Transcripts
1. Intro: Do you ever feel
like you don't have any lyric concepts
to write about? Sometimes feel like all
the songs he'd been writing are becoming to
methodic and similar. Would you like an approach
that can consistently break you out of these
common writing frustrations. Hi, I'm Kelly brood, an independent musician
and songwriter that has one lyrical generation tool
that can do just that. This is part two of my plot driven approach to
songwriting series, the endless lyrical
concepts blueprint. Early in my musical journey, I bought into the self teach, learn as you go mentality, thinking that any structured
learning environment would somehow take my
originality as an artist. This broken approach
came to a head for me, three notebooks and three
failed projects in. It wasn't the fact that I wasn't discovered and catapulted
into opulence that bothered me was the fact
that all the song concepts came slowly when they felt like it only through
inspiration. And even worse, out of
those three projects, not one finished
production was in a place that I was happy
with looking back. Something had to
change in my workflow. After a few months as sulking, I decided to bite the bullet, swallow my bitter pill. It was time to go back to
basics about my electric guitar and fancy gear and
storage and spent the next three years unplugged, analyzing covers in
their most basic form, one instrument in one voice. In this boiled down analysis
phase of my journey, I started to identify
approaches and commonalities and
songwriting that I could study and
develop for myself. Though there are
many, the division between songs that are lyrically topical than ones that are story-driven is a
very dominant theme. I can honestly say the
time I took to learn the elements of
traditional storytelling is one of the largest
reasons I actually like about 40% of
my work nowadays. More importantly, it led me
to writing my first track that actually connects with
other people emotionally. Strong as that is
as a writing tool. I found this paradigm is equally effective at analyzing
other people's songs. So I can create reading
environments for myself that I typically
wouldn't ride in so much so that when I'm uninspired or
not really filling any of the concepts and my notepad
is become my go-to for developing concepts so I can
finish something on-demand. This one thing mixed with the other techniques in
part one of this series has single-handedly killed my need to wait for
inspiration lyrically, simply go through the
process and finished well-developed lyrical ideas
and a couple of hours. And I'd like you to
have this technique in your songwriters
toolkit as well. In this class, we will
look at how to analyze any song's lyrics
for story elements, categorize that
song until one of the nine basic plots that I
cover in detail in Part one, identify the other universal plot points that are present, and then create
writing prompts for ourselves so we can
write something similar, but also our own ethical
concept that if you will. So if you'd like
to learn a way to reverse engineer the songs you love into near endless
original works for yourself. Come on in.
2. A Brief Word: Hello and welcome to the endless lyrical
concepts blueprint. Like to quickly touch on what
this class is and isn't. And then quickly explain the
tools that the strategy. This class is not a way to
finish a song lyrically, there are many
elements that go into completing an idea that works. This class focuses on to generating and
developing a concept. This class does not
advocate plagiarism at all. It is illegal, unethical, and just a pretty lame thing
to do as a songwriter. Ms class is a great way
to generate and develop an idea so that
lyrical song sections fall into place quickly. This class is also a tactic
to model the songs we love, but keeping the musical portion
as a separate process and consciously putting our
songs in a different space, we can unlock near unending writing
environments that we may not get to otherwise, all while respecting
the work of others. Knowing songs fall into two broad categories of
topical and story-driven. The focus of this
course is story, that we will look
at a topical song to see how we can
apply this approach to those of the nine basic
plots available to us, all provided in the
downloadable PDF. I've chosen examples of the
four that weren't addressed as deeply as I would've liked
in part one of this series. They are overcoming the monster, rags to riches, the quest,
voyage, and return. After we analyze the lyrics
to define a basic plot, we will identify some other universal plot points
that are present. The other plot points for us to consider our intro, setting, rising action, falling action, climax, external conflict,
internal conflict. In conclusion, it's important to understand that because
of the length of a song, many will only use a handful of both the basic plot movements and other plot points devices. Though many songs do embrace
all of them quite cleverly. We'll then create writing
prompts for ourselves to fulfill all of the
things we've identified. By taking the time to do a quick five-minute
free right exercise on each of the
prompts would create. We're left with a
very plot rich, developed pool of ideas
that edit down into sensible sections pretty
efficiently. Let's get into it.
3. Overcoming The Monster: You always up-to-date.
We are going to be analyzing the lyrics and then creating a writing prompt out of the warning by the
Notorious BIG. The song fell into an overcoming
the monster basic plot, but doesn't really
utilize courses. So we're just going
to break down the Vs into different sections. Who is this page in me at 546 in the morning crack of dawn and now I'm Yana and what the cold, Emma, I see who's this
page in me and why? It's my top from the barbershop told me he was in the
Gamblin spot and heard the intricate plot of some
that want to stick me like flypaper neighbor,
slowdown, love please. She'll drop the kappa. And we'll, we'll
get pretty quick. Here is the anticipation, the threat being introduced. Remember them from the heel up and Brownfield
that you rolled dice with smoke blunts
and gotten ice with EMR, famous and prospect NADH and not love wouldn't disrespect
I didn't save them. This can lead to some that
you knew from back when, when you o'clock
and minor figures, now they heard you're blowing
up like nitro and they want to stick the knife
through your windpipe slope. So thank vein for warning me
because now I'm warning you. I got the Mac. Tell me what you wanna do. And what we get here is
the driver of the hero is being beckoned to
confront the monster. Within. Hit with this
introspection four times dam, when a sticky for my paper, they heard about the Rolexes and Alexis with the Texas
license plates out of state. They heard about the
pounds you got down in Georgetown and they heard you got half a Virginia locked down. They heard about the creepy
but your mom's out in Florida the fifth
quarter called corner, there's going to
be a lot of slow singing and flower bringing. If my burglar alarm
starts ringing. And all these lines
really just add with more drivers statements. What do you think all the
guns is for all-purpose war, got the Rottweilers by the
door in a feed them gunpowder so they can devour the criminals trying to drop my decimals, want to stick me from my cream. And this ain't a dream. Things ain't always
what is seen. It's the ones that smoke blunts, which you see a picture. Now they want to grab their
guns and come and get you. And what we get here
is the dream state. He is preparing to confront the monster and things
are going well. That's a biggie won't slip. I got the calico with
a black talent is loaded in the clip so I can
rip through the ligaments, putting in a bad predicament
where all the fell. When I touch my chest, I feel my Beretta when I'm a hit you with you. Better duck. I bring pain bloodstains on
what remains of his jacket. He had a gun, he should
have packed it, cocked it. And these lines really just
continue the dream state. Extra clips in my pocket so
I can reload and explode on that and get
hardcore C4D a door, no beef, no more field, a rough scanned and list. The more weed smoke I
puff, the more dangerous. I don't give a about you or your Week crew which gonna do when big papa comes for you. I'm not running a bus, my gun in, hold on. I hear somebody come in. And what we get here
is more dream state. The hero prepares
and journeys to confront the monster and
everything goes well. We do get a nice
little twist on this, where he doesn't literally
go out and journey to confront the monster sent it
all happens at his house. Instead, we get this
internal mental preparation. And then we get this
altro sequence where Biggie pops the duties that
have been plotted on him. And this fulfills
the final driver of an overcoming the monster. The hero defeats the monster
and gained something. In this case, he gains his life. Now that we've seen which
basic plot the song fits into and which movements
that chose to utilize. Let's take a quick look at the other story elements that
are prevalent in this song. Additional story elements first, let's take a quick look
at the characters. The song contains four big pop, fame and the murderers. Good playing the protagonist, the murderer is being
the antagonists and pop through word from fame. Pretty much acting as a Herald, which we'll touch on a
little bit more in a second. The song takes place in present tense and though
not heavily used, it is set in VSM. The external conflict in this
song is the death threat, but the internal conflict of biggie struggles with
most of the song, is accepting it and
preparing to confront it. And the rising action we get
is the phone call from pop. It's what calls biggie into action to confront
this conflict. And we have popped serving the traditional role of
the Herald in this case. The Gandalf, two biggies,
Frodo, if you will. I think it's safe to call the outro in this
song the climax. It is definitely like the most intense moment that
everything was leading to. Now that we've done a
pretty good plot analysis, Let's cook this bad boy up into a writing prompt that we
could use for ourselves. Alright, let's rob this
puppy in an ethical way. And if you're just
writing for practice, it's fine to just really just
copy a lot of the elements. But if you plan on trying
to monetize your song, Let's not write the song
about a murder attempt. Let's stay away from the
genre of boom bap hip hop. And also try to put the finished song arrangement
into a different setting. Like a verse refrain, folk style or traditional
pop structure. If you just do a really quick
five-minute writing prompt on each one of these topics. You should have a
very good foundation for song moving
into structuring. First, who is planning
to wrong you? And what are they trying to do? Maybe a co-workers
trying to get you fired. Maybe your lover a,
is cheating on you, or maybe you have
an acquaintance is trying to wrong you in some way. Second, how did you find
out about the betrayal? Maybe a friend told you, perhaps you've found a text
and your lovers phone, or maybe you overheard
a conversation. And then how did you feel about the portrayal when
you found out, as we saw in the song, it could be a couple of things. Maybe it started with disbelief and then turned into anger, or maybe you felt more
of a disappointment. What are you gonna do
about the conflict? Are you gonna go beat up the
co-worker trying to get you fired or you're going to throw all your lovers stuff
out on the lawn, you're gonna go wrong
that acquaintance in the same way they were
trying to wrong you. Then what is the resolution
of the confrontation? Did you beat the guy up
at work and then end up getting fired anyways
for beaten him up. Did you leave your
lover for good? Did you realize that
that acquaintance is just not worth your time and energy trying to resolve the conflicts you've
been struggling with. I find having the
basic plot outlines handy while I'm going
through my writing prompts to be extremely useful at keeping the
focused and moving. You can need to check it out at the beginning of this video or grab your free PDF
in the link below. And that's it. You should be in a very
plot rich place to start developing the rest of your
overcoming the monster story. Hopefully it turns it
into one of your keepers.
4. Rags to Riches: Today we're gonna be
analyzing the lyrics of juicy by the Notorious
BIG for a writing prompt. Though the song is more
topical than story-driven, it does pretty heavily embrace a few of the movements of a
rags to riches basic plot. It was all a dream. I used
to reward up Magazine, salt and pepper
and heavy D up in the limousine hanging pictures
on the wall every day. Rapid Tech, Mr. magic, morally more lemma, tip
rock, tell my tea pot, smoking weed and bamboo sipping
on private stock way back when I had the red
and black lumberjack with the hat to match. Remember rapid due
to hard, too high. You never thought they Hip
Hop would take it this far. Now, I'm in the limelight
because I ran tight time to get paid blow up like
the World Trade Center, opposite of a winner. Remember when I used to
eat sardines for dinner. Piece to Ron Ji Bu CBK, Capri, master flex
loved bookstores. I'm blowing up like thought I would call the
cribs same number, same hood. It's all good. The first six lines
of this first set up the initial state where the hero is in an unhappy
or downtrodden place. And then the rest of this verse really moves into the driver. The call baby starts
to experience some wins and he's being
pulled into a wider world. You know very well who you are. Don't let them hold you down, reach for the stars. You had a goal, but not that many because you're
the only one. I'll give you good in plenty. Unlike many courses, really
don't get a lot of plot. We just kinda get this
new character that a supportive love interest made the change from a
common thief to up-close and personal
with Robin Leach. And I'm far from cheap
smoke skunk with my pizza, day spread love is
the Brooklyn wait, the more weight and LSH be
pissy girl, He's the disomy. Now they write lenders
because they've missed them. I never thought a gap and
disruptive I was to use to honey is plenty
close like butter, play toast from the Mississippi
down to the East Coast. Condos and queens
in DOE for weeks, sold out CTQ Biggie
Smalls speak live in like without putting five carats and my baby girls eat lunches, branches, interviews
by the pool. Fool because I dropped
out of high school. Stereotypes of a black
male misunderstood. And it's still all good. And well, we get here
in the second verse is what he chooses to do with
the rest of this track. Lyrically, it just continues to make contrast
statements about how it is now that he's out
in the world versus how it was when he was
in his initial state. Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, when I was dead broke man, I couldn't picture this
50 inch screen money green leather sofa. Got to ride the limousine
with the shelf, phone bill about two Gs flat. No need to worry. My
account and handles that. And the whole crew is lounging,
celebrating every day. No more public housing. Back on my one-room shack. Now my mom pimps and act
with links on her back. And she loves to show
me off, of course, smiles every time I face is up in the source and
use the first one, the landlord disk
does know he wondered why Chris most
missed birthdays was the worst days since Thursday. **** right. I liked the life
I live because I went from negative to positive. All good. Though the song makes a lot of references to other people. It really only features to, we give Biggie and then we get the supportive female
character in the course. The song set in the
present tense were big. He's winning already,
but spends a lot of time reflecting back to how it
was when he was struggling. Since the song set in a place
where he's already won. The dream that led him on the journey really acts
as the rising action. When we get an interesting
use of conflicts, I think in this
one where he poses many conflicts that he had when he was struggling and
trying to come up. And then he resolves
all these conflicts with how good things are
now that he's winning. Now that we've done a
pretty good plot analysis of this track list, whip up a writing prompt. You just write them
for fun or practice. It's totally cool to just
steal a lot of stuff. But if you want to monetize, here's a few no-nos. Let's try to stay away from
RAB games exist lists, not right in the genre
of boom bap hip hop. When it comes time to arrange, stay away from a straight verse, chorus verse, chorus,
verse, chorus structure. First, take a second to
identify what it is that you want to write about that
you've already achieved. Maybe it's a promotion at
work or hot new lover, or fat stacks of cash. And after you've done that, just do a quick
five-minute free ride on each of these topics. What was your life like
before you achieved it? Who are the people that inspired you or supported
you on the journey? And how did they do that? What are some of the
specific obstacle she faced to achieve
the success? And then these two kind
of go hand in hand, make a list of all the
things that really sucked before you
got your success. And then make a list
of all the things that are pretty awesome Now
that you've succeeded. As long as you've changed
the genre and the topic, I think it's safe to steal the rest of this
lyrical setting. Explain your initial state and your driver in the first verse. Then use your other
lyrical sections to highlight the contrast
between those two places. And if you answer
all these questions, you should have more than
enough lyrical content to finish a well-rounded song. I hope this rags to riches songwriter leads
to one of your keepers.
5. The Quest: Today we're gonna do a
plot analysis and writing prompt out of on top of the
world by the Imagine Dragons. Like many inspirational songs, this track lyrically
embraces a quest basic plot. Let's take a quick
look at the lyrics. If you love somebody, better, tell them
why they are here. They may just run away from me. You'll never know what
went well, then again, it just depends on how
long of time is left region had the highest
mountains, deepest reverse. You can have it all, but not to take it in, but
don't look down. What we get is a
reassuring voice speaking to us while we
are in an unsure state. Then the third stanza
and outline or spent identifying with us and giving us hope for
what's to come. Because I'm on top
of the world day. I'm on top of the world waiting
on this for awhile now, paying my dues to the dirt, I've been waiting to smile a, been holding it in for a while. A take it with me if I can be a child, I'm on top of that. And what we get is a
section that's really all quest drivers driven. We're taken to a place where he has achieved what he
was trying to do, but reflects back on the
feelings when he got the initial calling and what
it's like now that he's won, tried to cut these corners, tried to take the easy way out. I kept off all my shortest sum. I could have gave
them. But then again, I couldn't because I've
traveled all this way for someone to take it
in, but don't look down. And what we get here
are a couple of stanzas that really
heavily embraced the ideas of the journey
and the frustration were traveling to the goal to hero is faced with temptations. And when close to the goal, presented a new set of
obstacles to overcome. And I know it's hard. So I went down and
us along way up. When you hit the ground, Get up. Get up. And then in the bridge we
get this stands at twice, where they change the
point of view back into that reassuring voice
to us at a point in time where we would be experiencing a rival and
frustration feelings. Now that we've seen
have this song lyrically fits
into a basic plot. Let's take a quick look into
some traditional elements. The song features two
characters us in Him, and uses a variation
of point of view to accentuate the message
in different sections. And I believe the conflict
in this track is the climb. Though he's already resolved
his conflict and achieved. He's trying to help
us achieve that for ourselves while
avoiding his pitfalls. And the rising actions
that keep the story moving in this case are the failures and trials that he faces in
the second verse. And him trying to save us from losing a loved one
in the first verse, apparently something he
has already suffered. We get a resolution
in this song and the course section where he is screaming from
the mountain tops, how good it is that
he has arrived. Now that we've done a
good plot analysis, lives whip up a writing prompt. Alright, no nose. Let's not use a tagline about how great we
feel to have one. Let's not write a pop
rock track and let's resolve our conflicts somewhere
other than the course. First, take a minute to
define your concept. Few examples might
be the path to love, The Road to spirituality or finding peace after
the loss of a loved one. Then do a writing
prompt on what were the challenges that you
faced on that road? What are some
commitments that you had to make to stay driven? How does it feel now that
you have achieved it? As an additional
challenge to more closely match the style of
lyrical approach. Take the answers to the first question and put them in the first, second, first, put the answers to the second
question in the chorus and the answers to the third
question in the bridge. Then after you've organized your lyrics into
potential sections, add these little extras to
put a little more flavor on. Take all of your first
second verse lines and put them into a second person plural
pronoun environment. Speaking to you and yours
like somebody else. Take all of your lines
from the second question and put them in a first-person
plural environment. By changing the point of
view to these pronouns, we can hopefully create a much more communal field
to that section of lyrics. Then in the bridge, change the point
of view again to first-person singular
pronouns using words like I, me, my, and mine. Since the answers to
this question are the resolutions to the
conflict you pose. And the first question, hopefully it creates
a sincere intimacy. And that's it. You should be in a
very rich place to start arranging lyrics and looking at other
rhythmic devices to add. I hope this turns into
one of your keepers.
6. Voyage & Return: What's up, guys today,
we're gonna be doing a lyric analysis and writing prompt out
of Hotel California. The song is heavily metaphoric and really strongly embraces a voyage and return basic plot just for
a bit of contexts. They have openly admitted
in interviews that it is about leading a
hedonistic lifestyle. Let's go on a dark
desert highway. Who went in my hair, warm smell of colitis
resin up through the air. Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light. My head grew heavy.
Site grew ****. I had to stop for the night. She stood in the doorway,
heard emission Bill. And I was thinking to myself, this could be heaven
or this can be Hill. Then she lit up a candle
and she showed me the way there were voices down a chord or a thought
I heard them say. And what we get is a act one
voyage and return idea where the hero yearns for a new
experience for some reason. In this case, fatigue. Welcome to the Hotel California. Such a lovely place, such a lovely face, plenty of room at the Hotel
California anytime a year. You can find it here. In this first course, they really just drive home
the metaphor of the song. And we've been a little
personification. Her mind is Tiffany twisted. She's got the Mercedes Benz. She's got a lot of pretty, pretty boys that
she calls France. How they dance in the courtyard. Sweet summer swore. Some dance to remember, some dance to forget. So I called up the captain, please bring me my wine. He said, We haven't had that
spirit here since 1969. In steel, voices are
calling for wake, wake you up in the
middle of the night. Just to hear them say. This second verse
really gives us the driver and the dream
state of voyage and return. The hero is transported to a strange new world and
begins to explore it. What a nice surprise. Bring your alibis. And in the second
chorus variation, they introduce the idea
of the frustration, where the world is
becoming alarming. Mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice. And she said, we're all just visitors here
of our own device. And in the master's chambers, gathered from the east, they stabbed him with
the steely knives, but they just can't
kill the beast. Last thing I remember, I was running for the door. I had to find the passage back
to the place I was before. Relax and the nightmare we
are programmed to receive. You can check out
anytime you'd like, but you can never leave. And what we get in this third verse or statements that really paint us a picture
of the nightmare and the final driver of
a voyage and return. The hero survival is seriously threatened into an
adrenaline fueled escape. Now that we've seen how
this song fits into a basic plot, let's
take a quick look. Their story elements. We get two main
characters in this track, the eagle and the woman. And then they make
references to two others, the captain and the night man. His external conflict is the fatigue at the beginning which propels him into seeking solace and then struggling with this internal conflict of coming to the realization
of what's there. I believe that the
slow unveiling of the woman's true character really acts as a rising action as it creates this
internal conflict. We get this climactic
moment where he realizes the full gravity of the situation and the
master's chambers. And his attempted
escape really serves the purpose of a
falling action for us. Bringing the song to that end conclusion of how
he cannot escape what it is. The song does use a physical
setting in past tense, but rather than focusing on
items from that setting, it chooses to use characters
to amplify the message. Now that we've done a
pretty good plot analysis, Let's whip up a writing prompt. Okay, no nose. Let's not use a hotel for
our imagery or a state. Let's also try to think of another topic besides
hedonism to write about. First pick a topic you'd
like to write about. A few examples might be
the American war machine, a systematic injustice or
modern corporate oppression. Then pick a location that you want to use
for your imagery. It could be a house or a lake, or a mountain range. After you make a quick
list of people or things that you can use metaphorically
in that environment. Do a quick writing
prompt on these things. What caused you to end up there? What are some
telling examples of the problem in the people or things you've chosen
to use metaphorically. What are the misconceptions
that you had, the things you thought
or wished that it was. What are the larger
problems that make it that way the
root of the problem? Why can you not escape it, or how are you
planning on doing so? Then when you go into song
arranging and structuring by putting the answers
to these questions in these various locations, you'll have a very linear
chain of events that tell a voyage and return story like we saw in Hotel California. At this point, you
should have plenty of lyrical content to finish
your voyage and return song. I hope it turns into
one ear keepers.
7. Recap: Let's do a quick recap
of the steps we need to take to develop
these writing prompts. First, we need to pick a song. As we saw, the basic
plots can shine a light on the elements
of topical songs, but what typically generate a larger range of writing
prompts for story-driven ones. Second, we need to read
through the lyrics and identify which basic
plot the song embraces. Sometimes the track
will resemble a couple of initially
and that's okay. Keep both basic plot outlines handy because as we move
through the next step, we will be able to define
it more accurately. Third, do a detailed
categorization of each section. Identify which basic
plot movements are being fulfilled by which lives. For. Identify other universal
plot points that are present by answering
the following questions. What is the setting? Who are the characters? What is the external conflict? What is the internal conflict? What is the rising action? What is the climax? What is the falling action? What is the resolution? Remember song may use all of these things or as
little as a few. Fifth, choose a topic for your song that fits the
bill plot you've defined. Sixth, right? Writing prompt questions
to fulfill all of the basic plot and other plot
points you have identified. Seventh, spent five-minutes
free-riding to each prompt. Doesn't have to rhyme
or even fulfill a song sections needs only
get your thoughts on paper. And that's it should have
a nicely developed pool of ideas to draw from going into
the rest of the process.
8. Lesson: Okay, time to do
one for yourself. Download the basic plots PDF and step-by-step
lesson plan recap. I've included a song you feel is really story-driven
and apply the tactics. Once you're done,
post your work to the project section
of this class and the following format,
title and artists. The basic plot it is
your concept idea, your writing prompt
questions, happy analyzing.
9. Conclusion: And that does it for the endless lyrical
concepts blueprint, you'd like to take a deeper dive into the other basic plots and look at ways to use these ideas to finish
songs lyrically, please check out part one, a plot driven approach to songwriting and my
teacher profile. There will be two more
classes in this series where I go into long-form
story elements and how we can use them for
single songs as well as EP and LP concept albums. So grab a follow if
you are interested in being notified
when I release those, if I have not already, I truly hope that
I added something useful to your
songwriting toolbox. Thanks for stopping by
and as always, ride home.
Cali Brewed, Independent Musician
