Page 5 - Write Away November Issue

The Lyrics Doctor

done what you might call a lighter version of comments on
co-writing, in which a friend and I come up board).
with a few words or a line and challenge each However you
other to include it in a song. In one instance a do it, I
couple of years ago, shortly after one of strongly
Donald Trump’s underlings had coined the recommend
phrase “Alternative Facts,” I suggested we try giving
that. A couple of weeks later I came up with a co-writing a
lament about failed love that had nothing to do try.
with the U.S. president. My co-writer then
suggested we try writing something that begins
with the words “She drinks.” It didn’t take me
long to come up with the opening line, “She Happy SongwR iting
x
drinks to remember / He drinks to forget,”
from which I
was able to put The Lyrics Doctor
together a song
of betrayal and The Lyrics Doctor is the songwriter, singer, and
heartbreak--a guitarist for:
deeply The Gincident
personal song and
that was Her Dog Henry.
entirely my
own, but which If you have any lyrics-related questions for the
had been doctor, please send them to
sparked by the jane@writeawaymagazine.co.uk
challenge from
my friend (whose own composition could
hardly have been more different).

Even if you write personal songs, it’s never
a bad idea to have input from others, either
through the entire process or just to spawn ide-
as. If you don’t know other musicians, try going
to a local open mic or joining a songwriting

group online. It’s easy to find willing
collaborators. And you can always find
someone to simply listen and give suggestions
(I often play my songs for band members and
others and ask them to critique them, and
they almost always get better after I take their

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