[HezBa]

That is, if you are inspired by any one particular song lyric. I listen to a lot of different types of music (only rarely when I'm actually writing), and every now and then, there will be a short part that really makes me want to write something...anything really.

I'll give you an example, from "The Wolves" by David Usher
Oh, don't run, these wolves will chase you down.

Everytime I hear this song (or actually, just that part), I just wanna write something. I have a whole list of several lyrics that have the same effect.

Does that ever happen to anyone else?

 

[George Berger]

Last year I wrote a book about a goat with the name of Midnight.

Ever since, whenever I think about that book, I hear this in my head, and want to write a story inspired by it...

Midnight, on the water; I saw the ocean's daughter...

 

[Christian Price]

 

[HezBa]

Any particular lyric that speaks to you more than the others? Have you written anything inspired by it?

 

[donnajherren]

"She was on fire last night, and I was breathing gasoline" - Whatever by the Butthole Surfers

 

[Josh St. John]

"I guess you go too far when pianos try to be guitars." - Tori Amos

 

[jasonzc]

I managed to get an entire novel out of The Eagles' "Life in the Fast Lane".

 

[Hilary Thomson]

I've never understood the whole business of being inspired by lyrics.  When I listen to music, my brain automatically tunes out the words and just concentrates on the melody.  The lyrics are just noise, and I have to concentrate hard to figure out what's being said.  I can listen listen to a song a hundred times and never know what the lyrics are.  It's always the music itself that I'm interested in, and I get very annoyed when people can't seem to tell a good composition from a bad one.  A lot of lyrics people seem to like are set to quite unremarkable music.

 

[MT Berlyn]

Anything that brings to mind a visual will inspire my mind to write. Days of the Future Passed by the Moody Blues, in its entirety, will stir the muse in an almost mystical way.

The following lyric in Loreena Mckennett's, The Mummer's Dance, captivates my imagination each and every time I hear it, so I will very much say it is inspiring:

Who will go down to those shady groves
And summon the shadows there

It's like, I really want to know what is going on in those shady groves, and then I begin to write.

 

[ElHawk]

Pretty much anything Neko Case has ever written inspires me.  Her lyrics are amazing and gorgeous and unique, but sometimes even just the melodies or the instrumentation will get ideas running through my head.  And she's an indie artist, too!  Double good.

 

[Hilary Thomson]

Pretty much anything Neko Case has ever written inspires me.

She has a great version of the Everly Brothers' Bowling Green which I like quite a bit. It's a fantastic performance.

 

[MT Berlyn]

I've never understood the whole business of being inspired by lyrics. When I listen to music, my brain automatically tunes out the words and just concentrates on the melody. The lyrics are just noise, and I have to concentrate hard to figure out what's being said. I can listen listen to a song a hundred times and never know what the lyrics are. It's always the music itself that I'm interested in, and I get very annoyed when people can't seem to tell a good composition from a bad one. A lot of lyrics people seem to like are set to quite unremarkable music.

I think it is really just a matter how the individual mind perceives. Some perceive both melody and lyric, some melody, voice and lyrics and some, like yourself, melody alone. Some are inspired by music, and some not at all by it. It's all a matter of perception.

 

[LG Castillo]

For my novel, Lash:

"Only love will guide you home. Tear down the walls and free your soul." - What You Want by Evanescence.

 

[Lisa Grace]

The whole Drama album by Yes
( I own the album, and the cassette tape of Drama, plus I'm going to their concert, so I don't feel bad sharing the Youtube link.)

but if I have to pick just one lyric from one song:

http://www.davemcnally.com/lyrics/yes/drama
Maybe we'll change
Offered the chance
To finally unlearn our lessons
And alter our stance.

 

[Paul Clayton]

When I'm having a really bad day, "yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy," usually helps me to go on.  That or, "Oooh, eee, oooh ah ah, ting tang, wadda badda bing bang."  Hope that helps. 

 

[SBJones]

Adele "Set fire to the rain" - I have magic users in my steampunk novels and they have the power to actually pull this off.
"Gold Dust Flux Pavillion remix" - Because some times it's exactly like they say.  It's like gold dust.  Every sale is so valuable but it can all get blown away and lost.
Metric "Help i'm alive" - When you need to understand just how fear works.
Nightwish "Ghost love score" - Keeps everything on that path to awesome.

There are too many to go through.

 

[bmcox]

Pretty much anything Neko Case has ever written inspires me. Her lyrics are amazing and gorgeous and unique, but sometimes even just the melodies or the instrumentation will get ideas running through my head. And she's an indie artist, too! Double good.

I put this song at the end of my playlist for La Chanson when I was writing it.

 

[HezBa]

Anything that brings to mind a visual will inspire my mind to write. Days of the Future Passed by the Moody Blues, in its entirety, will stir the muse in an almost mystical way.

The following lyric in Loreena Mckennett's, The Mummer's Dance, captivates my imagination each and every time I hear it, so I will very much say it is inspiring:

Who will go down to those shady groves
And summon the shadows there

It's like, I really want to know what is going on in those shady groves, and then I begin to write.

I really want to know to! And I think that is exactly it; you hear something that you really connect with, and you want to find out what's going on there.

 

[Alan Petersen]

Slow down -- back off... Tell him you dont pay the price! It's poetry.