Showing posts with label song. Show all posts
Showing posts with label song. Show all posts

Friday, May 20, 2016

Sing Me A Love Song On This Valentines Day

What makes a great love song? The truth is, a songwriter didnt compose a great love song, a singer didnt sing a great love song, but the ones who listen to it make it great, especially when two twine together as one - a romance. We, therefore, are the ones who pick it one in "Top 10 love songs" or "Best love songs ever."

Even my ex-boyfriend and I used to have that as our song - "Lover, I dont have to love" by Bright Eyes. It seemed foolish because its song title, lyrics, and even melody are bittersweet and melancholy. We didnt understand why we were listening to this song over and over, maybe just because we both found it a remarkable rhythm at that time. However, love dont live here anymore. Now I have to forget the sad tune, find myself a new squeeze who sings me a new "our song."

Ah, Valentines Day! Every February 14, and during the weeks leading to this day, couples send beautiful flowers, meaningful cards, and sweet chocolates to their darlings and explore their romantic sides. And a perfect dreamy night with serene melodies is the norm. So, sing me a love song and be my Valentine! When your sweetheart comes to say this to you, what song will you choose? Theres no better time than Valentines Day to turn our musical choices passionate.

Recently, Ive heard some wonderful love tracks. So, narrowing down my list to just 10 "best of" tunes took a lot of thought. If you dont find your favorites here, send me an email at kittykitcoldplay@yahoo.com. Now, cool off and sit awhile with me, and read some exciting stuffs about my picks of 10 romantic songs for Valentines Day:

1) You And Me (Lifehouse)
It makes my heart melt. There is a sense of peacefulness every time I hear this song. Such a melodious and gifted voice! All in all this is a true gem.

2) The Other Side of the World (KT Tunstall)
This nice radiopop is well crafted and remarkable. What I mean is that I keep remembering this song because I like the way she sings and phrases. A sparkling new singer-songwriter.

3) The Scientist (Coldplay)
The song is beautifully crafted and the unprocessed passion in Martins voice is almost heartbreaking. The best love song yet! An incredibly moving song!

4) Youre Beautiful (James Blunt)
Just beautiful tune! This piece means so much to me and although Ive heard it many times I still enjoy listening even now. A unique voice that really stands out.

5) Smooth (Santana featuring Rob Thomas)
This has a nice Santana feel. This smooth song rocks. This awesome Latin song is just sensual and also great to dance with.

6) Wherever You Will Go (The Calling)
If I could make you mine, Ill go wherever you will go. Thumbs up for the melody.

7) If I Thought Youd Ever Change Your Mind (Agnetha Faltskog)
"And in the winter snow, my songs would keep you from the cold." The lyrics are soooooooo nice and so is the voice of ABBA. Its totally enjoyable to hear her crystal clear pure sound once again.

8) Crazy In Love (Eminem)
Love the title and love the song! And oh, the lyrics! Slim Shady finally created a non-classic-rap. It sounds like a poem "You are the meaning of my existence, "Youre essential to me, Youre the air I breathe, I believe if you ever leave me, Id probably have no reason to be."

9) The Look Of Love (Diana Krall)
The look of love sees the invisible in the visible and the sound of love is smooth. A gorgeous love song. A cuddle by the fireside with the one you love.

10) When You Tell Me That You Love Me (Westlife featuring Diana Ross)
Westlife is back to raise you up with a new cover of a famous song. Moreover, this song is a nice comeback to the pop ballads that made them well known. Just tell your honey that you adore her or him with this cute tune.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

8 Tips For Writing Great Song Lyrics

Anyone can write good song lyrics. Sometimes I find myself whistling or humming catchy words that stick in my mind. Other times, I may jot down a few lines of poetry which could easily be turned into lyrics. Experts from the fields of music, songwriting and even psychology all agree this spontaneous childlike space is where most creative ideas are born. Sometimes our best work just happens when we dont have any expectations.

Take the song "Puff The Magic Dragon." It started out as a poem written by Leonard Lipton. While at Cornell, Lipton was a friend with a housemate of Peter Yarrow. In 1959 he wrote a poem about Jackie Paper who played with his imaginary dragon named Puff at a place near the sea called Honalee. Although Lipton forgot about the poem, Yarrow found it and put it to music. Yarrow began playing the song with his friends Paul Stookey and Mary Travers and the rest is history.

Even though spontaneity is a good starting point for lyric, most professionals follow a few basic rules.

1 Make The Storyline Consistent: "In Puff The Magic Dragon", Jackie Paper grows up, loses interest in his imaginary friend who "sadly slipped into his cave." If Lipton had ended his poem by talking about why he liked golf over tennis for example, the story would have fallen apart and most likely not caught the eye of Peter Yarrow.

2 Have A Catchy Title: Select a title that not only sets the scene for your storyline, but has a catchy sound to it. A few good titles that come to mind are: Feelings, White Christmas, A Dollar In My Jeans, Lady, Lady Lay, El Paso, I Love How You Love Me, Until Its Time For You To Go, Fever, Suspicious Minds, My
Way . . . the list goes on.

3 Use A Well-Defined Rhyming Pattern: Songwriters often speak of lyrics in terms of AB AB, AA BB or some other form. What they mean by this is that the last word in certain lines rhythm. Take a look at the lyrics to "Puff The Magic Dragon." In the first line, Lipton matched "sea" with "Honah-Lee" on the A line and "Puff" and "stuff" on the B line. This pattern is pleasing to the ear. [For a more elaborate discussion of lyric forms, take at any good book on songwriting.]

4 Use Inner Rhythms As Long As They Dont Break Up The Story Line: An inner rhythm is simply rhyming words in the middle as well as the last word of the line. Although this makes the line more interesting and pleasing to the ear, a mistake beginning songwriters often make is to force an inner rhythm whose meaning

doesnt exactly fit the story line.

5 Repeat Certain Words To Hook Your Listener: The concept of a "hook" is used in songs, stories, books, plays and movie plots. It is a word or two or theme idea that grabs the listener or viewers attention and is repeated again and again throughout the work. In songs, the hooks is often times also found in the title. Take a look at the song "Feelings" by Albert Morris. How many times does the word "feelings" appear in the title and lyrics?

6 Learn From The Masters: Browse through songbooks at your local music store or check some out of the public library. You can bet great songwriters like Lennon and McCartney, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan either incorporate these rules into their songs or decide to consciously break them because they have mastered basic lyric writing principles.

7 Corroborate With People At Your Same Or Better Skill Level: Theres a reason why many of the worlds most memorable songs were written by songwriting teams. The advent of the worldwide web has made it easy to meet and share your ideas and projects with individuals and also join groups like the Nashville Songwriters Association of America.

8 Be Original, Have Fun And Keep On Writing!!!