How to put song lyrics into 4/4 time and Song Bay

[Stephen Eastwood]

Hello everyone, I have written a whole heap of song lyrics and now need to put them into 4/4 time, however I have no idea how to do that. Can anyone explain it easily, so that it makes sense. I have no musical abilities, and I have tried keeping/ counting 4/4 time on many of the radio's songs. But it usually goes haywire, and I just can't follow it at all. Is there an easy method to do this?

Also has anyone used the site Song-bay, I would like to sell or try to sell, song lyrics via their site. I have a bout 180 lyrics which took a long, long, time to put together and into a style and form that I am happy with. I am unsure if lyrics alone will sell on Song-Bay or if I should just write lyrics, as a hobby and keep my money for myself. I understand that record companies like complete songs, but I view things differently. I would never tell a band who has its own unique sound that this is the way to play and sing it etc. But if I just hand over good lyrics, then they can use their own unique style and ability, to create a song. Sounds logical to me.

Cheers Everyone
Steve, Western Australia

[Nick Ryder]

Hi, @Stephen Eastwood

Apologies but I do not know what you mean by wanting to put your lyrics into 4/4 time. If you do not write music then I do not know why this would matter.

I've no experience of Song-bay either.

Why don't you post examples of your lyrics in the Lyrics section on this forum? You never know, you may get someone who writes music but struggles with the words, so it may lead to a collaboration. I have seen this happen before.

The very best of luck.

[Boydie]

@Stephen Eastwood

That is an interesting question

4/4 time refers to the "time signature" of the music

If you listen to any piece of music, you should be able to tap your foot (or clap your hands) to the "beat" of the music

The speed of the music (i.e. how fast you tap your foot or clap your hands) is referred to as the "tempo" - and is expressed in "beats per minute", abbreviated to "bpm" - and is the number of beats (or taps and claps) per minute

A musical time signature is like a set of instructions that tells you how to count the beats in a piece of music. Think of it as a way to organize the rhythm so that everyone playing or listening to the music knows how to keep time.

Let's use 4/4 time signature as an example:

• Top Number (4): This tells you how many beats there are in each measure (or bar). In 4/4 time, there are 4 beats in each measure.

• Bottom Number (4): This tells you what kind of note gets one beat. In 4/4 time, the "4" represents a quarter note. So, each beat is a quarter note long. For now, I would only worry about quarter notes, as these are the notes you would tap or clap along to

So, in 4/4 time, you would count "1, 2, 3, 4" repeatedly (emphasising the 1st beat). After you count to 4, you start over at 1 for the next measure.

so 3 bars of 4/4 would have 12 beats:
1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4

If you did exactly that same thing, but in 3/4 time, you would have 3 beats in the bar. So even though the tempo is exactly the same, if you count in 3 (emphasising the 1), you should recognise a "waltz" feel:
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3,

Both examples have 12 beats in them and can be tapped at the same tempo - but you should "feel" the difference in time signatures between the 2 if you "accent" the first beat


HOWEVER!!! - you should NOT set your lyrics to simply fall on every beat - this would sound very monotonous and lack "life" - the beauty of a well crafted lyric and melody is that they "float across" the beat of the song - sometimes having more lyrics/syllables per beat, as well as having "rests" - when there are gaps in the lyric/melody

There are 2 things that I would strongly recommend to you before you even consider pitching lyrics to sell

1 - Post some lyrics here for review. You may be worried about someone "stealing" your lyrics - but I genuinely think that this is "low risk" - and I am not sure of the rules in Australia, but in most countries you are protected by copyright at the point of creation - so posting here may actually provide some proof that you wrote them first - but I wouldn't worry about sharing lyrics

We can then offer some advice about how they work musically - as well as the "commerciality" of your lyrics - because writing "good lyrics" and "writing lyrics that a record label, publisher, artisit thinks will sell" are often COMPLETELY different discipines and require a different approach

2 - If you don't play and instrument - get yourself a "metronome" or a drum machine, so that you can set it going at a specific tempo (bpm) and at a specific time signature (e.g. 4/4 time) - allowing you to sing or hum your lyrics along to a steady beat

This seems like a well featured, cheap, option: Sondery Digital Metronome

[Stephen Eastwood]

Hello folks, I am very pleased that putting lyrics into 4/4 time is not done. I think I misunderstood what they were writing on Songbay. I now think they were trying to say over 80 percent of rock/pop songs are in 4/4 time, not over eighty percent of lyrics are in 4/4 time. Ahhh the struggles of starting out with no clue.

I have put some lyrics into the lyrics section for review. I hope I get a response. The lyrics were chosen at random and are pretty much what all my lyrics are like, small stories punctuated with choruses, okay thanks for the tips, cheers, Stephen, Western Australia