Ways into Writing EcoSongs using your favourite tune
Writing EcoSongs - putting eco-lyrics to famous or old tunes – is a new genre. What follows uses a combo of inspired and systematised that guarantees success.
There is no 'right way' to write EcoSongs. What there is, are right-brain led ways that maximise creative input. With a back-up system in place so you keep 'priming the creative pump'. Have open access to new ideas until you find ones that really work for you.
1 Loving it more.
Hum the tune, without words. Then substitute gobbledegook – just to break the association with the original words. Don't worry if at first you get rubbish lyrics – crude or crazy. They are part of the process. Power through them till you reach meaningful and relevant, the ah-ha moment.
Like panning for gold, sometimes this works.
2 The Gift
Sometimes you get really lucky. A sentence, a word, a phrase, just pops into your mind. It feels so right you get such a massive confidence boost it powers you to compose a whole verse of eco-lyrics. If that happens, treat it as a gift.
3 Deep exploration – the Creative Portal
Free writes.
This is the staple, the one guaranteed to do the job but taking much longer. It's your fallback position when you realise the fast-track isn't working this time. Free writes work because you are getting into your feelings and passion about your favourite song at the same time as exploring the lyrics of the original to see what takes fire for you. In bringing them together you open a 'creative portal'. Be bold.
If you are not used to free writes or want a more structured approach, here's a few pointers to keep you riding that growth-curve.
a) Passion as leader
Write down all your feelings about the original song. Be expansive. No-one is going to see this but you. Find your passion and express it as fully as you can. Focus on emotion first, words second. Mostly we don't have too much trouble talking endlessly about feelings. This is the invitation to go for it!
b) The Keepers
This is more subtle. Find what it is you want to carry over from the original to the eco-lyricised version. Mood, emotion, atmosphere, ethos, beliefs, messages. Give yourself time and space to explore this link because it will ground ideas that can be hard to express. Later, you will see how it provides a connective glue for your EcoSong.
c) Key Words
If that's too subtle, go for the Key Words approach. Pick out the words that resonate, are meaningful to you in the original. Then find near-meaning words to these Key Words to expand your repertoire. So you are taking it more in the direction particularly attractive to you.
4 Best friends
From now on, your two best friends are a Rhyming Dictionary and a Thesaurus. The Rhyming Dictionary gives near-rhymes and partial rhymes which supply more latitude in choice of words. The Thesaurus offers new alternative words you would not otherwise have considered. Both further expand the potential for your EcoSong. Show you further options open to you so you never feel stuck.
Great depth
This is quite an exciting part of the process, engrossing. Word-trawling is new, it's growth. Best of all, it brings you closer to those eco-lyrics that say exactly what you want them to. Strangely enough, it can crystallise out the absolute essence. After all that hard work, that's a real thrill!
5 Never stop singing!
Very important this one. Throughout, keep singing the tune. I find just singing the tune over and over often gives the necessary push to the eco-lyrics. It's a really fun thing to do! Aside from which, it's multi-functional. You get better at singing. The eco-lyric to tune fit gets perfected naturally. You learn the power of music to be meaningful at a very personal level. As you have initiated it, it really is yours!
Good luck!
There is no 'right way' to write EcoSongs. What there is, are right-brain led ways that maximise creative input. With a back-up system in place so you keep 'priming the creative pump'. Have open access to new ideas until you find ones that really work for you.
1 Loving it more.
Hum the tune, without words. Then substitute gobbledegook – just to break the association with the original words. Don't worry if at first you get rubbish lyrics – crude or crazy. They are part of the process. Power through them till you reach meaningful and relevant, the ah-ha moment.
Like panning for gold, sometimes this works.
2 The Gift
Sometimes you get really lucky. A sentence, a word, a phrase, just pops into your mind. It feels so right you get such a massive confidence boost it powers you to compose a whole verse of eco-lyrics. If that happens, treat it as a gift.
3 Deep exploration – the Creative Portal
Free writes.
This is the staple, the one guaranteed to do the job but taking much longer. It's your fallback position when you realise the fast-track isn't working this time. Free writes work because you are getting into your feelings and passion about your favourite song at the same time as exploring the lyrics of the original to see what takes fire for you. In bringing them together you open a 'creative portal'. Be bold.
If you are not used to free writes or want a more structured approach, here's a few pointers to keep you riding that growth-curve.
a) Passion as leader
Write down all your feelings about the original song. Be expansive. No-one is going to see this but you. Find your passion and express it as fully as you can. Focus on emotion first, words second. Mostly we don't have too much trouble talking endlessly about feelings. This is the invitation to go for it!
b) The Keepers
This is more subtle. Find what it is you want to carry over from the original to the eco-lyricised version. Mood, emotion, atmosphere, ethos, beliefs, messages. Give yourself time and space to explore this link because it will ground ideas that can be hard to express. Later, you will see how it provides a connective glue for your EcoSong.
c) Key Words
If that's too subtle, go for the Key Words approach. Pick out the words that resonate, are meaningful to you in the original. Then find near-meaning words to these Key Words to expand your repertoire. So you are taking it more in the direction particularly attractive to you.
4 Best friends
From now on, your two best friends are a Rhyming Dictionary and a Thesaurus. The Rhyming Dictionary gives near-rhymes and partial rhymes which supply more latitude in choice of words. The Thesaurus offers new alternative words you would not otherwise have considered. Both further expand the potential for your EcoSong. Show you further options open to you so you never feel stuck.
Great depth
This is quite an exciting part of the process, engrossing. Word-trawling is new, it's growth. Best of all, it brings you closer to those eco-lyrics that say exactly what you want them to. Strangely enough, it can crystallise out the absolute essence. After all that hard work, that's a real thrill!
5 Never stop singing!
Very important this one. Throughout, keep singing the tune. I find just singing the tune over and over often gives the necessary push to the eco-lyrics. It's a really fun thing to do! Aside from which, it's multi-functional. You get better at singing. The eco-lyric to tune fit gets perfected naturally. You learn the power of music to be meaningful at a very personal level. As you have initiated it, it really is yours!
Good luck!
