The reason I did not respond to this earlier was that, like Brian, I simply wrote this off as one person's attempt at baiting the rest of us because he was bored. I felt no compunction to honor his ludicrous statement with a response. His comment appeared to be a control issue on his part. "I am right and everyone else is wrong." Sure didn't put me in the mood to feel I needed to defend myself or my lyrics. LOL

Nope...I don't write time signatures or bars or any musical stuff...but do my "non-lyrical words" ever get put to music? Hmmmm...I guess you'd have to ask any of the 41 different composers I have worked with over the past years...and check out the hundreds of "songs" they have produced. LOL Amazingly, some of them actually required a word or two of massaging LOL...but several composers have said my words (at times) seem to sing themselves. Go figure. Perhaps Mal is right and all the rest of us are wrong. grin

Though I don't compose one note of my own music. I do very often get head tunes for my lyrics which enable me to frame a simple melody...just enough so I know the lyric CAN be sung and how the prosody MIGHT go. But the music that comes to a real composer is so much superior in most cases to the simple tunes I hear in my head, I know where my "gift" truly lies.

I am a published poet. I also know the difference between my "poetry" and my song lyrics. It certainly helped me understand the difference by studying "song forms"...which has enabled me to write in structures that facilitate various styles of music...such as blues, country, etc, where there are specific formats that lend themselves to those genres of music. I might suggest that Malenac educate himself a bit. Try reading some of the excellent books on writing lyrics like Sheila Davis' stuff. He might open his mind a bit through some exposure and understanding.

I can't feel bad that one individual is presumptious enough to state such a naive POV...every POV is welcome here. We sure do not have to all agree.

Not responding to this post is probably more a matter of not feeling as though the poster's comments were worthy of a response. Most of us who do post here have a limited amount of discretionary time. I generally have to pick and choose where I will spend that limited time...on something productive that might help someone...or on a negative issue such as this? Gee..where is the choice in that? Am I apathetic? I am too busy helping folks to be apathetic. Does this kind of post warrant my time...probably not...because others like Mike Dunbar, Brian, Graham, Harriet, Kaley and Emily have already said most of what I am going to say anyway...so am merely adding my thoughts to the pile.

Thanks Emily, for including Dawg and me on your list of good writers. I am honored to be there along with Alan and in the same company as Bob Dylan. There are a lot of outstanding writers here who need not feel apologetic in the least for what we do. After hearing several A&R reps and publishers tell musicians they might benefit from working with a strong lyricist...I no longer feel like a second class citizen. At least not here in Nashville where lyrics still matter.

Hugs to all...
Bobbie