Let’s talk a little more about getting past the blank page.
Let’s say you’ve got a vague idea of what you want your song to be about. What should you do now? Should you start making stanzas? Do you start with the verse, or the chorus? Should you attempt the first rhyme?
All these things are putting the cart before the horse, in my mind. But this is an area where you need to pay attention to inspiration. I’m going to give you some hints about how you might go about writing a song, but be aware: abandon anything I say at this point if you are feeling INSPIRED to go in another direction.
The early stages of song-writing are pretty interchangeable. The classic question asked of song-writers is: Do you write the music or the lyrics first? Do not listen to anyone’s answer to this question, because I’ll guarantee you writers do it about half and half. And sometimes they do both at once. There’s no formula here. So if a melody springs upon you out of the blue, start with that.
But let’s say you’re feeling more or less uninspired. You’ve got the piece of paper, or you’re seated at your computer. And you have your topic in mind. My suggestion is: don’t worry about verses, choruses, rhyming, alliteration, or any of that. Just start writing about your topic in prose.
My friend challenged me to write a song about global warming. A far cry from “Wake Up, Little Suzie”, but a legitimate topic for a folk song. Anyway, I started playing around with the idea a little bit this morning. First thing I did–and this is what I recommend you try–was jot down what I know about the topic, relevant to the song I want to write.
Don’t make an essay out of it. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, or penmanship. Don’t even write in sentences, if you don’t feel like it. Maybe you just throw out some words that come to mind. Stream-of-consciousness is good. It can be a narrative: “Let’s see, I want to write about global warming, but not like the science of it, but more like…a call to action, with maybe just a little of the background and science, but then some encouragement to get out there and start a movement…” Or jot down phrases (David Byrne once claimed that his songs are made up exclusively of random phrases he writes down throughout the day): “Global warming/Climate change. CO2 trapped in the atmosphere. Since the Industrial Revolution. Cars, airplanes, burning coal. Running out of time. Mass migrations, crop failure. GRIM. Got to lighten it up. Use some humor…” You get the idea.
Fill up a page or two (or 20) in this manner. But don’t get attached to it. You’re just going to throw this away at a later stage. The thing is, you got the ball rolling. And in the process of writing down what you know, one idea generates another. And with any luck, one of these ideas will be the kernel for a song. You don’t have to use everything you just wrote down. Hell, you may end up not using any of it. But you’ve generated some ideas, and that’s where you have to begin. Ideally, we’re waiting for inspiration to strike, and that can happen any time. It’s a lot more likely to happen while you are writing about your topic than while you are doing the dishes (though that happens sometimes too), so you might as well keep yourself busy focused on your topic.
As an aside, a song about Global Warming doesn’t have to be a 17 minute diatribe. It doesn’t even have to be literal. I heard a song on the radio the other day by the local band Achilles Wheel called “Nobody Drinks if the Bottle is Dry” which basically says it all in that one line. And you can dance to it.