Hi Folks,
it's quiet in Australia tonight so I thought I'd stick my head in a hornets' nest!
In my humble opinion it's impossible to write a lyric for a song without a time signature and bars. As soon as the melody is added, as well as the positioning of words in bars, changes - some major - must be made to the lyric.
Until the sound of the words can be heard, the lyric cannot be assessed. Many great songs - "Rhiannon" (Fleetwood Mac) and "I will always love you" (Dolly Parton) come to mind. They are nothing as lyrics on paper, but add the melody and Kapow! HIT.
How Bernie Taupin and Elton John work I don't know - the story is that Bernie sends Elton a notebook of lyrics and from this Elton constructs songs - hard to believe.
I understand the shrewd addition of Lyric Forums to JPF because it allows many people who are not writing songs to take part in the community - plus some with talent will link up with a musician through the site and begin to be songwriters.
But please don't call most of these forums "lyric" they are not -they are pure poetry and should be appreciated as such.
OUCH - I can already feel the pain of a thousand stings!
Malenac