|
 Now
I'm no Shakespeare, but I do like making up the words to songs.
It's by-far not the most important part of a song because a "song"
is music with or without words. But I have fun with lyrics.
If I have a good topic, then I'm interested. So I thought I'd
try to see what would happen if I entered a "Lyric Writing Contest".
Let's find out.
The contest was through the
We Are Listening website. I
sent in the lyrics for
Scared from the new CD (have a
listen and read the words at the bottom). The song, simply, is
about being scared. That's it. Nothing fancy and the
words rhyme. The cutoff for submissions was at the end of
March and at the end of April everyone would be notified whether
they made it to Round 2...or not.
It should come as no surprise that I didn't
make Round 2. Contests like these (one's with entry fees) are
usually if-y at best but it got me thinking, "OK, what types of
lyrics do you need to win one of these things?"
So I hopped on their site and had a look at the
previous winners' lyrics. And whew. If I spent that much
time on throwing words together, I'd never make any music. But
there was a theme I noticed: long-winded, descriptive Americana type
stuff. Ian Flemming descriptive. I know that came out
sounding like an insult but it wasn't meant to be. Here's some
lines from past winners (don't worry, I won't be using these
anywhere):
2009
Round 4 Winner:
H. Jay Carney
The Marionette's ParadeWhose strings are these that
lift my arms
What of these dreams that work their charms
With dancing meters and bright red clothes
We entertain on tippy toes
Look at this, look at me
I wish I knew just how to be
You shake my hand, I walk like this
You only see external bliss |
2009
Round 3 Winner
Vincent Robert Trocchia
Hearing ThingsI can tell Joe Rodger's pickup from the
other side of town
I know someone's burning brush, just by that crackling
sound
See I can hear a pin drop, way up on this hill
When that 5 o'clock work whistle blows, the boys go
racing home
If Terry Tanner's screen door slams his girlfriend's
good as gone
Every sound in town means something, normal folks agree
But up here on this hill at night, sounds aren't what
they seem |
2009
Round 2 Winner
Dean Caputo
Blue-Collar Cowboy
I'm an ol' fashioned man
And I'm fixin' to take a stand
On all these high-tech ways to communicate
Spam & spies, web-wide,
I get Google-eyed
Yahoo? Yeehaw!
It's all over-advertised
Don't need no pills for lovin',
or GPS to navigate
|
2009
Round 1 Winner
Allyson Weiland
Tag, You're It
See that woman pushing that stroller there?
Yeah that’s the one with the wild brown hair
You may think housewife when you see her now
But in her crazier days, we all tried to chase her down
She used to yell
Just Try and catch me Romeo,
I’m flyin fast and you’re movin too slow
Time’s racing by and this moment’s gonna pass
Tag, you’re it, now step on the gas |
OK. You can make up your own mind
but I'm sure we're already on the same page.
Now that's got me thinking, "Who are the
judges?" So lets have a look.
| Chris Farren - Picked up a Grammy
for Country Song of the Year with "Jesus, Take The Wheel"
(Carrie Underwood), two previous Grammy nominations,
- "Hundreds of cuts with international acts including
Rascall Flatts, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Michael McDonald,
Warren Brothers and more, as well as movie soundtracks
including “We Were Soldiers”, "Shark Tale", "My Cousin
Vinnie" and "Casper", have contributed to his publishing
company’s rise to the top " |
| Scott Gunter - "His professional
credits include Paul Kennerley (Many Emmylou Harris and
Judds hits), Will Jennings - "Please Remember Me" (Tim
McGraw) & "My Heart Will Go On" (Celine Dion), Mike Reid -
"I Can't Make Me Love You" (Bonnie Raitt), Craig Wiseman -
"Live Like You Were Dying" (Tim McGraw), Annie Roboff -
"This Kiss" (Faith Hill), Anthony Smith "Cowboys Like Us"
(George Strait), Steve Robson - "What Hurts The Most"
(Rascal Flatts), Wayne Hector - "Feels Like Today" (Rascal
Flatts), Darrell Brown "You'll Think Of Me" (Keith Urban),
Tony Mullins - "Me and My Gang" (Rascal Flatts) & Byron Hill
"Nothing On But The Radio" (Gary Allan)" |
| Andrea Stolpe
- After relocating to Nashville, TN, Andrea began as a
staff writer for EMI Music Publishing. Her experience
there led to extensive work singing demos for such artists
as Faith Hill and Joe Dee Messina. Andrea has
collaborated with great artists such as Mike Reid, Don
Schlitz, Stephen Robson and penned songs for pop and country
artists including Faith Hill, Steve Azar, Josh Gracin,
Shonagh Daly and Daniel Lee Martin. Her writing style spans
all genres of contemporary commercial music." |
Had I read the Judges' List first, I would have
saved my $30.
Oh, Nashville; every "Songwriter's Dream".
But here's something: for every Country artist, their CD should have
at least 10 songs. Country "artists" rarely write their own
songs. It must get in the way of the image. So they get
in "Professional Songwriters", or "the Pros". Anyways 1 song
in 10 from "The Pros" might get radio air-play. Do the math
and that tells you that Nashville Songwriters have a track record of
making 90% of throw-away songs. That's what happens when you
write songs everyday - you get everyday, clichéd, boring songs.
And the ones that do make it to the radio are still pretty bad.
So that was my Songwriting Contest experience
and if it taught me anything it was to not change a thing.
Scared
It's a feeling that I get, sometimes when I'm
alone
Walking from there late at night, on my way home.
I hear noises from the left and I hear noises from the right,
I hear the noises getting louder but they're still out of sight, and
I get...
Scared - the hair on my neck stands up
Scared - my arms and legs get goosebumps
Scared - and I think I've had enough of being...
Scared
And it's hard to concentrate when I get scared.
It's a feeling that I get, when things aren't
right.
A little less than "panicked" but still past "uptight".
And I'm still looking to the left and I'm still looking to the
right,
I hear noises getting louder but they're still out of sight, and I
get...
Scared - the hair on my neck stands up
Scared - my arms and legs get goosebumps
Scared - and I think I've had enough of being...
Scared
And it's hard to concentrate when I get scared.
It's a feeling that I get, it's unpleasant just
the same;
It's just like being startled only they gave it a different name.
I hear noises from the left and I hear noises from the right,
Still looking everywhere and I'm getting quite a fright, I'm
getting...
Scared - the hair on my neck stands up
Scared - my arms and legs get goosebumps
Scared - and I think I've had enough of being...
Scared
And it's hard to concentrate when I get scared.
Back
|
