Last week-end, I was chatting with my friend Mark from Wilberforce and we discussed the subject of using a thesaurus when writing lyrics. He felt that perhaps it was cheating and he wasn’t comfortable with the idea. So is using a rhyming dictionary or a thesaurus when writing lyrics cheating?
I use both a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus when writing, or rewriting, lines for my songs. Do I feel like I am cheating?
No.
Writing a song is all about the words YOU choose and about how YOU use them. The fact you might get the idea to use a word because you saw it in a list of rhyming words will not make the line good, even if it rhymes. It’s all about the words fitting in with the context of the lyrics and being able to use the words well so the lyrics flow, make sense and sing well.
Yes, perhaps there is some value in having a huge amount of vocabulary in your head but I don’t think the value of a lyricist comes from his or her ability to be a walking human rhyming dictionary or thesaurus; to me, the value of a lyricist comes from the ideas they convey and the style they use in their writing.
Who are your favourite lyricists? Do you admire them because they are walking dictionaries or because they express in words what you feel in your heart?
So do not hesitate to get those rhyming dictionaries and thesaurus out!
There are quite a few around on the market. For hard copies, I recommend the Concise Oxford Thesaurus
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2 responses so far ↓
1 bonde // Oct 22, 2008 at 3:04 pm
i dont think its cheating to use any form of aid when writing.
you could argue that it is cheating then to use a chord book to learn new chords or scales.
i personally have never used any form of aid - like you said lyrics are about explaining your own feelings/emtions and i find i can do that with the words i already know and use.
perhaps its the way you use your words rather then the actual words you use.
2 Tom // Oct 30, 2008 at 10:45 am
It’s definitely not cheating.
Personally, I use rhyming dictionaries every now and then, and have had fun using word randomising software as well.
I don’t agree that lyric writing is always about your own feelings an emotions though, at least not directly. Lyrics can often be about characters or narrative, or nothing at all (David Bowie has some fantastic nonsense lyrics, and Nirvana had a few maningless songs too).
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