TAXI.com

Hello,

I'm back to Taxi after a year off, and have noticed the phrase "universal lyrics" quite a bit.

I know to avoid names, places, and specific events that would pidgeonhole a song. But, is there more ( I guess I should say LESS) to it?

Are universal emotions OK? Or, is it better to have lyrics that vaguely support the emotional quality of the underlying music?

Can anyone mention some relatively recent examples of these kind of lyrics in pop or alternative or rock or country?

Thanks!

Paul

i think that's the BIG question.
for me it think that's the "craft", if we can write a song that connects emotionally to as many people as possible that's the goal.

steve

Paul:
yeah, I've heard the "universal lyrics" a bit more often than I cared to. Frequently it seems to me that "universal lyrics" refer to what would sell on Nickolodeon or Disney.
Ott

Universal emotions are definitely okay, in fact that's exactly what they are looking for. Things that are universally relatable. You'd want to avoid specific names, places, events and very unique situations that limit a song's appeal.

This is something that's particularly important for songs that are to be placed in film and tv.

Funny story, at last year's Road Rally there was a listening panel dealing with writing songs for film and tv, and after a film/tv publisher pointed out how it was imprtant to avoid names of specific people and places they picked a random song from the audience to listen to...and the song's title was: "Hey Sherry I'm going to Jamaica"!

The Climb has pretty universal lyrics

matto wrote: Funny story, at last year's Road Rally there was a listening panel dealing with writing songs for film and tv, and after a film/tv publisher pointed out how it was imprtant to avoid names of specific people and places they picked a random song from the audience to listen to...and the song's title was: "Hey Sherry I'm going to Jamaica"!

LOL!!! That is too funny!

...
When I evaluate how universal my lyric is, I try to think of how many film-tv scenes that it would work well in. I can't think of many scenes where a guy is telling a girl named Sherry that he is going to Jamaica. lol

Just to give an example. I have a song that has this chorus lyric:
Bring me trouble. Trouble’s what I need
Bring me trouble. On trouble I feed
Bring it double. Make me bleed
Bring me trouble. It’s what I need

To me this is a pretty universal lyric. I can think of lots of movies and tv shows that it would fit well in. Many are cop scenes where the character is not a great cop when the going is smooth, but when it's panic time, you want him around .. he gets the job done ... he needs trouble to bring out his best. Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon, Vin Diesel, Bruce Willis, etc. Plus at some point in everyone's life don't we all need trouble to motivate us? That makes it pretty universal to me.

Just my opinion on it .. it makes sense to me this way.

Dean

with no offense to bfl, I thought "Climb' would have crashed and burned without M.C singing it. Just goes to show that everyone has their own tastes of "universal". The structure of the song was correct, the singing was correct, the idea was correct -- but, throughtout the entire song, I kept thinking "correct". Much preferred "Climb Every Mountain", which though a show tune, did it much better.
Ott

Funny, I just got a return on a few songs and I've been noticing all this emphasis on universal lyrics lately as well. The one line that the screener actually liked enough to comment on was a line that ends "on a beach in Portugal." Before I submitted for the listing that was the one line that concerned me because I keep hearing to avoid names and places when you're going for universal lyrics.

"Universal lyrics that are fresh and expressive and could fit a number of film and TV scenes are what is being looked for here."

I don't doubt that the songs didn't fit the listing requirements but I don't get the critique. Sometimes ya gotta scratch your head and move on...eo.

ottlukk wrote:with no offense to bfl, I thought "Climb' would have crashed and burned without M.C singing it. Just goes to show that everyone has their own tastes of "universal". The structure of the song was correct, the singing was correct, the idea was correct -- but, throughtout the entire song, I kept thinking "correct". Much preferred "Climb Every Mountain", which though a show tune, did it much better.
Ott

Uhmm...it's still a very good example of a "universal lyric" though. And exactly the kind of lyric that any music library would love to have. Because it could go beyond mere background applications, to featuring prominently in motion pictures, commercials, Olympic vignettes...the applications are endless.