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A lyricist is a writer who specialises in song lyrics. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... [[ For other uses, see Song (disambiguation). ... Lyrics are the words in songs. ...

American Songwriting 1900s-now

The Tin Pan Alley tradition is that tunesmith and wordsmith are usually different people, though some celebrated songwriters have performed both functions (Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Noel Coward and Stephen Sondheim for example). Among the leading lyricists are Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II, who both wrote with Richard Rodgers, Ira Gershwin who wrote with brother George, Johnny Mercer and Johnny Burke. Tin Pan Alley was the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. ... Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer and lyricist, one of the most prodigious and famous American songwriters in history. ... Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter from Indiana. ... Image:FrankLoesser1. ... Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Lorenz (Larry) Hart (May 2, 1895 - November 22, 1943) was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. ... For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was a New-York born writer, producer, and (usually uncredited) director of musicals for almost forty years. ... For more on his work with his two partners, see Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein. ... Ira Gershwin (6 December 1896 – 17 August 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. ... George Gershwin (September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer who wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother lyricist Ira Gershwin. ... Johnny Mercer John Herndon Johnny Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) is regarded as one of Americas greatest songwriters. ... Johnny Burke was a songwriter who died in 1930 Johnny Burke (October 3, 1908 - February 25, 1964) was an American lyric writer. ...

In recent years it is almost universal^{[citation needed]} that songwriters are responsible for both words and music. John Lennon and Paul McCartney set the trend for performers taking responsibility for providing their own material.^{[citation needed]} Country music pioneer Hank Williams and folkies Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger pointed the way for American artists from Bob Dylan onwards. Even specialists who write for somebody else to perform (the spectacularly successful Diane Warren for example) now tend to write both words and music. John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... Sir James Paul McCartney MBE (born June 18, 1942) is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of the Beatles. ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... For other persons named Hank Williams, see Hank Williams (disambiguation). ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Pete Seeger (1955) Peter Seeger (born May 3, 1919) almost universally known as Pete Seeger, is a folk singer and political activist. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941), is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician, and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... Diane Warren (born Diane Eve Warren on September 7, 1956 in Van Nuys, California) is an American songwriter. ...

Collaboration

Collaboration takes different forms. Some composers and lyricists work closely together on the song, with each having an input into both words and tune. Often a lyricist will fill in the words to a tune already fully written out. Dorothy Fields worked in this way. Lyricists have often added words to an established tune, as Johnny Burke did with the Errol Garner tune Misty. Some partnerships work almost totally independently, for example, Bernie Taupin famously writes lyrics and hands them over to Elton John, who then sets them to music, with minumum interaction between the two men. Dorothy Fields was immortalised on a USPS postage stamp. ... Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 - January 21, 1977) was a jazz pianist whose distinctive and melodic style brought him both popular acclaim and the admiration of peers. ... Misty is a jazz standard written in 1954 by the pianist Erroll Garner. ... Bernie Taupin (born May 22, 1950) is an English lyricist famous for his collaboration with Elton John. ... Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE[1][2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a multiple Grammy- and Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ...

Religious Songwriting

In the Christian hymn-singing tradition, many of the best-loved pieces have words written to fit existing melodies. The Christmas carol, What Child Is This, had its words set to an old English folk tune that formerly was a lover's lament, Greensleeves. The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams famously set existing poems, by men like William Cowper and Charles Wesley, to traditional folk tunes to create hymns, many of which he published in the English Hymnal. A different way in which this happened was the marriage of non-related words and tune, the best-known example being The Star-Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States, with words written by Francis Scott Key strictly as a poem, which was later set to the tune of an old drinking song. Christians believe that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). ... A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... This page is about carols in general; for the short story by Charles Dickens, see A Christmas Carol. ... My Lady Greensleeves as depicted in an 1864 painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, OM (October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958) was an influential English composer. ... Portrait of William Cowper attributed to Romney. ... Charles Wesley (12 December 1707 - 29 March 1788) was a leader of the Methodist movement, the younger brother of John Wesley. ... The English Hymnal was published in 1906 for the Church of England under the editorship of Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams. ... Nicholson took the copy Key had given him to a printer, who published it as a broadside on 17 September, 1814 under the title Defence of Fort McHenry, with a note explaining the circumstances of its writing. ... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is evoking and eulogizing the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nations government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. ... Francis Scott Key Fort McHenry looking towards the position of the British ships (with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the distance on the upper left) Francis Scott Key (August 2, 1779 – January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, an author, and an amateur poet who wrote the words to...

Writing the Classical Art Song

In the field of art-song or lieder, things are slightly different. Here, a composer will write settings of poetry which already exists. Collaborations in the interactive sense are extremely rare. Examples of poets whose work has been used in this way include Walt Whitman, and A.E. Housman, whose poems have been set by diverse composers more or less ever since they were first published. The English composer Benjamin Britten is particularly famous for his settings of verse from many sources, for example, his Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. The pioneer, at least as far as using solo piano as the accompaniment, was Franz Schubert, who set poetry by the likes of Goethe and Schiller, but whose late masterpieces Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise were settings of verse by his contemporary Wilhelm Müller and seen by many critics as collaborative peaks beyond the capability of either man on his own. Strictly speaking, the writer of the words should not be described as a "lyricist" in the normal sense of the term, as their work was created to stand alone, and they are unwitting participants in the song-writing process. Lied (plural Lieder) is a German word, literally meaning song; among English speakers, however, it is used primarily as a term for European classical music songs, also known as art songs. ... Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist. ... Alfred Edward Housman (March 26, 1859 _ April 30, 1936) was an English poet and classical scholar, now best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... The Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings is a song cycle written in 1943 by the English composer Benjamin Britten, scored for tenor accompanied by a solo horn and a small string orchestra. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... In music accompaniment is the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played. ... Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828) was an Austrian composer. ... Johann Wolfgang Goethe  , IPA: , later von Goethe, (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath: he was a poet, novelist, dramatist, humanist, scientist, theorist, painter, and for ten years chief minister of state for the duchy of Weimar. ... Friedrich Schiller Schiller redirects here. ... Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795, is a song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. ... Winterreise (Winter Journey) is a song cycle by Franz Schubert, on poems by Wilhelm Müller. ... Wilhelm Müller (October 7, 1794 - September 30, 1827), German lyric poet, was born at Dessau, the son of a shoemaker. ...

External links

Resources for Lyricists

• Songwriting Tips Songwriting Tips and Tricks from Graham English
• Discover a Hobby: Online guide to learn Songwriting
• myHitFactory Community for lyricists and songwriters
• Music Lyrics - Reviews, critiques and news.
• NashvilleHype! Hit Songwriter Interviews
• The World Wide Songwriters Association Worldwide organization of songwriters with tips, articles etc. Be Heard. Get Published.

Major Music Publishers

• EMI Music Publishing
• Warner Chappell
• Sony ATV Music Publishing
• Universal Music Publishing

Major Independent Music Publishers

• Peer Music Publishing
• Chrysalis Music Publishing
• Pigfactory Music Publishing
• Bug Music Publishing
• Kobalt Music Group

Performing Rights Societies in the USA

• BMI
• ASCAP
• SESAC

Mechanical Rights Societies in the USA

• AMRA
• Harry Fox Agency