If you’re looking for an example of someone who has made a living in the music business, you’re looking at the wrong guy. I turned my back on the music business as a profession long ago and instead got into education and technology. My desire to do stuff on computers is pretty obvious (hence this website.) I’m the guy who tells you that you better HAVE a backup plan, because your odds of becoming a rock star are about the same as you becoming the quarterback for the New York Jets. A career in the music business is definitely something you can do… as long as you don’t expect to be a recording and touring artist. You’ll want to be an artist, your music will be good, it won’t matter, and eventually you’ll be giving lessons or working in music retail or changing careers. See? That’s why I’m the wrong guy to talk to about becoming a rock star.
But if you want to write, record, produce, release, and perform your own music, maybe build up a small audience, maybe license a few songs, and do it for fun as a hobby, well… that I’ve done. I’ve released 4 albums and I’m working on a 5th and 6th. And I’m 55 years old (as of July 13, 2020, which as I write this is tomorrow.) I’m 55 and I’m working on two new albums. I’m way too old to be writing an releasing music, according to the music business. Fortunately the music business has nothing to do with my music.
However, there is one thing that can stop me in my tracks – writing lyrics. Oh how I despise it! Show me almost any song and I’ll pick out at least two predictable boring stupid lazy rhymes, and that very much includes my own lyrics. You want to write a love song? It’s been done millions of times. Ah, but your song is SPECIAL! You really MEAN it! So did the million other songwriters. Crack open the rhymezone website, you hack, and pull up some trite rhymes that everyone is sick of!
That’s what my inner critic says when I’m trying to compose lyrics. It’s a lot easier to write blog posts, where you just type what you would normally say if you were having a conversation with someone. When you have to constantly rhyme the last words of every other line, it can really get in the way of trying to tell a story or make a point. Yes, it’s possible to write a lyric where nothing rhymes. I wrote the song Twenty Dollars about suicidal thoughts, and none of it rhymes. Might be one of my better lyrics.
Still, people expect you to rhyme your lines. And it is surprising how much every rhyme I can think of has been done to death. Maybe this is why pop music is so terrible – they use all the old rhymes, but the rhymes are new to the kids, who don’t know about Nat King Cole. If I hear “girl” and “world” rhymed one more goddamn time…
It’s possible that no one cares if we use trite rhymes. That people have just gotten used to it. I mean, hell, I’m using the same chord progressions over and over and over, aren’t I? Am I being too self critical? Do you feel this way when you write lyrics? If you’ve never tried to write a lyric, you should try it at least once. It’s painful.
There’s always the idea of working with someone else who enjoys writing lyrics. The problem is that my inner critic feels the same way about other people’s lyrics. Mostly I think they’re crap.
Still, when writing lyrics, it’s probably a good idea to just write the damn thing, crappy rhymes and all, and get it to rough draft form. Then you can try to improve on it. Until then, it’s painful!
