How do YOU write songs that have lyrics?

very interesting thread. I have friend and family that write great songs. However as I have a terrible ear and can not sing at all, I have a very hard time with writing songs.

as I drive a lot for work, I have an idea pop in my head and usually have some lyrics pop right out. that is where the trouble starts for me. as I have an idea about the tune, but I have a hard time getting the tune out or finding a way to play it. if I try and sound out the notes with a guitar or keyboard (note by note) to try and capture what is in my head, I lose the melody.

anyway I seem to have words pop into my mind, then I try and make some music to fit them. pretty much like what they were doing in the movie music & lyrics. although not much seems to work out as well as it did on the movie

It's funny, I am stopped on a song where I have this little transitiony riff that I can't seems to connect the riff in my head to the fretboard. Just can't. There is a similar little run in Carol King's 'It's too Late' from back in the 70's. Usually I have luck translating head to fretboard etc. Not this one.

This riff I speak of, it has to be in the song. If not, it loses something.

So....I solider on.

I think, timr, it can be a case of letting go more so than wracking your brain to figure it out. It's not much advice (if at all) but I think when we try so hard, we are just building roadblocks.

While I'm still new to the whole songwriting thing, I still want to share how I go about doing it. Over the last month or so, I've had a vastly increased amount of inspiration, both for lyrics and for melodies, and obviously they get treated in different ways.

For my main-project(s) right now, I started out with finding out what notes/chords I wanted to use, and how I wanted to use them (arpeggiated, strummed or both). This resulted in the main riff of one of them being only 4 very similar chords (all based on the B-Major Barre Chord, simply moved around on the same strings), first sweep-picked upwards, then every note played individually in the same direction, because I think it gives a nice over-all sound with the right settings on my amp, especially when the Lead guitar-line is played on top of the main-riff. I've not really put any lyrics to that song yet, but I won't force lyrics unto a song, as I believe that has the potential to turn a potentially great rock-song into a first-class mess.

timr1984, I have the same problem capturing melodies on the fly, with no guitar. Usually I'll grab my cell phone, hum the melody and try to figure it out later. It's hard to get what's in your head out sometimes!!

I tend to come up with a riff/guitar lick first and then just sing what comes to my head. Then I have some sort of melody and cadence to the riff, and then I write lyrics to it. It seems to work so far :)