Would you like the other guys in DT to write more lyrics / songs?

[Skeever]

It has occurred to me that Petrucci has taken the lion's share of lyric writing duties...

If you look in the credits of the albums, it wasn't always that way. Images and Words had a good mix of writers. So did Awake, and Falling Into Infinity. When Jordan joined, they lost a songwriter behind the keys (both Kevin and Derek wrote), and afterwards James and John Myung pretty much fell into the backdrop (there are occasional contributions from James, but almost none from Myung). It was a Petrucci/Portnoy show for awhile, and then Portnoy left, and Mangini entered (also, not a songwriter).

The last two albums are almost all Petrucci on the pen. Honestly, Petrucci has always been one of the better lyricist in the band at any given time, but I sure would like to hear them mix it up on the next album. Does anyone else want to hear more songs written by James? Another Myung tune? Maybe even a Rudess or Mangini tune? I would enjoy that. Petrucci has writen so many songs I really adore, but to be honest it'd be more interesting to see some other contributors.

[TheGreatPretender]

If they want to, sure. I think if JLB wants to take on writing lyrics for a few of the songs, JP should just let him do it, and not compare and see which they like better like they did on ADTOE. We could've had 3 songs by JLB on that album.

[rumborak]

A JR-penned song (i.e. music) would be the most interesting scenario for me.

[Skeever]

If they want to, sure. I think if JLB wants to take on writing lyrics for a few of the songs, JP should just let him do it, and not compare and see which they like better like they did on ADTOE. We could've had 3 songs by JLB on that album.

Hmmm. First I'm hearing this. Given James' track record, I would think he came up with at least something a bit more interesting than Lost Not Forgotten 

[Grizz]

At least it was not regarding an engagement.
(I'm not knocking Under a Glass Moon's lyrics, just its subject matter.)

[Tom Bombadil]

Yes

[Sir Walrus Cauliflower]

Absolutely. I think more variety and a more equal distribution of the work load is a good thing. I think their system works pretty well right now, but more members could step in I suppose. Maybe they could collaborate and brainstorm ideas and then assign songs or sections to whatever member wants to write, I dunno.

As long as it's not about dungeons and dragons, I'm pretty much happy, though. I really don't like fantasy lyrics unless I can equate it to an elaborate metaphore.

[Madman Shepherd]

This was talked about quite a bit when ADTOE was released and again with DT12. 

YES!!! More JLB lyrics!  There is no reason why each album shouldn't have him pen more. 

At a bare bare bare bare BEAR minimum, JLB should have two but ideally more like three.  I don't mind Petrucci being the main lyricist as long as he stays away from BC&SL style but damn, give James a few more. 

[Grizz]

Desmond Child should write lyrics

[BlobVanDam]

A JR-penned song (i.e. music) would be the most interesting scenario for me.

This! More JR please.

[?]

Jordan and MM don't seem to be interested in writing lyrics, but I'd love to hear more from James and JMX. More full songs written by a single band member (JP or Jordan) could also be interesting.

[Skeever]

Does anyone know, do any of the guys compose other than JP or JR?

[Mosh]

I was under the impression that they all (minus JLB) work on the songs together. One guy will throw out a riff or idea and they'll jam on it. Not so much a single musician composing and bringing it in. I mean, I'm sure that happens too but I thought the majority of the songs came from jams.

The main riff of Home was JMX's idea, can't think of anything else offhand that he's been credited for.

[Cable]

Yes.

More writers on the first three albums = great lyrics IMO.

JP himself even said that KM's esoteric style influenced his writing, as I still hold Voices and Scarred as the two best lyrics of the band. I would put money on MP  also being influenced by KM and JM, as we had ACoS from back then.

So people writing more frequently would create almost an unspoken standard, or competition of quality output.

[Rodni Demental]

JLB should definitely write more to balance things out. Although I'm happy with him doing just 1 song per album, but at LEAST one.. Not none at all. I think one of the main reasons JLB lyrics are more demanded at the moment is because he was missing from DT12.

JMX will surely contribute another song on DT13. The routine seems to have been revived for him where he has a contribution each album.

As fascinating as it'd be for MM or JR to contribute lyrics, I think they'd feel that there was a lot of pressure on them from the fanbase to be phenomenal. Which is bit of an unfair expectation, because all eyes would be on either one of them analysing the hell out of it if they wrote any lyrics what-so-ever. I'm all for it, but for this reason I don't see it happening just yet so long as JP is willing to take the lion's share and still feels that he has plenty of ideas to contribute.

[ariich]

YES!!! More JLB lyrics!  There is no reason why each album shouldn't have him pen more. 

At a bare bare bare bare BEAR minimum, JLB should have two but ideally more like three.  I don't mind Petrucci being the main lyricist as long as he stays away from BC&SL style but damn, give James a few more. 

Well, in the case of DT12 I think JLB said he didn't have much to offer as he penned half the lyrics on his solo album. I believe he offered more for ADTOE than just Far From Heaven but it ultimately wasn't accepted.

He has written some fantastic lyrics in the past, but some pretty iffy ones as well. I would quite like more variety though, and am glad that JM is writing lyrics again.

A JR-penned song (i.e. music) would be the most interesting scenario for me.

This! More JR please.

YES!

[RaiseTheKnife]

When Jordan joined, they lost a songwriter behind the keys (both Kevin and Derek wrote),

Wait, what?  Did Derek write lyrics?  Which song(s)?  Are you saying that Jordan is not a songwriter?   He composes music with the band, and I would bet some of his contributions include melody ideas for James.

[BlobVanDam]

When Jordan joined, they lost a songwriter behind the keys (both Kevin and Derek wrote),

Wait, what?  Did Derek write lyrics?  Which song(s)?  Are you saying that Jordan is not a songwriter?   He composes music with the band, and I would bet some of his contributions include melody ideas for James.

I must have missed that comment. Extremely lolworthy.
While JR doesn't contribute lyrics (by choice), he's played a huge part in the songwriting, much much more than Derek ever did. They gained so much with JR over DS.

[mikeyd23]

Right on, JR's contributions to the musical compositions DT has created since he joined can't be talked about enough.  He hasn't wandered into the world of lyrical composition for DT yet, but musically he has provided them with so much.

Back to the OP, I agree with what several have already said, variety is a good thing.  I thought the lyrics on DT12 were just fine honestly, but getting JLB back involved for DT13 and JMX contributing again would certainly be good. It would also be interesting to see JR and MM contribute lyrically, it doesn't have to be an entire song, but maybe in collaboration with a more experienced lyricist, like JP or JLB.

[Stadler]

While I can't argue with the notion that more choices tends to give better results, one, I don't tune in to Dream Theater for the lyrics (with the exception of Images and Words; don't ask me why that is different as I am not sure I could tell you), and two, I don't see a ton of difference between any of the writers (now that Kevin and Mike are not contributing).  This is no knock on JMX, because I am not suggesting his lyrics are bad or that he shouldn't contribute, but I didn't quite get the uproar from the fanbase when it came out he was going to contribute lyrics again.  It's not like the contrast between the first Rush album and, say, Hemispheres. 

[Skeever]

When Jordan joined, they lost a songwriter behind the keys (both Kevin and Derek wrote),

Wait, what?  Did Derek write lyrics?  Which song(s)?  Are you saying that Jordan is not a songwriter?   He composes music with the band, and I would bet some of his contributions include melody ideas for James.

I must have missed that comment. Extremely lolworthy.
While JR doesn't contribute lyrics (by choice), he's played a huge part in the songwriting, much much more than Derek ever did. They gained so much with JR over DS.

I'm afraid you misunderstood me, by songwriter I primarily meant someone who is going to bring an entire song (music and lyrics) to the table. Obviously JR is a composer somewhat and is very involved in the music, but I wouldn't call him a songwriter in the traditional sense.

[Rodni Demental]

Well by your definition of songwriter, MP was more of a songwriter than JR then? I follow you, but I think JRs role is a bit under credited because a lot of his ideas will result directly in what progressions and melodies the song uses. What direction the song will take. Even MP being a lyricist, I doubt influenced the musical aspect as much as JR. Also, by that definition DS is not a 'traditional songwriter' at least as demonstrated by his time in DT.

I think it comes to a very old question. Does a song need lyrics to be called a 'song'? Songs are sung after all. Considering classical music is based on suites and pieces etc. A traditional song writer was one who wrote poetry or words to music to be sung. I believe we use a much looser and casual definition of the word now and I think you'll find that most definitions of songwirter now will be "A person who writes songs, and/or the music to them". It's not just a poem set to music anymore, it's a term that can categorise and encompass a much broader range of terms. For example, we now have 'instrumental songs', which is a musical piece, generally formed to the structure of song. And so when you get to an even broader term, like 'songwriter', JR will fit into that category because; A. His involvement in the music does influence or is directly connected to the songwriting, and B. Because songwriter and and composer are casually interchangeable in this context.

Technically by some definitions you're probably right, but I think it'd be quite pedantic to not call JR a songwriter, so I thought I'd be even more padantic about the meaning of the words today. 

[BlobVanDam]

^ That.

Since they apparently had a thing about bringing completed songs in, what makes someone a songwriter in DT? They wrote the music together as a band in the studio. Most songs are credited to all of DT (or at least the ones who play instruments), so where are we drawing these arbitrary lines? JR's songwriting influence is so obvious on those albums, especially the ones immediately after he joined, so I agree this is a pretty pedantic definition.

[LTE3]

No, who cares it's dt's music that got me into them not the vocals or lyric's. Although I love the lyric's to many songs of course I don't give a shit who writes them. I'm for more  music less singing, sorry James.

[TheGreatPretender]

You know, I think it'd be pretty interesting if next time around, all the musicians in DT, anyone who writes music, really, all came up with their own ideas, on their own time, and then brought those ideas in, and developed around each idea as a different song, with the member who came up with the idea, guiding the general direction he wants to develop the music. I have a feeling if they did that, we'd definitely get a whole different kind of a DT album in terms of experimentation and diversity.

[JayOctavarium]

I wanna / see a song with Rudess / Mangini having the main songwriting / lyric credits. That would be the best damn song ever written. Ever.



(or horrible... )

[ThatOneGuy2112]

It's honestly a fantasy of mine that JR one day contribute lyrics of his own. His musical contribution has been well covered in the thread already and aren't to be unnoticed of course, but I'd love to see what kind of song-writing elements and story-telling experiences he'd bring to the table. Of course, it doesn't seem like something he's totally into, otherwise we'd already have some JR-penned songs, but hey, a guy can dream.

Ideally, for DT13, it'd be great for JLB to contribute lyrics once again with JMX returning to pen down a song like he did with DT12. While I liked the lyrics on DT12, some more variety from other band members never killed anybody. If I'm correct Awake is the only DT album that credits all of its then-members for lyrical contributions and I happen to feel that Awake has some of DT's better lyrics. Is there a correlation? Perhaps, but I'd love to see where the diverse contribution leads to and how each of them can bounce their ideas back and forth one another.

[Grizz]

You know, I think it'd be pretty interesting if next time around, all the musicians in DT, anyone who writes music, really, all came up with their own ideas, on their own time, and then brought those ideas in, and developed around each idea as a different song, with the member who came up with the idea, guiding the general direction he wants to develop the music. I have a feeling if they did that, we'd definitely get a whole different kind of a DT album in terms of experimentation and diversity.

Jordan Rudess should compose another Overture, except more proggy and versatile, for the other guys to interpret into their own sections of a concept album. Like the lovechild of SDOIT2 and SFAM.

[Skeever]

No, who cares it's dt's music that got me into them not the vocals or lyric's. Although I love the lyric's to many songs of course I don't give a shit who writes them. I'm for more  music less singing, sorry James.

dude, no offense but: https://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/apostrophe.htm

[Xenon]

I would love to hear more JLB and JMX lyrics.

[hefdaddy42]

It's pretty rare for DT to produce a song that was entirely done by one person, so I'm not sure where that is even coming from.  For the vast majority of their songs, the music is composed in a group setting, and then the lyrics composed by one person.

As far as the OP, sure, if they want to.

[Stadler]

You know, I think it'd be pretty interesting if next time around, all the musicians in DT, anyone who writes music, really, all came up with their own ideas, on their own time, and then brought those ideas in, and developed around each idea as a different song, with the member who came up with the idea, guiding the general direction he wants to develop the music. I have a feeling if they did that, we'd definitely get a whole different kind of a DT album in terms of experimentation and diversity.

I mean this with the utmost respect, since it is just opinion, but this is something I would NOT want to see.  I'm a big fan of the notion of "chemistry" in a band, and I think for better or worse (and I have examples of both) the band dynamic is important.   I call it the "clubhouse" (for you sports fans), and I think the dynamic of getting a riff by JP, and seeing what JR and JMX and MM do with it is the magic of a band. 

This is why (not here) I have sometimes been critical of some of the side projects, because I think it dilutes the idea pool.   I don't know that it is necessarily a good thing that, for example, JLB is thinking "Hmm, this idea sounds like DT, I'll offer it up, but that idea doesn't, I'll keep it for my solo stuff".   I'm in the camp that would want to hear that idea that "doesn't" as filtered through JP and JR and JMX and MM and see if they could make it sound "like" DT.  That's how progress happens.   That's how change occurs.   

And now I am very conscious of my apostrophes.