Issue 02: Wanna Write A Song?

Since the dawn of time, people have been singing. Songs have the power to change lives, make you feel happy, sad, victorious, motivated, take you through your darkest hours, make you think, change the world. I’ve found I make my best arguments through song!

So can you sing? Write music? Notate? Write poetry?

If you can’t, songwriting is not for you.

OK,OK, Just kidding.

The truth is, anyone can write a song (and sometime I feel anyone does, to be honest), and so can you, if you want to badly enough. Can all songs become hit songs? That’s mostly luck, connections and a great PR machine. BUT anyone can write a song that allows them to express themselves and experience the joy of creation.

I’d always dreamed of singing my own songs from a teen. But I told myself that it was impossible as I couldn’t read or write music. Then, many many years ago, I visited my aunt in London, and told her how I wished I could write songs, but that I was limited by my inability to read or write music. All she said was “darling, the Beatles never wrote a note of music. Paul Mcartney recorded his first lines of ‘Hey Jude’ while he was driving his car”; and so that very day I wrote my first song. I’ve been writing ever since and have never looked back. I recorded 5 songs a few weeks later, and was one of the first generations of digital MP3.com artists…

You can be a melody maker (someone who writes the music), a lyricist (someone who writes the words) or both, ie, a songwriter.

SO HERE ARE 4 TIPS TO KICK YOU OFF:

FIRST, think of something you’re passionate about and note the words or phrases which describe the story and the emotions it conveys. Use simple language that paints a picture, but do try not to use cliches. Arrange the phrases in a logical flow. Do not rearrange the sentence structure to make things rhyme, this is really old school and if not done well, will come across as cheesy. Not every phrase needs to rhyme. You can use near rhymes or internal rhymes.

NEXT, think about what you’d want to belt out in the shower. What will get played on TikTok? You may find that a phrase or two captures the essence of the song and brings your point home… this will be your refrain. If you create a soaring melody around it, it will become the “hook”, which is a repeated phrase that lifts the song and makes it memorable. Remember Adele’s “Hello from the other side” or ABBA’s Dancing Queen “You can dance, You can Jive…” or Ed Sheeran’s Perfect, “I’m dancing in the dark.” “Mmmbop” by Hanson is super hooky from start to finish. Halsey “you’re not half the man you think that you are” is the hook for “You Should Be Sad”. From A Million Dreams: “’Cause every night I lie in bed, the brightest colours fill my head…” is a great hook. Maroon 5’s “Memories bring back memories, bring back you” is another great example. The hook can start the song, or can be the refrain. But “hooky” songs are remembered.

THIRD, what style/feel do you want the song to have? There are so many to choose from and in this age of technology, beats are so easy to program, so that’s a great place to start. You may need to add or remove words/phrases to fit the beat. My experience is that I start with a lot of words and I end up slashing and burning ruthlessly to make the song flow.

FINALLY, capture an idea as soon as it comes to you. You may think you’ll remember it later, but I’m here to tell you, you won’t. Voice memos and notes have been the best inventions ever for songwriters. Capture any ideas floating by and flesh them out later. Songs happen in stages, iteratively, and they’re YOUR work, so you can do anything at all with them. The more you write, the more choices you have to get the song you’ll be proud of. Let your creative juices flow!

Once you start loving song writing, I guarantee you will start researching great songs, creative processes, poetry writing and teaming up with collaborators. A world of creative catharsis and grounding lies waiting! And best of all, it’s free!

Some of my best ideas come to me at 2 am in the morning, or in most inopportune places! There was a time I’d leap out of bed and dash to my recording device to capture a song. Stranger in my head and Jellyfish Conquistador are a couple I could name. A few months ago my son was watching something on his computer and said out loud “Feels like lava”. Turns out he was watching National Geographic, but I thought, “Wow, great song title”! And before I knew it, “Feels Like Lava” got written from the comfort of my massage chair.

REF: Feels like lava feels like lava

molten hot and then cold stone

feels like lava feels like lava

burning blazing and then it’s gone

V1. So engulfed by your blazing flame

I didn’t think to wear my armour

unprepared for all your games

I’m sacrificed upon your altar

(REF)

V2. Coursing down into my veins

burning every cell of mine

charred in your wake, my flesh and bones

are ash and dust, I’m not alive

(REF)

I had the glimmerings of a melody when I first wrote the song, which I chewed over, and finally nailed down while getting in my 10K steps in the park. I recorded my voice through my iPhone’s headset, with passersby looking at me like I was from another planet.

BUT WHO CARES, RIGHT?