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ARE YOU WRITING

ENOUGH LYRICS?

watched a Facebook Live recently that was presented by an experienced songwriter from Nashville,
I Marc-Alan Barnette. One of the things Marc said that stood out to me was that Nashville songwriters
typically write a prodigious number of songs each year. In a separate follow up with Marc, he explained that
these days the typical output could be75 to 125 songs per year. That level of productivity is necessary in that
environment to carve out a living as a professional songwriter.

That’s an impressive number! Clearly, not all of us aspire to make a living from songwriting, and we may
not all have the time to write that number of songs or lyrics. However, it’s worth considering the question of
whether you are writing enough lyrics?

Why quantity is important?
We all know that quality matters but quantity matters too. Firstly, you can’t rely on creating masterpieces with
every song you write.

So let’s say that you’re aiming to come up with 12 lyrics for an album that you’re collaborating on with some
musicians. Unless you’re an absolute genius, the chances are that if you submit just 12 lyrics for consideration,
the band may come back and only accept 3 or 4 of them, if you are lucky. It may not even be that the other
lyrics aren’t good but they don’t fit with the genre or vibe that the musicians are looking for. Additionally,
taste is very subjective so a lyric that you love may just not hit the mark with your intended audience.
So creating a bigger quantity of candidate lyrics or songs will give you a much better chance of finding the
right match with the people you wish to promote them to.

There’s a second factor too and that is that practice builds songwriting muscle. In the same way that going to
the gym every day will help you to become physically stronger and fitter, writing lyrics every day will build
your songwritingand lyrical abilities. You’ll find it easier to conjure the right words, construct lyrics that fit
with songwriting conventions, and build your skills of showing rather than telling.

What quantity should you aim for?
I’m not going to say that you have to match those professional Nashville songwriters and write up to 125
lyrics every year. You need to find a quantity that is right for you. However, I would suggest that you set
yourself a target, make it stretching, and monitor how you then do against that target.

As an example, in 2019 I set myself the target of writing 60 new lyrics over the course of the year. But I then
broke that down to a monthly target of 5 new lyrics per month. That number felt right taking into account the
amount of time I had available after work and family commitments were accounted for. Each month I wrote
down my monthly target in an Inkpad app on my phone, and then ticked the task as complete once I had
met my quota.

At the end of 2019 I had written 80 lyrics, so I upgraded my target for 2020. If this Covid-19 lockdown lasts
much longer then a lot of them are going to end up being in some way virus-related!

Incidentally, I read that Prince set himself the target of writing at least one new song every day! It’s no
wonder then that there is reportedly a HUGE vault of recorded but unreleased Prince songs, some of which
will hopefully eventually see the light of day!

08 www.writeawaymag.co.uk