Over the years, I have written a fair number of songs. Not hundreds (although I have started hundreds), but dozens. I don’t write songs steadily, but in dribs and drabs. Some have made their way into the repertoires of the bands I play with. One found its way into the repertoire of a band I don’t play in. Some ended up on CDs, and some are still being played on the radio, now and again.
Most, however, just exist. They’ll be gone when I’m gone. That’s OK, I know I’m not writing masterpieces.
I rarely decide to write a song. More often, it’s just a flash of inspiration – a snippet of melody or lyrics. This past weekend, a new song appeared in a dream, and I just happened to have a paper and pen on the nightstand next to me so I could scrawl the idea and flesh it out. This has happened to me before – it’s a neat way to create a song.
The idea for one song came to me as I was driving my car (commuting, which I spend countless hours doing), listening to talk radio, and the phrase hit my brain. I called my work phone and left myself a message. Thought about it all day, and when I got home from work, had the song written before dinner.
I often hear memorable phrases during conversations, uttered accidentally and off the cuff. I immediately pull out my phone or a pen to scribble the phrase down, and sometimes, that’s enough to suggest the rest of the song.
Sometimes, the story for the song suggests the whole song, and sometimes, the snippet suggests the song and the story follows. Then I have to look at what I’ve got and decide if it works. Sometimes, the story wants to be told in the first person (happened to me), and sometimes, the third person mode (happened to him). Often the stories are absurd, but they go where they go, and I’m loathe to change a song too much from its natural path.
Some of the stories are true, but most are situations I’ve made up, although usually based on something real. More than a few of my songs are tongue-in-cheek, because in general, I consider the world, and you humans amusing,
Instrumentals (tunes, in the bluegrass lexicon) are a little different – I’m not really telling a narrative with those. Generally, an interesting riff presents itself (usually through casual noodling) and it’s substantial enough to take it for a ride, and suggest variations that can support 3-4 minutes on it. The riff will usually suggest the mood, and that will lead to the name – the hardest part in an instrumental. This explains why so many tunes have names like “Doug’s Tune”, or “Buck’s Run”.
Time will tell if any of my songs catch on – most do not. Often, they’re just not all that good, and sometimes, they just don’t appeal to the bands I’m playing in. It’s a lot harder to introduce an original into a band – there’s no starting point of reference. Every band member has to envision their part, and sometimes that just doesn’t come together.
Doesn’t matter. I’ll keep writing the darn things when need to be written.
