Matching Words to Rhythm

Hi Monty,

Over a year ago I read your document on how to write a song and I always loved music and I wanted to write my own lyrics and I didn't know how to and where to start until I read your notes. I wrote many songs but the only problem I have now is when I am in the studio it is not lining up with the music. Am I doing something wrong? They are good lyrics but putting it on wax is not a match. Do you have any recommendations? I appreciate any help you can offer.

Thanks, Chino Bazbeg


Hi Chino,

I'm glad my column helped you get started!

Without hearing your music, it is hard to guess what the problem is. You say the words are not lining up with the music. This doesn't happen by accident. In songwriting, often the words come first. In that case the music must be written specifically to match with the words. Often the music comes first, in which case the words are written specifically to match with the music. (Sometimes they come together, words and music at once, but for me that only happens in short bursts, then I have to fill out the rest either music first or words first.)

When you match music and words together you have to be aware of the musical qualities of the words. How many syllables are there? Where are the stresses? These things will match the number, lengths, and accents of the notes.

A good place to start is with the downbeat. If you count along with the music the downbeats are where the numbers fall. For instance in rock, most songs are in 4/4 time, or four beats to the measure, so you would count along 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Those are the downbeats.

Now match some words like this: "1, 2, 3, 4 - I don't know how." That's one word to each downbeat (quarter notes).

If the words each had two syllables instead, you would also be singing on the upbeat, or the "and" which comes between the beats. "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 - I'm a lazy hairy cow." (Eighth notes.)

If you have your words written out, you can circle each syllable that lands on a downbeat. So in the silly example above, you would circle "I'm" "laz" and "hair."

You might try using triplets - three syllables to each beat, like this: "1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 - Are you the kind of a cow who can sing?" Circling the downbeats gives you "are" "kind" "cow" and "sing."

Notice that the downbeats happen on the same syllables that you naturally stress when you talk. If I changed that last example to "Are you a singing sort of hairy cow?" and then tried to match the words to the "1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4" triplet pattern, it just wouldn't sound right. Try it.

But, if we took that last line and matched it to a different rhythm, it might work. This time we need to mix rhythms, starting with a triplet, then proceed using the upbeats like this - "1 and a 2 and 3 and 4 and 1." Circle "are" "sing" "sort" and "cow."

Write out the words to some of your favorite songs and circle the downbeats and you will start to get a feel for how words and music fit together. Then try it with your own words. When you have the downbeats circled, then as you sing they provide a visual cue as to where the beats belong in the words. Take it slowly at first. The more you work with it the more natural it will seem.

Don't be afraid to change the words as you are setting them to music. I often find that I've used too many words. To make them fit more naturally with the music I often drop words that aren't really needed. For instance: "I know a place where cows can sing" might become "There's a place where cows can sing" or even "In the place cows sing" or "In the land of singing cows."

In other words, keep playing with it until you get each phrase to fit well.

Best of luck!

Adding Words to Melody

hey,

great page, im 17, i have played guitar for 2 years but ive played a lot. Im getting pretty good, but i cant seem to put any words with a good melody, just wanted to let you know somones lookin at your page, and ill get back to you on how everything goes. Ive already got an idea or two. Thanks---Ryan


Hi Ryan,

If I read your comments right, you have a melody and you need words. To me this is always difficult. I usually have no trouble writing a melody if I have the words first. I can even come up with words and melody together at the same time pretty easily. But if I come up with a melody that has no words, finding the right words takes some effort. I have a lot of melodies lying around myself that I haven't put words to yet.

I think this is because, at least for me, when the melody is set already, it can be very confining. The words then have to have a certain number of syllables in order to fit, and yet they still need to make some kind of sense. So it's like working a puzzle. The melody gives you the form and the mood, and you have to find words that fit both.

But take heart - it isn't impossible.
Here's a general method you can try...

Record the music you've written - nothing fancy. Just use a tape recorder and play or sing your melody the best you can. Now you can listen to it without having to focus on performing it at the same time. Get comfortable, close your eyes, listen over and over, and let your mind wander. Daydream. What do you see in your head? What images does the music inspire? What situation are you thinking about? Once thoughts begin to come to you, write them down. Don't try to make the words fit the rhythm of the music yet - just write, as if you were writing in a diary. Get the ideas and images down on paper.

Gather words. Now that you have some idea what your song is going to be about, go back and circle the key words - the words that are most important to the song's mood, story, or theme. Do any of them fit at key places in the melody? These important words need to go where the melody will bring them out - the end of a phrase, or the high point in a line. They need to fit naturally with the melody so that when you sing the words, the emphasis comes on the right syllables.

Pick a word you want to use and sing the whole melody using just that word. Where does it sound the best?

If your words don't fit, or if you think they would be hard to rhyme (assuming you want them to rhyme, which isn't necessarily so) then try to come up with other words that are related to the same idea. Brainstorm a whole list of words. Use a thesaurus to help with this. (In a thesaurus, you look up the word you've got and you'll find a list of other words that mean the same thing.)

Work the puzzle. Once you figure out where your most important words will go, then start filling in the rest of each line. Approach it like a puzzle. Keep trying different ideas until all the pieces fit. You may want to record the song again, with the words you already have filled in. Just sing "dum de dum de dum" during the parts you don't have yet. That way you can easily listen back while your brain works on filling in the rest of those words.

Keep at it. This method may sound tedious and mechanical - sort of uninspired. But if you wait for inspiration to strike, you can easily wait forever. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Following this method may seem like a lot of work at first but at some point you are likely to suddenly see the light and find that the words are filling themselves in more and more easily.

It also gets easier and feels more natural the more you do it. Practice makes perfect.

Or - find a partner. One final thought - you could always find a writing partner. If you look at all the top radio songs in a given week, you may notice that most of them are written by a team of two people or more. Sometimes two heads really are better than one. Some partners both write words and melody. Often one partner is a lyricist, who writes only words, and the other is a composer, who writes the melodies. If you find the task of putting words to your music to be too much of a hassle, there's no shame in finding a wordy partner who enjoys that sort of a challenge.