Lyric Sheets and Alternate Lyrics

[deantaylor]

What is your opinion/experience:1. When pitching songs to artists, is it OK to put a few alternate lyrics at the bottom of the lyric sheet .. maybe footnote style?2. If so, how much is too much?3. Is this too much?Alternate wording1 As I walk in, the place feels right2 A country band rockin’ here tonight3 … I’m boogie in boots4 Hey, dance class teacher can …Thanks,Dean

[Casey H]

Dec 15, 2008, 2:00am, deantaylor wrote:What is your opinion/experience:1. When pitching songs to artists, is it OK to put a few alternate lyrics at the bottom of the lyric sheet .. maybe footnote style?2. If so, how much is too much?3. Is this too much?Alternate wording1 As I walk in, the place feels right2 A country band rockin’ here tonight3 … I’m boogie in boots4 Hey, dance class teacher can …Thanks,DeanHi DeanThere is not absolute right/wrong answer but I would lean toward NOT doing this or keeping it to a bare minimum. You don't want to sound like you are too unsure of your work.Nothing is black and white. If you sent a great song with a killer hook and one footnote it wouldn't blow the deal. Songwriting and related rules:(1) Follow all the standard songwriting and pitching rules.(2) A great song with a killer hook overrides rule #1Casey

[deantaylor]

Thanks Casey. Sounding unsure and just cluttering things up with distracting information is what we are worried about, but there is also reason to believe some country artists might want to change one or more of the three popular name references I have in a song lyric. We are confident they are best for the song and the majority of country artists, but some ... might want to change them to something that is not a proper name.What if we put this note at the bottom?Note: We have alternate lyric ideas for the popular name refs, if needed.Dean

[Casey H]

Dec 15, 2008, 8:10am, deantaylor wrote:Thanks Casey. Sounding unsure and just cluttering things up with distracting information is what we are worried about, but I can also see good reason why a country artist might want to change three popular name references I have in a song lyric. What if we put this note at the bottom?Note: We have alternate lyric ideas for the popular name refs, if needed.DeanIt's probably not going to matter if it's at a minimum as you describe. More important would be whether having specific name references at all would bother them... it's not film/TV but you still never know. If it's a killer hook, that overrides any concern as long as you don't overdo it.

[deantaylor]

Thanks Casey. We are probably going to go without any alt lyrics, unless/until a screener questions a lyric, then maybe we'll try it.