When it comes to writing songs there are a few important words to consider:
A lyricist, a composer/musician, a songwriter…
By definition a lyricist is a person who writes only the words to a song. a composer/musician is a person who writes only the music for a song, and a songwriter is a person who writes both the words and the music to a song. Calling yourself a songwriter when you only write the words to a song seems incorrect. But is it really? A song doesn’t necessarily need to have music to accompany it. Sure a song will probably sound better with music in the background but it doesn’t need to have any music at all. The song can be sung a capella…
Say, if a person, who doesn’t know how to write music or how to play any musical instruments, writes some lyrics and then comes up with a way to sing them, what title would you give him? Would you say he is a songwriter or merely a lyricist? I would lean toward the songwriter title. Sure there is no instrumental accompaniment to the lyrics but there is still music involved. The music in this case being the person’s vocals… Now, the lyrics are not just words on a page. They can be sung, and that makes them a song, and the person a songwriter…
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