Do song lyric syllables have to follow an 8 count?

Question

I'm new to song writing and I'm trying to understand the basics. Please bear with me. I'm green. So, do song syllables follow any rules about syllable count? I'm just guessing this is how lyrics are written. Any links also appreciated.

Answer 1

Follow the rules of poetry. Depending on what sort of song you're writing they follow the same rules for syllables. If your poem is a certain format, use that format when writing your song. But for the most part the number of syllables do not particularly matter so long as they fit with the music you are putting them to. You can always adapt your melody rhythm to your lyrics. Words and syllables both make up beats in songs. Keep in mind also that not all music has an 8 count!

Answer 2

With regard to popular music you will get more bang for your buck if you have the stressed syllable or stressed word in a sentence coincide with a stressed beat in the music. That's called Scansion.

For example, in a sentence: "The boy went up the hill" if we had the first word of the sentence coincide with the first beat of music which is usually stressed, we get "THE boy WENT up THE hill."

But the sentence isn't about "The" and "Went." So lets change it so the first word of the sentence is on a non stressed musical beat, like a pick up. Then we get "the BOY went UP the HILL"

Boy, Up, and Hill convey the meaning of the text.

Read more about scansion at the site given below

Answer 3

No.
Listen to a lot of songs in different genres and you'll come up with the following rule:
There are no rules.
If the lyrics are 'good' they work. Good in this case could mean they're meaningful, they're catchy, they rhyme, they invite thought, or anything depending on the genre. Now, this is not to say that lyrics are the be-all and end-all of songwriting. There are many hits our there with catchy melodies and awful lyrics (hit me baby, one more time)...

What I am trying to tell you in essence is that you can write anything you like, in any style, and if it's good, you can make it work.

Good luck.