15
votes
Accepted
What language shall they sing in?
These are songs, and we learn songs differently from spoken language. Have you ever found yourself singing along to a favorite song in a language you don't even speak, but you've listened to the ...
- 21.5k
12
votes
How to display a duet in lyrics?
This is how Tolkien solves a similar problem in The Lord of the Rings:
ENT.
When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough;
When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on ...
10
votes
Difference between Writing Song-Lyrics and Writing Poetry
I can think of two large differences: prosody, and the more ephemeral nature of music that is listened to versus poetry that is read.
Prosody
Both poetry and lyrics can have meter or not, but with ...
- 1,720
10
votes
Accepted
How should we write a passage where a character sings?
It depends on the purpose of the song
Songs in fiction can serve multiple purposes. They can provide lore and background details, they can be used as a metaphor, they can portray emotion or conflict, ...
- 4,180
6
votes
How should we write a passage where a character sings?
I would say that quite a few different methods are possible. I have read books where a few lines are given, followed by paragraphs or even pages of description of how the characters react, followed by ...
- 4,345
6
votes
Is it important to consider tone, melody, and musical form while writing a song?
I am a (part-time) composer, and I have written the music for songs using all kinds of lyrics, written any time from Chaucer to the present day.
I would say that if you don't have any practical ...
- 381
6
votes
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 known as a garden path sentence.
a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader's most likely interpretation will be incorrect; the reader is lured into a parse that ...
- 9,298
5
votes
What language shall they sing in?
One of my favourite series of books, The Dark is Rising Sequence, has an example I feel might be helpful.
In the last book of the series, three of the main characters are transported from modern day ...
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5
votes
Is it important to consider tone, melody, and musical form while writing a song?
There are multiple ways to write a song.
Sometimes a composer will pick up already written lyrics.
Sometimes a lyricist will work off of an already written melody and arrangement (less common for an ...
- 32.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Iambs or Trochees in songwriting
I agree with both of those facts; the issue is actually about syllable distribution in music. You'll need to let go of several assumptions:
Lyrics are not speech, nor are they precisely written ...
- 3,137
5
votes
How to display a duet in lyrics?
I think you will find this a matter of formatting style that is unusual enough not to have a convention. Certain publishers of music might have guidelines for it (can't help you there), but in a book ...
- 3,137
5
votes
Difference between Indian and English lyricism?
This answer is without specific knowledge of Indian cultures or languages, but I can offer some perspective on rap compared with other poetic/oral poetry traditions that might help you.
In short, I ...
- 3,137
4
votes
Can I legally use these song lyrics as book/chapter names?
Well, here's some information from the page "More Information on Fair Use" at copyright.gov.
The law "calls for consideration of the following four factors in evaluating a question of fair use:"
...
- 778
4
votes
What language shall they sing in?
My communication rule is: They say what they mean as they intended it – as if all communication came right out of their brain. No phonetic accents or broken English between narrator and reader. That ...
- 27.4k
4
votes
What language shall they sing in?
To the kids, everyone's speaking English (though they know this isn't the case).
I'm going to propose a slightly different solution. What if instead of perceiving everything as English, they can hear ...
- 333
4
votes
Elongated vowel sounds
Your example doesn't look ugly, it's just something that ought to be saved for dialogue. I wouldn't use it in non-fiction, for example.
Another method is to italicize the word.
This example is ...
- 32.4k
4
votes
What is this called? Using one word that has a one meaning but then is given new meaning in a subsequent clause or sentence
When an unexpected word comes and changes the meaning, I'd call it subversion. Which is a broader term that doesn't have to specifically refer to the ending of a sentence, but I think it applies here ...
- 3,614
3
votes
What language shall they sing in?
Anything like this should be handled as simply and directly as possible --that way it draws the least possible unwanted attention to the mechanics.
The young man began singing in a clear and ...
- 56.5k
3
votes
Accepted
How do we tell someone how to sing a lyric?
Lyrics are not lyrics until they are set to music. At which point, they are sung to the music. They appear on the sheet music. Like so:
(source)
Alternatively, the lyrics can be placed not over ...
3
votes
Accepted
Elongated vowel sounds
I don't believe there is any punctuation to accomplish what you want. I have seen it done as you have done it, but IMO this is effective but something that should be used very rarely; it gets tiring ...
- 103k
3
votes
Accepted
How to transition from poetry to song-writing?
You have answers about the differences between poems and lyrics. I will focus on the how. What techniques can you use to make this transition?
I wrote a lot of song lyrics when I was in high school ...
- 32.4k
3
votes
Accepted
Use of punctuation in song lyrics?
One generally doesn't read lyrics like poetry. Sure, you can, but it's not as common. One reads lyrics to understand a song.
If you're reading to understand how to sing a song, punctuation is ...
- 32.4k
3
votes
Accepted
Why do all of my lyrics have 3/4 feeling
Personally, I love songs in 3/4, they tend to be more rare in the bigger picture. But yes, there are several ways of translating a 3/4 rhythm to a 4/4 one.
The easiest, but least natural, is just to ...
- 56.5k
3
votes
How do you find lyrics with the parts labelled?
You may be looking for something like Genius.com, which provides song lyrics with labeled parts for each section of the song. This could include labels for Verse [#], Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Intro, Outro ...
- 8,762
2
votes
Copyright Lyrics to Songs
If you are in the US, your lyrics were copyrighted the moment you put them on paper. (I can't speak for other countries.)
If you want to register your copyright in the US to make it easier to ...
- 962
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible