them all.

"Golden Web of Edison"
Here it is visually: http://www.bentmachine.com/photos/0303/DSCN0173.jpg

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