Lyricist and composer

Not always who we assume they are

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First let’s recall that composition and **musical recording **are not the same thing: a composition is the general concept of a musical piece, usually represented in some form of writing.

In pop music, musical recordings (single instances of a recording of a composition) are what become famous. Compositions aren’t so much the focus of attention.

Do you know how to tell the difference in pop music?

Let’s look at an example we already covered.

Well, it depends on what you mean by "by".

Of course, The Beatles are very famous for "Yesterday", but we need to be clear about what that means:

1. The Beatles are very famous for their musical recording called "Yesterday".

2. The Beatles are not famous for the composition "Yesterday". Why?

Simple: The Beatles didn’t write "Yesterday".

Let’s have a look at the written composition:

Have a look at the top right of the composition above. You see the following text:

Words and music by

JOHN LENNON

PAUL McCARTNEY

So first of all, we know that while The Beatles are famous for the original musical recording of "Yesterday", the composition itself is by John Lennon and Paul McCartney:

But we can go further than this on Freebase.

Let’s look at the two kinds of people responsible for creating a composition.

A lyricist is someone who writes words that are put to music.

Who is the lyricist for "Yesterday"?

We know by looking at the example above that both John Lennon and Paul McCartney are: they are both credited for the words for "Yesterday". They are the **lyricists **for this composition.

Again: A lyricist is someone who writes words that are put to music.

That means that it doesn’t matter whether they intended their words to be put to music or not. It doesn’t matter when or why the words were written. The writer becomes a lyricist when his or her words are put to music.

Take, for example, the poet Robert Frost’s poem "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening".

Frost wrote this famous poem in 1922 (you can also read the original poem on Poetry Foundation).

Almost 40 years later, in 1959, composer Randall Thompson wrote music for this poem, which you can listen to on YouTube (♫).

Randall Thompson

Since Robert Frost wrote the words that are set to this music, Frost is the lyricist. It doesn’t matter that he wrote the words almost 40 years before as a poem.

Robert Frost

Not only can writers become lyricists 40 years after they write something, they can even become lyricists long after they die!

A composer is a person or group who has created the music for a musical composition. So who can be a composer?

When you think of the word composer, you might immediately think of someone like Beethoven:

*Beethoven: *** composer **

And you are correct!

But it’s not just classical music that needs a composer. All music does. Someone (or some group of people) must write the music for a composition. That person is the composer: all genres of music have composers.

*Beck: *** composer **

*Madonna: *** composer **

But note well that Beck and Madonna (or most musical artists, for that matter) have not composed every song they’ve ever recorded!

Let’s again go back to "Yesterday" (really, go back up and have look at the composition). Who wrote the music for that composition?

Indeed, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney are credited as composers (you know because the composition says "music by").

So if you’re keeping score, "Yesterday" has 2 lyricists (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) and 2 composers (John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

How about the **composer **for the musical composition "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening?". (Go back up and look for yourself!)

Randall Thompson is the composer because he wrote the music, and Robert Frost is the lyricist because he wrote the words.

Let’s do one more: this time you try to answer it first based on information you find on the web (the answer is just below Sinéad O'Connor’s head).

Who is the composer for "Nothing Compares 2 U" (♫)?

*Sinéad O'Connor: Singing "Nothing Compares 2 U", but not the *** composer **

Did you find the composer?

If, based on your sources, you thought the answer was Prince, you are correct! Prince is the composer for this composition (if you are completely on board by now, you will have also noticed that Prince is the lyricist too).

*Prince: *** *composer * **and *** lyricist *** for "Nothing Compares 2 U"

Case A: Sometimes the composer and **lyricist **will be two different people:

(Note that "Stopping By Woods..." is this kind of case: 1 lyricist and 1 composer.)

Case B: Sometimes there may be multiple people credited as either composer or lyricist:

Case C: Sometimes the composer and lyricist are the same person, or people:

**or **

(Note that "Yesterday" is this kind of case: 2 people credited as both lyricist and composer. “Nothing Compares 2 U” is also this kind of case: 1 person credited as both lyricist and composer.)

Many compositions will have credits for both composer and lyricist. But not all!

In a general sense, an instrumental is a **composition **without human voice. Instrumentals are comprised of only instruments playing music.

Since an instrumental doesn’t have words, there is no lyricist, but there is a composer, the person who wrote the music.

"So What" is an instrumental you can listen to on YouTube (♫).

As we learned above, an instrumental uses only instruments to make music. There is no human voice used in instrumental** compositions**. So in this case, we can only have a composer.

*Miles Davis: *** *composer * ***of "So What" *

An a capella is a composition that uses only human voice. Most of the time that means there is a lyricist.

But there will always be a **composer **no matter what. Why?

Because even if a composition only uses human voice, someone still has to write the music that those voices sing. The person that writes that music is the composer.

"There Are Some Men" is an a capella you can listen to on YouTube (♫).

Philip Glass is the composer of this a capella. Even though there are no instruments in an a capella, the voices are still singing music. The person who writes that music is the composer.

*Philip Glass: *** composer **

The lyricist is Leonard Cohen. As we know, the lyricist writes the words that are set to music.

*Leonard Cohen: *** lyricist **

You can always reference the schema itself for further examples and more information:

• **lyricis**t

• **compose**r

Use Google search to find the answers to the following questions.

1. Find the composer and lyricist for the composition for "All Along The Watchtower" (♫).

   Bonus: How many musical recordings by different artists can you find?

2. Find the composer and lyricist for the composition for "What A Wonderful World" (♫).

   Bonus: How many musical recordings by different artists can you find?

3. Find the composer and lyricist for the composition for "Something" (♫) (originally recorded by The Beatles in 1969).

   Bonus: How many musical recordings by different artists can you find?

Composer: Bob Dylan

Lyricist: Bob Dylan

**Composers: **Bob Thiele and George David Weiss

**Lyricists: **Bob Thiele and George David Weiss

Composer: George Harrison

Lyricist: George Harrison