Right well. Why would I waste time doing this? Hmm...good question. 'Cos I'm not wasting time, . I'm just helping you budding songwriters explore the marvelous world of lyric writing with a little encouragement from me...this should cut down your threads saying "how do I write lyrics?".

So...the first question.

Why write?

1. It will help you release all excess emotion in a controlled manner. It will help you cope with difficult situations.
2. You have written a riff...simple; you need lyrics. So now...I'm going to tell you one very important thing.

1st Rule: Don't write for the sake of writing. Make it personal, make it meaningful.

Now, if i was a normal self-disciplined person like all you fine people are, then I would probably tell you what to write, or simply how to write it. But, this is me. So I'll get back to that. I just want to make an observation; there are lots of people who suffer 'writers blocks'. Now this is when the person isn't inspired, and has followed my first rule. So how do you break out of this? Well, you could **** up your personal life. That's sure to give ya something to write about, . But no, there are easier ways...though I will include that one.

Inspiration?


Inspiration?

1. You are having troubles in your personal life. This is one time when you can truly write what you feel and have it sounding pretty good.
2. Walk around, perceive the beauty of the world, the magnificence of people, the self-absorbed cruelty of people, the fake beauty that you?re likely to see all around you?look at the ?fake plastic trees? and always remember them.
3. Read. It doesn't matter what, just read. A newspaper - make a political song? Maybe a book that makes you think, maybe a thriller, **** who cares? At least then you'll get an idea of how to write WHILST also getting a plot/story for your lyrics. Want some good authors?...then ask me...hell I have a thread about them somewhere. A lot of "English is caught not taught"...

Now...the hard part. "I know what I want to say...but I can't say it." Sound familiar?...not to worry.

I'll take bits of various songs to demonstrate thoughtful/meaningful lyrics.

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What Do You Want Me to Say? - The Dismemberment Plan

Verse:
I lost my membership card to the
human race so don't forget the face
because I know that I do belong here

Verse:
Go down the checklist let's see:
feelings are good dishonesty is bad
and keeping it inside is worse still

Chorus:
What do you want me to say?
What do you want me to do
to let you know that I still love you?
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So just a simple extract there, but if you study it, you'll see wit and intelligence.

In Depth: Verse 1
First line shows how some people don't get accepted and are ostracised (they become outcasts).
Second & third line shows that he wants to belong and to be accepted, even if the people aren't willing to do this for him.

In Depth: Verse 2
First line, looking for the qualities that he needs to fit in.
Second & third line elaborate on what he's found. Basically, it could be about writing a song...so yea, that'll go there in tips.

In Depth: Chorus
The person in the song is anguished at not being accepted and what he has to do to get their love. It's simple, yet so unbelievably honest.
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I believe that these lyrics could qualify as Emo...so now I'll slot in a description on how to write emo lyrics. Please note, below is not my own work but is courtesy of MarkMac...say thanks to him when you get the chance.
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So you want to write EMO... okay, I'll share what I've come up with so far.

1. Load up on literature: You can't write EMO if you don't have a good grasp on writing in general. Regardless of how complicated your words get, you need to have a feel for all the different literary instruments like metaphor, allegory, analogy and even onomatopeia. If you don't have this, stick to writing simple, raw emotive lyrics like the stuff you hear from Blink182. Mind you, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I think that "In Too Deep" by Sum41 is actually a well-constructed lyrical song for its genre.

2. Load up on your angst of choice: EMO's big draw, particularly to college and older listeners is that it bleeds. It's gut wrenching in an intelligent, melodic way and it deals with issues in a very open and honest manner. Also remember that EMO likes dealing with more mature issues. For example, you won't really find any EMO songs about rebelling against authority, while most teen punk is littered with such sentiments. "Anna Begins" by the Counting Crows depicts a guy waking up at night beside his girlfriend and wondering what they're really about. Coldplay's "Yellow" touches on how a girl has everything her way and how the guy can't seem to turn her his way.

Important to remember: you're also loading up on angst because you're going to need to sing with angst. EMO singers have notoriously depressing tones. Crows, Staind, Coldplay, Lifehouse, etc the voice produces much of the feel.

3. Now you're talking about saying everything you feel in a few, simple catchy phrases. This is accomplished by using those literary instruments I was talking about. Look at this line from Counting Crows' "Round Here" -

"Round here, we talk like lions, but we sacrifice like lambs.
Round here, it's slipping through my hands."

The sentiment of disillusionment just drips in these two lines. To achieve the same effect by using literal lyrics would take much longer, and won't have the same effect. Lyrics shouldn't be literally visual. You're not narrating a story, you should think more along the lines of imparting an emotion.

The problem with a lot of beginning writers is that they lock on too much to trying to depict an event. i.e. "I've known you for a while, I know everything about you, I do everything for you, you're amazing but you never notice me" is how a lot of starting lyricists would treat the subject of unrequited love. But I'm not talking about being overly flowery either. Coldplay's "Yellow" goes:

I swam across,
I jumped across for you,
Oh what a thing to do.
Cos you were all "Yellow,"

I drew a line,
I drew a line for you,
Oh what a thing to do,
And it was all "Yellow."

Your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful,
And you know
for you I'd bleed myself dry

You might think these lyrics are terribly simple but the truth of the matter is that, coupled with Chris Martin's vocal style, it's very well-constructed. The repeating lines show to the urgency of his actions, the line "Oh what a thing to do" highlights the uselessness of what he's done. Then of course comes the required "thesis statement" which is, "For you I'd bleed myself dry". As you said, you can accomplish a lot with a few simple words and this song shows it.

Important: Note also the use of onomatopeia in these songs. Actually, I don't think I mean onomatopeaia in the strict sense of the word, I'm just saying you should use the correct type of sound at each portion of a song. Though it's not a song that's EMO, a song I use to illustrate this to people is Sum41's "In Too Deep". The line, "Maybe we're just trying too hard, when really it's closer than it is too far." The word "Maybe" produces the exact sound you need. Try singing it with another two syllable word, like "Perhaps" and it doesn't work because its not onomatopeically sound. You can't just replace "closer" either with say, "nearer" because even though they have the same syllables, the sound of the words are not the same. Be conscious of how your individual words sounds at the key portions of your song.

We could deconstruct any number of EMO songs in this way and I suggest you do because it'll give you an idea of what you need to do to build one.
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Now...me (benjmc) again...

Issues:

1. Over using rhyme. I do believe everyone will admit that people on UG tend to fall into this trap. Basically, if you have nothing to say, then using rhyme will probe you to say something, anything, to fill up the page. But this goes back to rule 1...if you've nothing to say, for **** sake don't make a song saying it. Unless that is your actually topic, and you do it in a creative and thoughtful way, So...basically, too much rhyme is alot worse than no rhyme. If you express all your ideas in a logical way, then no one should notice about rhyme anyway. And I know some of you may have got critiques saying "you need a certain rhyme scheme, don't wander" but that's just not right. Speak the truth, not some over rhyming piece of garb. Rhyme is often misused far too much. People don't understand how to rhyme without forcing a song. I'm going to have to go back to that sometime...so listen to me, listen to Pyro, listen to MarkMac, listen to Buzz...we all agree that you shouldn't rhyme too much. But...if you get to an advanced stage in your songwriting you will realise if your non-rhyming song works..and you'll realise how to use rhyme to it's full potential.