While the music industry is full of songs about love and broken hearts and of those sorts, there are also songs that sing about the little things. Like a favorite car, house, guitar, and all other sort of things that you would not have thought to become sensible as part of a lyrics of a song.
One song that I really found amusing when I heard it was Jennifer Lopez’ song Love Don’t Cost A Thing when the chorus included “…Think I wanna drive your Benz, I don’t. If I wanna floss I got my own…”
Who would a have thought that a song so sensible and power driven included in its lyrics something as far-fetched as a floss? The singer meant it as a metaphor to say that she doesn’t need her lover’s money because she can have the things she need, like a car or, well, a dental floss.
This type of wittiness in song lyrics should also be injected more often, not just for humor but more for wit. Some other song lyrics with this wittiness are:
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s this poisonous cobra, doing in my underwear drawer…”
“She’s the reason for the teardrops on my guitar…”
These songs may have lyrics that some would call weird, others funny, and others who can’t accept things when they deviate from the norm, call them stupid. Whichever the case, we have to admit that it is a good way to exercise creativity.
This is actually a challenge for music writers. The wittiness and the humor should just be right for it to be considered a meaningful song because if you go overboard, you could end up being ridiculed.
Key to this challenge, or to any other type of lyric writing endeavor, is research. Yes, inspiration plays a vital role but researching is also just as important.
These are not the types of song I write for our church choir, since these are not the types of songs we sing. However, once in a while, I write these kinds of songs for myself, to exercise my creativity and to remind me that there is more to music than what I do for our church choir.
I am not saying I am not happy with what I play on my guitar for our church. In fact, I am very happy. They are firstly the reason why I continue to love music to this day. All I am saying is that music is a wonderful, vast thing and there are a lot of aspects about it that I still need to explore in order to call myself a true music enthusiast.
You can take on this challenge yourself and see if you can create a masterpiece out of say, a toothbrush, I don’t know. Just try the challenge and see if you could pull it off or you could not do it. The main thing I wish to share is that there is musical creativity in everything, even in the littlest of things.
Here’s a from Youtube video for more tips on how to write a good song. Enjoy!
Video Credit: Tyler Ward Music
