In the end, you are not trying to write to coolest lyric. If you are, you will fail miserably.
You're trying to communicate something. Sweet Child O' mine was not about writing great lyrics but about describing a feeling and/or someone. Even Welcome to the Jungle was an observation.
I'm learning that by letting my world filter through me, I get more lyrically.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were out on a beautiful autumn Saturday. She said that she liked when the trees were bare. So I said 'there's beauty in desolation'....immediately my brain popped in a follow up line 'there's comfort in despiration' and it happens that I am mulling through a song called 'Far, Far Away'.
So I ended up with:
There's beauty on desolation
and comfort in desperation
but what will I do, without you
to help me through
Today...you're far, far away
Anyway,a working example...unfinished song but whether that is all awesomeness or averageness....It, I suppose, makes an example that just noticing the world and observing it, you will get better at describing it.
Trying to write a great song by just sitting down ain't gonna happen. I let it happen organically and the results are so much better.
An old psychology axiom is 'observe and describe'...Song writing can be very psychological in nature. Sometimes an observation turns in to a turn of a phrase that then leads to a story that is totally made up but it was rooted ina real observation.
Just some food for thought.
