Customer Reviews

The Art of Writing Great Lyrics

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Great Book!! I've been writing songs for years and have had songs in major FILM/TV projects and more. But I like to always try and better myself and talents. This is helping me to do so. I believe it is a MUST for beginners and it can truly help rekindle and enhance the approach of a veteran songwriter as well. Its a great read too with very practical, insightful tips on how to have fun and bring your inner workings into the light and onto paper in song form... I wouldn't take the time to review it if I didn't feel so strongly about it. It is FAR better than any I've TRIED to read before on the topic. Thanks Pamela!!!! Peace, Michael Brandmeier

Although I am a veteran and successful lyricist and thought I had nothing more to learn about this form of my art, I was amazed at how many "tricks of the trade" she gave me that I'd never even thought about. Pamela Phillips Oland's new, revised edition of her first book is so chock full of tasty little details that I found myself inspired with new song ideas on almost every page - which is why it took me so long to finish it. By now, it is underlined and starred and filled with margin notes and tabbed with so many colors, it looks like a pocupine!
Everything from setting up my writing environment to setting up the deal with my collaborator UP FRONT, to helpful hints about my great starts that fill my journals, was useful. We all get into a sort of groove that can so easily become a rut that simply adopting a new approach - that Oland suggests many of - like reading the dictionary or seeing with new eyes a character trait in someone you know well, can cause one of those wonderful light-bulb ideas to pop up over your head!
I always love hearing other songwriters' anecdotes about how songs we've all heard on the radio came to be.
The book is so well laid out that when I sit down to write, I sometimes just open it at random, read a box or an example of one of her lyrics - and the process by which she completed it - and that gets me going.
It will be so helpful to the fledgling songwriter, too. I've given it to my 14-year-old, guitar-playing, songwriting nephew who says he loves it. And since I gave it to him, I can see a definite growth in his ability to express his feelings more clearly now in his lyrics. There is a craft to writing lyrics that takes years of devotion and attention to develop and perfect.
Thank you, Pamela, for acknowlwdging what REALLY goes into perfecting this craft and writing it all down in so arganized a way!
- Lisa-Catherine Cohen, double-platinum lyricist (ASCAP) Lisa-Catherine.com

Ms. Oland provides helpful advice for the person wishing to write and market commercial songs. She gives tips on becoming familiar with language, building vocabulary, and learning popular song structures. She also dissects her own writing process, step by step, for the reader.

Later chapters deal with the challenges posed by collaboration, strategies to deal with criticism, and the music business.

This book is primarily for the commercial lyricist, not the musician or the artist who writes for self-expression. Ms. Oland is of the opinion that a lyricist shouldn't write too much from personal experience, and that a commercial song should make the audience feel good because "no one wants a loser." But some of the most sincere music, which ended up being "commercial," was written out of angst (Alanis, Nirvana). Oland's term for this kind of music is "living room hits." (In her defense, she does state that when an artist writes this type of song for himself, the song may become a hit.)

Ms. Oland also mentions that she is a much stronger lyricist than melodist, and although she does mention using "dummy melodies," musician-lyricists might find a different method than Ms. Oland's.

However, this book does include much wisdom and helpful information culled from years of experience.

I have been a songwriter "on the side" for a number of years, and this book gave me the confidence and information I needed to make the move to full-time. I now make a career of writing songs and, even better, I'm earning a living doing it!

The best thing about this book is that it's not a bunch of dry factoids about A&R pitches and recording demos. Sure, there's tons of useful info about all that, but it's so much more than that, too! I have heard this author speak, and she's AWESOME - she really knows her stuff, and she's absolutely inspiring. You'll totally get a kick out of her stories (check out the one about her first song - hilarious! not that mine was any better, mind you). And watch out all you poets masquerading as songwriters (you'll see what I mean if you read it!).

I don't want to ruin the book by talking about any more specifics, because it's a really fun read. I definitely recommend this book if you want to get into songwriting, and it's also helpful to established musicians who want to start writing their own songs. (One of my musician friends did just that, and her songs are fantastic now. She definitely needed the help, though.)

BUY THIS BOOK if you want to get into the music industry. Seriously.

Let's get right to it. If you truly want to be successful at something, find a mentor - someone who has been there and done that (and is still there and is still doing that).

The "that" in this case is songwriting, and Ms. Pamela Oland is the mentor who is still in the thick of things, decades after her ride to the stars with Frank Sinatra.

You can take decades to learn which turns to take and which to avoid, or you can buy Pamela's music road atlas, THE ART OF WRITING GREAT LYRICS, and get to your destination with fewer detours and disappointments.

Grab your poetic license, start your creative engine, and hit the freeway - and the Top Ten - courtesy of your tour guide and her fine book.

Pamela Phillips Oland has taken the art of teaching lyric writing to a new level! As a new writer I needed not only guidelines for structure and content but also inspiration and her book gives it all. She helped me learn to define what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it! The stories are amazingly cool and funny. Her talent as a songwriter might just be surpassed by her ability to teach and inspire other writers to believe in their dream to do the same. If you can't write a song after reading this book then you just can't write a song!! Loved it!!

I am a school librarian and first heard about this book when I read the rave review in Library Journal. I ordered it for the school library and was amazed at how many high school girls were putting themselves on the waiting list to borrow it, often sitting together with their rhyming dictionaries and writing tablets, seeming to be having the time of their lives with this book. About a year later, I saw the book just staring at me from the shelf in in the Borders in my neighborhood and the curiosity overtook me. I bought it for myself.

I had never really thought I had a talent for writing lyrics, so I started following the steps for writing cynically at first, then just cautiously. Before long, I was going through it with the same enthusiasm I had seen in the teenagers. Before I knew it, I was thinking differently, wondering how to use a catchy phrase as a lyric or how to turn an experience into a song. Words took on a new quality for me once I read this book-and I have read a LOT of books!

Well, I might only be a high school librarian, but there's nothing wrong with having a hobby, right? I think I am going to buy a second copy of this to give as a gift to my niece. I will feel like I have done something very special it makes her as happy as I have been in "discovering" this book.

I hear this author has a new book coming out soon. I can't wait!

I write sacred choral music and have had some of my pieces published. I've always had a hard time finding books to help me write the kind of music and lyrics I write, so I've pretty much had to figure out how to do it on my own. I bought this book hoping it would help me in some way - and I have loved it. I have learned so much from this book that I could apply to any kind of lyric writing. She presents boatloads of information, and it is all interesting to read. I am so glad I bought this book!

When I first got this book, I couldn't put it down. It was so easy to read, so overflowing with great information that time just flew by as I sat on my sofa. By the time I was a few chapters in, I found myself spending less time with the book and more time writing. By the time I got to the last chapter, I was reading a small segment and then off to write some more.

Anyone who is thinking about starting a career as a writer should get this book.

I gave this two stars... but don't be completely pushed away. I would have gone two and a half if it was available. The overall idea of the book is great. It will help if you are starting to write lyrics. If you already write a lot I would suggest not to spend the money. I write for a band that's been around for a while and figured I would try to spice some things up. The only things that seemed to be of any use to me were just reaffirmations of things that we all know. Having been written in the 80's the content is not very current. Essentially, this book could be condensed into the following ideas: Have a strong control of language and vocabulary, REALLY know who/what you are writing about, Don't write poetry and expect people to connect, Have a strong lyric you build around.

If you are planning to just start writing lyrics... it's a good book. Overall though, it was not for me.