Songwriting: Lyrics

Video Transcript

"In this section, I'm going to talk about what are lyrics. The best lyrics are often just like a conversation. If I was talking to somebody, who am I talking to about New York in the wintertime? Who should I make this about? Am I talking to God, you know, and like am I talking to, you know, my mother back home? What am I doing in New York in the wintertime? Am I talking to my lover saying let's get out of New York in the wintertime? So we just have to make a decision, Mr. Cameraman. Who should I talk to in this story? My father. My father? A father. A father. Okay, so I'm talking to my father. New York in the wintertime. Okay. Man, this is deep. Because me and my dad have this really intense history. So, okay, so we're going to talk about. Lyrics are going to be a conversation of me talking to my dad. So, it might be something like, you know, Dad, if you had, if you had protected me, I wouldn't be here with freezing, you know, freezing and cold. But instead, I had to forge ahead on my own, all alone. Right there, there's some lyrics. And you can see the power of it because it's specific. I'm not just like, and there's snow and there's leaves. I have a relationship. So I might say, you know, "Dad, if you'd had it, Dad, if you'd had it together, if you'd had it together, I wouldn't be so cold. Dad, if you had it together, I wouldn't be so cold. I wouldn't be here with the sleet, sleet and the snow. Dad, if you had it together, I wouldn't be here all alone." There's some lyrics right there. So, I'm, you know, there you go, make it up. Talk to someone. Be truthful."