An Inspiring Moment

The other day I had an inspiring morning. It was a day off from work. As far as lyric writing is concerned, I was in a bit of a dry spell. For a couple of weeks it seemed that all I could come up with was a few lines here and there that didn't make much sense or couldn't be connected. They were metaphors that had no meaning, useless lines that were desperate to send a powerful message.

Suddenly in that particular moment, as soon as I woke up, lyrics began flooding my mind. I grabbed the nearest notebook and began writing them all down. And as I got up and started getting ready for my day, I kept coming back to write more in the notebook.

It was comforting to feel that the dry spell was over and that I would be able to move forward, but something more profound happened. There was a personal issue I had been struggling with for years and I had never been able to write a song about it. I even had trouble journaling about it. I wasn't sure what to say. And at times wasn't even sure how I felt about it. The confusion was so overwhelming and the feelings were so mixed that I felt like there was no point in journaling about it or writing about it in any form. I couldn't understand it and felt silly trying to communicate something that was so confusing and nauseating to me. For years, I could not put this struggle into words. I could not communicate in any form through language what I had been dealing with and what I had been thinking about. Suddenly the words were coming to my mind so fast I could barely keep up as I tried to write them all down. And as I looked over what I had written, it wasn't a mess. It wasn't a bunch of useless words that needed to be editted over and over again. It was exactly what I wanted to say, exactly what I had been feeling.

The mind works in strange ways. I had been feeling those things for years. Why could I never express them in words before a few days ago? And when the words did come to me, why did they come so quickly and so suddenly? How is it that I could have put so much time and focus into trying to write a song about this and nothing useful came to me until I had just woken up and hadn't even started thinking about writing anything for the day yet? I do not understand how this happened and I do not know why it happened so suddenly, but I am grateful that it did. As quickly as the lyrics came and as quickly as my private silence was broken, I feel like I am finally, and suddenly, beginning to heal.

Maybe I did or said something and my mind just clicked, putting all of those thoughts and feelings into perspective without my realizing it. The rest of me still felt overwhelmed by the situation and my subconscious was busy preparing me to heal. I had no idea this was coming, but finally being able to put this struggle and pain into words in a way that makes sense and communicates exactly what I think of all of this has lifted such a heavy burden from me. I feel that other songs I haven't even shared with anyone yet have helped me heal or feel better, but this was special. This was something more profound. It didn't just improve my mood or give me a more positive perspective on a difficult situation. It took something that had been so frustrating, painful, and confusing to me and helped me break it down and see it for what it is. And if I had not reached this point I would still have no idea how to overcome this. I still don't know exactly what to do and I don't have all the answers, but now I know how to take a step in the right direction and that's a hell of a lot better than staying where I was.

The lyrics for this particular song are not finished. I don't have any editting to do, but I would like to add a little bit more to what I have. I have no intention of changing a single word I have written for this. It is exactly what I wanted. I don't know why it was trapped inside me for so long, but now it's free and now I feel free. I don't know how this happened, but it is a moment I will treasure for a very long time.

~Eliza

Money Owns Me Lyrics

Passion Level: 8
Motivation Level: 10

This is a song I wrote a few months ago that is becoming more real to me every day. It seems that every day and every moment is spent chasing or planning around money. We can't afford to stay home with our families or spend our time doing the things we want to do because we have to put that time into our jobs. No one forces us to, but we can't afford not to. And we put all that time and effort into a job that barely gives us enough money to survive or sometimes doesn't even give us enough to get by. At the end of the day we're lucky to get a thank you, yet we have no choice but to keep going back and doing the work. Have you ever felt like money is controlling your life instead of you?

Money Owns Me

You can try to stay strong
You can try to work hard
But no matter what you do
You won't get too far
And if you catch some big break
Save that money away
Anything you get for free
Will be taken away

Money owns me I'm its slave
Chasing me down to my grave
Because money makes the world go 'round
Hard work don't give no guarantees
Life ain't cheap and it ain't free
Because money makes the world go 'round
Yes it does

Getting paid by the hour
Takes up all of my time
It's a shame to spend a life
Away for a dime
'Cause at the end of the day
It's never really enough
There are still bills to pay
I just don't have enough

Money owns me I'm its slave
Chasing me down to my grave
Because money makes the world go 'round
Hard work don't give no guarantees
Life ain't cheap and it ain't free
Because money makes the world go 'round
Yes it does

Try not to spend it
But it's so hard to save it
Worship that dollar
Work hard, blue collar

(chorus)

(c) Elizabeth Marion, 2011

~Eliza

The Hardest Part

Passion Level: 10
Motivation Level: 9

If asked what the hardest part of writing lyrics is, my first response would be finishing them. I can come up with ideas that I think have a lot of potential easily, but those ideas tend to come to me during moments in which I cannot devote myself to finishing it just then. When I come back to those lyrics later, I find that it's difficult to finish those lyrics unless I can put myself back into the mindset I was in when I came up with the original idea, which is a challenge in and of itself.

Once I have a tune in my head that I like I don't want to change it, but when I try to create more lyrics to add to the song I have difficulty staying within those boundaries that I have already set. That makes the second hardest part balancing the lyrics within a melody when I am still in the process of completing those lyrics. I don't want to change what I already have, but sometimes I have no choice if the new lyrics I come up with don't fit into that same melody. These songs are like a puzzle sometimes. The difference is that sometimes there are more pieces than you need and sometimes there are not enough. Either way, it is not complete unless you take the time to analyze every little piece and make sure it has a place.

~Eliza

Mr. Sophisticated Lyrics

These are the lyrics to my song Mr. Sophisticated! Enjoy!

Hey Mr. Sophisticated
You're the kinda guy I been anticipatin
'Cause you're smooth
And you're cool
And you can make me melt with a flash of that smile, oh
You make me feel good

And when I dated
Mr. Sophisticated
All the other ladies couldn't stand it
Oh, I showed him off
I hung out with the in crowd
Until he moved on
To give another swooning girl a chance with
Mr. Sophisticated

Hey Mr. Sopisticated
You don't know how long I been waiting
The things you do
Make me want you
And you can make me melt with a flash of that smile, oh
You make me feel good

And when I dated
Mr. Sophisticated
All the other ladies couldn't stand it
Oh, I showed him off
I hung out with the in crowd
Until he moved on
To give another swooning girl a chance with
Mr. Sophisticated

Thanks for reading. Any feedback would be appreciated!

~Eliza

Bad Lyrics From Bad Moments

Do you ever have those moments where you feel so awful you don't think you can describe it in words? And when you try it comes out even worse? I have had so many moments in which I have felt that I immediately had to try to write some lyrices to capture the raw emotions and pain I was feeling. And most of those moments caused me to look back over those lyrics later and lauch at how bad they were. It wasn't just that they were corny. They were so whiny that it really didn't capture what I had been feeling at the time. So how do you create good lyrics from the bad moments?

The best thing to do is give it time because that will give you perspective. If you truly felt those emotions you wanted to capture so strongly you won't forget what it felt like overnight, but you will have have a different perspective on the situation.

Think about the last time you got into an argument with someone over something that didn't really matter. In that moment it seemed so important because you were annoyed or proud. You probably realized the next day just how stupid it was to get so bent out of shape over nothing.

Some of your other bad moments will be like that as well. You might not wake up feeling like you were wrong or that you overreacted to something, especially if you're upset about something far more serious than a silly argument that never should have happened, but time gives you a chance to reevaluate and justify what you were feeling and how you acted. And if you end up being unable to justify those things you have a fresh perspective which can give you a new angle for writing lyrics about what happened. Strong emotions and powerful moments will not be forgotten so quickly as everything else. A few more moments won't erase those memories. It will give you a second chance to write about.

~Eliza

Exploring Life's Questions

Passion Level: 8
Motivation Level: 9

All forms of writing can be used to explore life's questions, but lyric writing is unique in this respect. The most challenging questions, moments, emotions, and speculation is addressed in such a short amount of words. And addressed in a manner that makes sense for a song.

Lyrics take us through a persons aggravations over a lost love, the speculation of why the present is different than they had imagined in the past, and the absurdity of the situations they have been faced with. These are all topics people can and have written books about, but a lyricist must make these powerful emotions and moments fit into a song. And accomplishing that is a quite a feat, let alone accomplishing it well.

Lyricists don't have as much wiggle room to explore life's questions as novelists or essay writers. Therein lies the challenge. Life provides us with many choices to make and this causes us to ask ourselves complicated questions. What is love? When do I hold on or let go? Do I have a purpose? How do I face difficult things when I feel like I just don't have the strength? How do I deal with my financial hardships? Why am I in this situation? How do I find happiness through my misery? How do I support a friend going through something difficult that I can't relate to? How do I address all these questions in a song? It's hard enough to try to figure this stuff out without adding writing to the mix!

From my perspective, journaling seems to be the best tool to help with this challenge. Journaling helps you explore these questions that life throws at you. By getting those thoughts out about the different situations you're dealing with you have something to reference when you want to address those issues in a song. You might not have a problem remembering the emotions you were feeling in those moments, but journaling will help you keep track of the thoughts you were having at the time and what you thought the answers were then. Perspectives can change and sometimes they change without us realizing it. Sometimes we change who we are, and even what we believe in, not because we have made a decision to do so, but because the world around us is forcing our perspectives to change. Journaling will prevent those changes from going unnoticed, which can offer you lyrical inspiration.

Life is a challenge and it just wouldn't be right if lyrics weren't a challenge as well. Not all of life's questions can be answered or have an answer that makes sense to us, but lyrics help us explore and at least try to understand. And sometimes the beauty is in trying.

~Eliza

What's in Your Planner?

So do you really want to move forward and start pursuing your dreams? If you do it's not just about what's in your heart or your songbooks. It's also about what's in your planner?

If you really want to turn something into a career, taht means you've got to work harder than you are now and that most of your current free time is now work time. And all of that means that your planner should be full of activities that are going to help you move forward.

On days that you are working at your job, your list of career related activities will be short. For example, let's say your schedule for the day allows you three hours for you to do what you want with. Devote an hour to revisions. Devote another hour searching online for opportunities to perform or network. Devote another hour to practicing what you've got. Even if you don't have the whole day, use the time that is yours wisely. Make the most of it.

On days that you have to yourself you can obviously accomplish much more. Don't just list activities that you want to do. Create an hour by hour to do list and stick to it. Life can get in the way and vague lists will get you nowhere, but if you schedule your time throughout the day to be used for certain things it will be easier for you to accomplish those things within your time frame.

Get out your planner or whatever you like to use and take a look at it. If it's not as full as it should be, fill it.

~Eliza