Writing Song Lyrics

5:38 PM PST, November 5, 2008

In my last post I discussed how John Lennon's "Mother" played a big part in my poetic awakening. I didn't start out by writing poems, though. I first tried writing song lyrics.

My first songwriting partner was a member of my church and Boy Scout troop, Larry Keene. Larry, who is now a Lutheran pastor in Texas, was a very talented trombonist. He also played guitar and sang. I tried writing lyrics for songs, but they were largely unworkable. He did set the poem I mentioned in my last post, "Automobile," to music. The result was quite good. I don't think Larry wrote it down, but I still remember how it goes. He used a couple of my other lyrics, "Sorry Simple Day" and a religious one, "Spirit of God." It was a thrill to hear my words come to life in Larry's voice. He played all three at my Eagle Scout court of honor. It was a highpoint of my life.

I later teamed up with singer/songwriter Tommy Fox, who has released two CDs featuring fifteen of our tunes and several he wrote with another lyricist. Tommy is an incredible guitarist, talented keyboard player, and a great singer. I will never forget hearing one of our songs for the first time. He handed me the headphones and hit the play button. It was the kind of amped up, driving rock tune I had always hoped to have a hand in, but even my wildest fantasy was blown away by the reality of what Tommy had done. Again a musician had taken my dream and handed back to me, bigger and more alive than I had ever imagined. Thanks for that, Tommy.

I have contributed lyrics to more than 30 finished songs. I love them all, but there are only three I consider fully realized: Larry's "Automobile" and Tommy's "The Power to Choose" and "Let the Devil Decide." The music on the others is great, but the lyrics just aren't good enough. A great song is a gem, perfect in structure with an inner light that never dims.

I have written 21 books, coauthored 7 more, published more than 70 poems, and had several one-act plays professionally produced. As an advertising copywriter, I have written ads, websites, direct mail pieces, voice-over scripts, and more. I used to write a column for a music magazine and have contributed articles to a range of publications. Having tried my hand at all of it, I can state categorically that nothing is harder than writing a good song lyric. To write even one song that achieves any degree of popularity is a huge accomplishment. To write dozens of them, as John Lennon did, is simply beyond my comprehension.

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