Page 9 - Write Away Magazine April
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Simon Wrightimon Wright
Making The BesT Of The COrOnavirus Crisis as a LyriC WriTer
Bring out your dead and 2009! They’re called ‘Bamboozled’ and ‘Suicide
For the world to see Sneezers’ and can be found on the ‘My Comedy
His shadow’s so tall Sketches’ page on my www.LyricSlinger.co.uk web-
Looming over me site.
Tall dark stranger Turbo-boosting your creative output and successes
I offered my heart
To a tall dark stranger. Have you ever bemoaned the lack of time you have
available to progress your songwriting ambitions?
Tall dark stranger Perhaps there is some big goal that you’re sure you
I offered myself could have achieved if so much of your day wasn’t
To that tall dark stranger taken up with work, commuting, and the temptation
to watch sport on TV?
Written by Simon Wright Well, your commute may now involve rolling out
(February 2020) of bed to that desk you’ve hastily assembled in what
used to be your youngest kid’s bedroom; the poor
Using lyrics and music as escapism kid now being forced to share with an annoyed older
sibling. And there’s no live sport on TV. You may
Maybe you don’t want to have to think too much never have more time on your hands, and will regret
about the extraordinary circumstances in which it if you don’t channel some of it into pursuing your
we find ourselves? That’s fine. Music is a fantastic songwriting dreams.
form of escapism, and as a lyric writer you have the
opportunity to step out of Planet Covid-19 into an For lyric-only writers, it might even provide the
altogether better world featuring beach parties, exotic opportunity to finally attempt to learn a musical
travel, fast cars, or whatever floats your boat. instrument. There are loads of great online tutorials
so you don’t need to be in the same room as your
I actually think now would be a perfect time for a musical tutor.
heavy rock revival! We could do with more songs
with big vocals, big guitar solos, and a sing-a-long Whatever you choose to do, I wish the very best for
chorus. Bubble-gum pop could equally serve the you and your loved ones at this difficult time.
same purpose! Hopefully we all come out of it feeling proud both of
what we have done to help our fellow humans, and
Embrace humour with how we have channelled our creative energies.
They say that humour is the best form of medicine, About Simon Wright
so you could consider exploring comedy in your
lyric writing? I think humorous songs are sometimes Simon is an Irish lyric writer who lives in Scotland.
looked down on a bit in terms of artistic merit but, He collaborates with musicians across the world
when done well, they can be great. Monty Python’s to turn his lyrics into songs. Check out his website
‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’ is a great www.LyricSlinger.co.uk and follow @TheLyricSlinger
example of a brilliant comedic song. on Twitter.
You also don’t need to limit yourself to lyric writing Related links:
when exploring humour. Maybe your funny idea will ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’ song,
come out as a poem, short story, or comedy sketch? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUhlRoBL8M
The emergence of Coronavirus reminded me that ‘My Comedy Sketches’ page, http://lyricslinger.co.uk/
I had previously written two comedy sketches that my-comedy-sketches/
were about pandemic scares, dating back to 2012
www.writeawaymagazine.co.uk 09
