Elusive Lyrics

I’m almost done with my newest ukulele song with only the lyrics yet to come. This is always my last stage of the song-writing process and the most arduous. 2-5 minute songs create a rigid frame to insert thoughts, feelings, stories, observations, broad messages, etc. To me, writing lyrics feels very forced and as though I’m stretching things into abnormal shapes to make them fit into stubborn spaces. I’ve conformed (kind of) to the “verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus” sort of pattern that infects so many contemporary songs. I do allow myself to wiggle around a bit in order to break the predictability and hopefully surprise the listener. Either way, there still needs to be something poignant, or interesting, or moving, or relatable to say and it needs to be befitting of the melody.

Is my lyric-writing aversion common? Or perhaps for others it is reversed and the lyrics come effortlessly and the instrumentation and melody have to be banged out. Song-writing is a strange and magical process that can delight as much as it can distress.