Rating: 
Summary: A Must Have!
Review: "The Craft Of Lyricwriting" by Sheila Davis is a must have for any aspiring lyicist. It gives to you, in layman's terms, the essentials of writing a great song lyric. I have many books on the topic of lyricwriting but this is without a doubt my favorite. See you at the Grammys.....................peace!
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have!
Review: "The Craft Of Lyricwriting" by Sheila Davis is a must have for any aspiring lyicist. It gives to you, in layman's terms, the essentials of writing a great song lyric. I have many books on the topic of lyricwriting but this is without a doubt my favorite. See you at the Grammys.....................peace!
Rating:
Summary: "The Bible of Lyricwriting"
Review: "The Craft of Lyricwriting" by Sheila Davis is a must have for any serious lyricwriter. The sections on rhyme, rhythm and form I found to be extremely helpful. Ms. Davis has touched on every aspect of lyricwriting in a clear and simple way that is easy to understand and apply. Thank you Sheila Davis.
Rating: 
Summary: The modern hit-writing authority...
Review: ...Davis catalogues the fundamentals of the craft, from lyric structure to rhyme and meter to avoiding common pitfalls. She makes all of this easy to understand. Every one who wants to write lyrics should buy this book. Singer-songwriters be warned: this book is written by a non-performing, professional lyricist. Those not trying to write a Top-40 hit should take Davis' comments about appropriate subject matter with a grain of salt. Davis' prose is what you'd expect from someone who writes catchy songs for a living: hokey and salesmanlike. None of this detracts from the basic truth of the book, that clarity and specificity are virtues in writing, while obtuseness and vagueness can never successfully pass for depth. For her examples Davis sticks to truly well-written songs; for the most part she does not hold certain genres superior to others. In sum, the woman knows of what she speaks. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Your Ticket to Fame and Forturne
Review: Did you ever listen to the radio and wish you could do that, wish it were your songs played, celebrated, whistled and hummed across the nation? Would you like to be able to say, "I write the songs that make the young girls cry; I write the songs; I write the songs"? Well, now you can. Sheila shows you how--how you can make more money than you've ever imagined, how you can be adored by the masses, how you can make the young girls cry. Believe me, music publishers are constantly ploughing through unsolicited manuscripts desperately searching for hit songs. It's gotten so bad that many popular music artists are starting to resort to writing their OWN songs! Seriously. And how much money can you make? Federal law sets royalty rates for recordings at about $.02 per record to split with your publisher, so if your song sells a mere one million copies, you stand to make an amazing $10,00! (That is, if you are both composer and lyricist, otherwise $5,000.) That's enough to feed, clothe, and house you and your entire self for nearly six months! How does the author of "The Craft of Lyric Writing" know so much about song writing? She has actually LISTENED to popular songs; she has ANALYZED popular songs; she has herself WRITTEN...songs! No, this is one opportunity you simply can't afford to pass by. In addition to "The Craft of Lyric Writing" by Sheila Davis, I also recommend "The Craft of Lyric Writing" by Sheila Davis.
Rating: 
Summary: You were so good at keeping things vague.
Review: I agree that "obtuseness" "can never [or, at least, can only rarely] successfully pass for depth", but I'm not so sure about vagueness. It seems to me that John Lennon and Bob Dylan in the sixties made something of an art of vague lyric-writing--to great commerical success and critical acclaim. (Paul McCartney likes to tell how John Lennon made him replace the lines "She was just seventeen/Could have been a beauty queen" with "She was just seventeen/And you know what I mean" and how afterward "You know what I mean" became a catch phrase in popular song. No one really knew for sure.) My point here is that there are a lot of ways to skin a cat. A true artist will invent his own. But the problem with this book is not that it wants you to write one way and not another; the problem with this book is that it really isn't able to distinguish a good lyric from a bad lyric or to analyze a lyric profitably and that when you read it you aren't getting advice from the horse's mouth; you're getting second-hand, watered down advice.
Rating:
Summary: The bible of lyricwriting!
Review: I can't say enough about "The Craft Of Lyricwriting" by Sheila Davis. This book gives you the foundation you need to understand the art of lyricwriting. The book is easy to absorb and there are some excellent examples to help you learn. I would recommend this book to any songwriter, pro or novice, it is the book to have on this fascinating subject.
Rating:
Summary: The bible of lyricwriting!
Review: I can't say enough about "The Craft Of Lyricwriting" by Sheila Davis. This book gives you the foundation you need to understand the art of lyricwriting. The book is easy to absorb and there are some excellent examples to help you learn. I would recommend this book to any songwriter, pro or novice, it is the book to have on this fascinating subject.
Rating:
Summary: The #1 book for lyric writers!
Review: I do not know Sheila Davis, nor have I ever even met her, but I have been using her book for years in the university night school course I teach. This book, and her book, "Successful Lyric Writing," are easily the premier books in the field. She's the first one to offer a textbook approach to lyric writing, to really put into words what goes on, subconsciously, when one writes a lyric, the how to's, the do's, and the don'ts. If there was a "Grammy" for song bookwriting, she would win it, hands down.
Rating:
Summary: The #1 book for lyric writers!
Review: I do not know Sheila Davis, nor have I ever even met her, but I have been using her book for years in the university night school course I teach. This book, and her book, "Successful Lyric Writing," are easily the premier books in the field. She's the first one to offer a textbook approach to lyric writing, to really put into words what goes on, subconsciously, when one writes a lyric, the how to's, the do's, and the don'ts. If there was a "Grammy" for song bookwriting, she would win it, hands down.
|
