Confession: Lyrics are my weakest area.
Melodies, chord progressions, rhythms, etc, all come really easily to me. But for some reason, I always have to spend the majority of my songwriting time on the lyrics.
Because of this, I've had to come up with some creative ways to come up with lyric ideas. I've tried scanning books, magazines, TV shows, listening to music, and just about any other way I could think of to come up with lyric ideas!
But there's one technique I always come back to:
The Random Word Generator.
I love using a random word generator because it doesn't feel like I'm "stealing." Even though most words and phrases aren't copyrighted and it's perfectly ethical to use them in my lyrics - it always feels a little "icky" when I take a lyric idea from another song, or a line someone else has written.
With the random word generator, I'm not stealing ideas from anyone!
Step 1: Make a list
Find an online random word generator. (This one is my favorite!) Flip through the words and write down anything that stands out to you. Be patient - you might have to flip through some medical terminology and words you would never use in a song! But if you do it long enough, you'll stumble along some gold eventually.
Make a list of 10-20 possible words.
Step 2: Dig a little deeper
For each word, come up with a few ideas related to it. Write phrases, song concept ideas, sentences, and related words. I like to get 2-3 sentences for each word.
Even if you don't end up using the words in songs, it's a great exercise in creativity!
TIP: Try to get creative with it - a lot of words will make great metaphors!
Step 3: Assess, and pick one (or more) for song ideas
Now look through your list of ideas and choose one for your next song hook!
That's it! Hopefully this exercise helps you come up with your next lyric idea - I know I've come up with some really unique song ideas using this method!
