Franz Ferdinand give song writing lesson

Franz Ferdinand have shared their song-writing skills in a lesson for fans at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Singer for the Scottish band Alex Kapranos admitted, however, that he had no particular secrets to reveal. "When it comes to song writing there are not any distinct rules – there isn't any right or wrong way to go about it.

"Some of the best things you do are mistakes," he continued. "I didn't have any music training - most song writing is messing about until it sounds good."

But, despite his lack of expert knowledge, Kapranos defended his craft from its more academic critic. "I've always felt like song writing is overlooked," he said. "Lyric writing has for a long time been seen as the poor cousin in the literary world.

"But the most famous Scottish writer wasn't an author or a poet, Rabbie Burns was a lyricist."

He and band mate Nick McCarthy then went through the writing process of the track 'Auf Asche' with a piano.