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I've written only a handful or so songs and have had to learn the music and memorize the lyrics once I finished each one. I've had many people express surprise that I didn't automatically know the song because I had written it. A friend of mine who is a pro songwriter and performer has told me she also has to learn her own songs she writes.

I'm curious how many of you also have to learn the music you write and memorize the lyrics or do you automatically know everything once the song is finished?

Not me...I always have to practice my own songs. That is why I have to write down my lyrics and melodies in the first place, so I can practice, amend then remember.

Sure, I've often struggled to remember my own songs...but after awhile they stick, usually forever.

Lately I've been writing songs and immediately recording them while reading the lyrics. If I had to perform it right away, I would definitely forget the lyrics.

John Lennon used to flub the words all the time.

Good question, Lady Fitz, I generally remember the music but not the lyrics. Like Indigo, I write them down and have to practice with the sheet in front of me to memorize them. Or, I'll demo them and listen in the car, something about hearing your own voice sing the song seems to make it "stick" better.

I've had songs cut that I couldn't sing right now if you paid me.

I do remember, I think, everything good I have written--but I had to work at it. *How* I write helps--I will not write anything down until it's "done" (by which point I may have sung it to myself over and over again for a couple of days). Actually writing it down will help "freeze" it in memory and help make sure I don't forget the words.

I'll still have to learn to play it on the guitar--most of the writing will have taken place somewhere like a car on a long drive, with no access to a guitar (you don't want to be playing guitar while driving--that's worse than talking on a cell phone). Sometimes the words will have to be tweaked a little to fit how it's being played.

I like to have mnemonic tricks in the lyrics, to help me remember what's coming next; that way, I'm less likely to lose it on stage. Sometimes I do a better job of that than other times.

My American Idol entry, "I'll Think of You," is particularly hard: 9 verses, no chorus to give you thinking room, and the verses are "limerick" style (AABBA), rhyming only at the end, and there's two separate threads to keep track of simultaneously, a lost-love thread and a stages-of-death thread. Before I played it tonight, I sang it three times in the car on the sway to the gig, and I still had trouble remembering how it goes.

It was an interesting experiment, but I don't know as I'll be tempted to repeat it. Other songs--including ones I haven't played for months--are easier to remember.

The other thing I'll try to do to remember a song is remember how it *felt* to play the song in public--what the strings felt like, what my fingers were doing, how it sounded, what the audience's reaction was, and so on. That "gestalt" will make the song easier to remember in the future, too.

That help? I have to say it has helped me get by for over 25 years without resort to a music stand. Now it's a habit.

Joe

I've forgotten lyrics to songs I've written live many times. It's an ideal moment to chat with the audience. I usually make fun at myself about it. Sometimes I ask if anyone knows the words, and sometimes they do and help out. Sometimes I just stumble through the chord changes, and after confessing that I've forgotten the words I say, "I wrote this song, I can perform it any way I like.."
Most of the time, you're there to entertain the crowd. They don't really care if you flubbed the words or not, but you have them if you can get them to relate to/with you.

Oh man, I hear that. I learned long ago that when you forget the words and draw a blank, it's time for an instant comedy routine. If it's just a word or two, you just keep going ... but if you really lost it, your only hope is to lay it on thick...Steve Martin, Andy Kaufman, whatever you can pull off.

Crying is not an option.

I don't know, Mark. If it was a sad song you lost the lyrics to, it'd strike me crying *would* be an option.

Joe

Even better!

I had to learn my piano lead I recorded improve style, for when I formed a band, Marnie the drummer said, "Hey! That's not the lead on the record"! It took breaking the lead in many sections to finally be able to play it as HE had been hearing it.

For song, I write song having images in the first place in "mind", so when the song is to be played, if I have a starting image, and then remember the first word or two, I'm usually fine for the rest of the song. Chords, melody and lyrics all seem to be joined by the images I have for that song.

Sometimes, from doing them often, I can be on auto pilot during practice and do them without the images, I guess from cognitive memory.

My problem is doing the songs in the planned out order! I may read a certain title, and if my eyes somehow catch the next song's title a split second after that, I have been known to start that song, (out of order), by instantly having the images start rolling for the wrong song. Luckily, the guys have played the tunes enough to be able to adjust quickly.

So, there's two ways of me not using lyric or chord sheets for the 20 songs or so I sing in one set at our shows:
Aware imagery, and subconscious memory. If they both fail, it's jam in C! A bouncy C!

John

I perform on occasion, used to constantly, but now I'm mostly a writer. Writing 150 or so songs a year has me in a position where I often have to go back and listen to what I wrote and relearn it. When you move that quickly on to something with a different key, melody, lyric, and often genre I don't have a prayer of remembering them all. In fact I don't even pray for the memory of all that...ha...I do have a large festival gig coming up in a few weeks where I am playing with 2 different bands, one I'll be the front man for, so I'm about to start preparing for that by repetition of what I'll be performing....Moker

I'm primarily an instrumental song writer, I always hold myself to being able to play every song new or old with my eyes closed, well..mostly closed. Since I use a lot of altered tunings I find it helpful to think about the guitar neck in a linear/interval manner, knowing the exact chord names actually is sedcondary for me since the names of everything are completely different.

I tend to write lyrics as a story with a progression through the event/situation that I can cue myself with. Remembering the story helps remembering the lyrics.

When I write, I usually write music & lyrics together .. By the time I've finished the song I have played & sung it over & over so many times I sure as heck know the words.
Sometimes I throw myself off when I go and switch verses around for the finishing touches .. then I have trouble remembering which was the chicken and which was the egg.
Joanne

Like Mike, I usually remember the music but forget some of the lyrics. I remember some songs. I usually have to have the music of the final version of a song because I often remember the first version rather than the final one. I think I have gotten lazy because I can always have a music stand in front of me. I think I should start memorizing more just to keep my brain working. I do have a lot of songs though, so maybe I can be excused a little.

somwetimes i'll be right in the middle of one of my own songs and the light just goes out...sometimes i start singing louie, louie till the lights come back on..or i'll just start making stuff up..

it's kind of fun, actually...not much real adventure in my world these days....

bob

I've usually sung the song so many times by the time it's finished that I do know it pretty well. Sometimes I have to work on phrasing.

Wow so there's others like me out there? Too bad I can't have a teleprompter like Ozzy. It's especially hard to remember lyrics when I'm listening to another song like right now. Tomorrow I'm going to try and play one of my first ones at an open jam and see what happens. I've noticed it's easier to remember lyrics to cover songs the more I do them so maybe I'll spend a good part of the day just playing mine over and over again. The thing is, in an open Jam environment, I have to teach the other jammers the song too and that can get distracting. It's good experience though, I wonder if it's easier for just a frontman vocalist who doesn't have to worry about playing an instrument to remember the lyrics.