I Have Words but No Melody

[Old Dog Dave]

Looking for some thoughts on pairing up lyrics with a melody. Over the years, I've written the lyrics for a few "songs", but without a melody/tune. I do write some poetry, but a few things I've written were intended as a song. My most recent "song" is one I call "Miner's Shack Blues" and I'd love to put it to tune--bluegrass or country, I suppose. I don't know for sure if the words merit someone's time fitting them to a melody, but if so I would willingly give the lyrics to someone with only one request--if you put a tune to it, I would love to hear it; a clip on You Tube would be fine.

If anyone might be interested, please let me know and I will be glad to send you the lyrics. I have a few others I've done over the years, but I think "Miner's Shack Blues" is more worthy of a tune than the others--maybe because I am originally from eastern Kentucky and coal mining songs are a part of my growing up (until we moved to Indiantown, FL in 1958).

Thanks, y'all. Old Dog Dave

[Charles E.]

Sorry, can't help it.





Good luck with your song.

[Old Dog Dave]

Awesome, Charley!! That's a classic. Thanks!!

[journeybear]

PM me the lyrics. As much as I rattle on here, when it comes to songs, I'm often at a loss for words. My mind tends to favor music over lyrics. Which means I've got hundreds of melodies floating around in my brain with no lyrics to anchor them. I'm so glad to have a recorder in my phone to jot them down and preserve them till I do something with them. When I get a lyric idea, a melody usually presents itself soon after or about the same time, so that's the upside of this discordance.

So this would probably work out pretty easily. Just include your preference of genre - I'm guessing bluegrass or blues, though country might be in the cards, too, I reckon.

[JeffLearman]

Sorry, can't help it.

Yeah, that was the first thing that entered my head. Fun piano part on that one, though I could never manage it in the original key. Thank goodness for the evil transpose button.

[Skip Kelley]

OD, pm the words and I’ll run it through my head to see if I can come up with something to help you.

[journeybear]

Just a little news update, and I hope I'm not talking out of turn. Dave PM'd me the lyrics, and they caused a melody and chord structure to pop up really quickly. It was one of the quickest writes I've had in quite some time. It helps that the words are full of imagery and have an easy, natural flow. He's pleased with the result. Which is not to say someone else couldn't do a better job. But he did send me another set of lyrics - which again suggested a melody and chord structure. Then I suddenly got swamped with demands on my time, so I haven't had a chance to finish it. But now I've gotten done what I had to on four of the five other pressing matters, I plan to get to it.

That said, I say go for it. It's not for me to say whether what I came up with is the best solution. I'd like to see Dave's lyrics get the best treatment they can get, whoever comes up with it.

[Mark Gunter]

Words full of imagery and have an easy, natural flow: Tweeter and the Monkey Man were hard up for cash; they stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash to an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan - for reasons unexplained, she loved the Monkey Man.