Firstly I wouldn't be too intimidated because 99.999999999999% of rock lyrics are utter shite, so you can walk under the rock lyric limbo bar without even cricking your neck.
I'm much like Ulrichs head radio thing generally but I've always written stuff down and collated ideas; notes, phrases, drawings, scribbles, stories, anecdotes, that I'll revisit after an idea strikes.
I'd also say to know your limits and IMO most people should stay away from humour and sex. IMO again VERY few people can pull off funny in a song, even funny sarcastic, it's usually a fast track to bottomless cringe. (explicit) Sex is the same, especially when a man does it but generally it's a world source of floppy cocks and Gobi desert vaginal dryness. I mean lets go topical with that lame Cardi B pish that's roughly as sexy as varicose support tights and tawdry not bawdy, if it's even tawdry to be honest.
My prescription for you Mr Sleaze is to read a lot of poetry, now I've told you in the past that lyrics aren't poetry but it's going to help you see words out of a musical context and teach you a lot about what makes a good topic.
Also read fucking everything from 'real' newspapers to novels, to lots and lots of non fiction books and like they used to say on Blue Peter; 'keep a pen and paper handy'.
Taking something historical and lyricising it is often productive; see OSG favourites Wolf People with their song
Night Witch which is about the Nachthexen a female Soviet bomber squadron and quite lyrically elegant . It's also a good example of music and lyrics in synergy where the music is suggestive of the subject while still staying on the flightpath of an actual song.
Another option is to do the comparing thing. So you're out on your bike and you see something (canal, duck, cars, sky, rain, junkie, old lady, rubbish etc) and you compare something to it like an emotion. This is a poetry perennial.
if you want to sharpen youR lyrical storytelling, I'd look at traditional
Child Ballads and
Rouds, many of which are filled with dark, surreal and violent themes and also beautiful lyrical musings on love. Tales of infanticide, murder, rape, revenge, shapeshifting, etc that would keep Tipper Gore up at night.
I'd also say, you've lived, you've been through stuff...write about it, not as lyrics so much but just write, you've got the time, so just write and hopefully you'll end up with a bunch of topics.
Another option is to subcontract your lyrics to someone else or just put it out to your cadres, cohorts and sundry hangers on that you'd like to look at their scribblings.
Inspiration can strike anywhere, I was Brambling yesterday gathering foraged berries to make jam/preserve (
which I just had for breakfast and it’s MAGNIFICENT) with and i came up with a bit of a folk horror idea based on the activity and the memory of this
amazing podcast on Brambles.
D