Lyrics (ChatGPT, please save me!)

I’m not one for creating lyrics to my songs.  I love creating music, but writing lyrics is not even close to being a part of the job I embrace.

When I'm crafting a new song, I tend to do a lot of freeform vocals and sounds.  My "lyrical style" is more in line with Damo Suzuki (Can) and John Tardy (Obituary)... two vocalists who choose to use their vocals as an instrument with the music rather than a means of conveying a message.

Stockhausen & The Amplified Riot songs have lyrics, as you can hear, but they are often written just days (or even hours) before I record them.  Up until that point, the songs have a general topic or lyrical theme and I continually play around with the words to fit the melodies… many times just enunciating sounds and THEN finding proper words.

Whenever I get a chance, I will spend time exploring the shelves at KaboomBooks in Houston to find interesting and old books to help me find inspiration on topics.  When on the road, I'll look for independent books stores like Deep Vellum and browse the poetry sections – looking for ideas and styles of writing that might work.  

So, when ChatGPT became available (and Bard soon after) I embraced the system as a creative writing tool... and I loved it!!  I quickly figured out that a clearly written, even highly detailed, prompt is the best way to get the most out of the system.

Thus, "write me a honky tonk song about being lonely in a bar" resulted in mediocre results.  While "write me a honky tonk song in the key of D with a maximum of four chords.  The lyrics should be about being alone in a dusty bar outside of a small Texas town.  The lyrics should reflect the writer being sad without his lovely wife and hopes to be home in her arms in a month.  This song should be about 3 minutes long."

Longer, detailed prompts gave me some highly entertaining and seriously legit results.  But... I looked at the results as a guide... as a suggestion... as a way to kickstart the writing process because I know I need help getting off the proverbial first base when it comes to writing lyrics.

Nonetheless, I do have a long list of topics that I like to research and write about via lyrics.  Some of these are included in songs such as Animal Night Train (on the untimely death of Charlie Ondras), Tilde Mae (unrequited love), Intubation Blues (a dying person’s psalm of regret), Adolescent Lighting (written from the perspective of Samantha Geimer), and Grinding Teeth (about… well… someone who grinds their teeth in bed a lot).

I know how important lyrics are for songs – people remember them verbatim, debate and dissect them to no end, use them in love letters, break up texts, and such.  Knowing this... I think this is what messes me up with getting lyrics down.