# Write new lyrics to an existing melody
Take a melody you love and write new lyrics for it.[^1] Mark Allen Jackson says, "almost all of \[Woody Guthrie's] lyrics simply ride on the back of someone else's music, both folk and commercial songs."[^2] You can even just change the lyrics slightly, as Guthrie did with Jimmie Rodgers' song "Blue Yodel \#4," to tell a slightly different story about moving to California.[^3] He had "half-a-dozen" songs that were written to the tune of "Little Green Cottage."[^4]
[^1]: [[How to Write One Song]] ch. 8
[^2]: [[Woody Guthrie L.A.]] pg. 17
[^3]: [[Woody Guthrie L.A.]] pg. 18
[^4]: [[Woody Guthrie L.A.]] pg. 20