Kicking Lines Around with a Theme

Today I was writing with my sister in a rather unconventional method. Rather then going line by line in song format, we were focusing on a theme. The theme was contradictions.

And it didn't matter whether they were good or crap - we just needed some idea's of contradictory lines tossed out in the air so we could get inspired to then write some lyrical phrases (ie. verse, chorus, etc) and melodies.

So for example here are a couple that we came out with:

" hate to see the world go hungry but I can't wait to cook"
" hate royalty but I wanna be treated like a princess"
"have so much time on my hands but I got none to spare"
"There's no such thing as a ugly person, but my man has to be fine"

As you can see, not the best lines. We had plenty more jargon that we had written down. (of course our best gems won't be published on this blog for obvious reasons).

As we were doing this, we would talk in between cracking jokes (humor is important in a writing session... to me anyway) and every time we cracked a joke we got a new idea. We would say words and then another contradictory line would stem from that. Writing seemed very easy and almost effortless.

Having said that, perhaps the red Thai curry I cooked before hand had something to do with the mood of the mind.

Never the less, we went from not having a word on paper, to around 15 solid lines we could then edit and format. How cool is that?

It took around 45 mins for this to happen.

It would have happened within 10 mins, but remember we were joking around... AND that was the important part in the session - as I said earlier. For us, the funny chit-chats in-between fueled our inspiration and BAM - we had a theme for a new song.

So why don't you work on a theme? It could be any theme. It could be irony, pessimism, cynicalism, feel-good, etc.

I just might play on to this way of writing and do it more often. Who knows the magic that it can produce.

Leave your comments. Tell me what you think.

Shamir

PS. I'm going to be holding a Q&A type interview soon. This will be Session Two of the Songwriting Secrets Interview. You'll get to ask your question, and we'll answer it for you in depth. This will be for customers of SongwritingTipsOnline only. I'm just in the process of setting this up.

PPS. Don't post this 'Q&A' question in the comments! I'll contact you about that separately. Please stick to this blog post topic for comments. Cheers

My Arrogant Behaviour Towards Music Can Lead To Terrible Things...

It's been a terrible month for songwriting - for me. I seem to be more concerned with what's 'out there' rather than what's 'in here' (ie. my head). Ever had those moments?

Ever had those moments where you seem to criticize everything and anything you hear on the radio? Instead of focusing on the content that can help your songwriting, you end up purposely finding flaws in it - so you can justify your own in-actions.

Well, enough of this! You see, today it may be criticizing songs and the artists... tomorrow I may be putting down people because of their looks, habits, characteristics or personalities. Think I'm taking this thing a bit too far?

Trust me, I'M NOT.

I've seen this happen to people. People I know. Songwriters, Musicians - and dear friends of mine. It all starts with the negativity:

"that base line sucks" , "that guitar solo is naff", "man, what terrible lyrics".... or "she's such a crap singer". How about ... "eew, what a cheesy melody...that's been done a thousand times before".

They continue to chant on their soap box until the cows come home. And before they do, it turns into this:

"that dude with the crap song has a brother who plays crappy bass... and his sister is well ugly".

Trust me, I ain't kidding here.

That's why I posted this here today. I wanted to validate my recent pompous behaviour towards the current music scene, and then do something about it. I have no right to judge. None of us do.

Yes, I know we all have opinions. And we should. But remember this.: an opinion can change... but a judgement is absolute.

This means, I won't be the one who says "that song is crap" as if it's the God to honest truth. Yes, I will have my reasons for why I don't like something, but equally I will try as best as I can to soak up as much inspiration and positivity that the song/artist/band/person can give me... as I humanly, possibly can.

I don't want to be the person who is constantly trying to justify my own rubbish music (or behaviour) by putting others down. And I hope you see the wisdom in this.

Peace,

Shamir
[formally known as Calvin]