It’s a hard thing for songwriters to hear, but highly effective songwriters practice writing everyday. This is hard to hear because it implies that getting good at songwriting requires dedication and discipline. In this blog post, we’ll talk about how writing everyday us a habit necessary to become a great songwriter.
As much as we’d like to believe that The Muses will just drop the perfect idea for a song into our lap, that’s simply not true. We ourselves must go out and search for inspiration, no matter how difficult it may be.
Writing everyday allows us to build a routine. Similarly to athletes who work out everyday to build their body, songwriters must write everyday to hone our skills. Only by practicing regularly can we develop the skills that are required for us to write songs consistently.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Songwriters Who Write Everyday
Leonard Cohen:
The famous “Hallelujah” songwriter once said “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work all right. Those who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”
Nick Cave:
Well-known for his prolific output over decades, Nick Cave has said “Inspiration is a word used by people who aren’t really doing anything. I go into my office every day that I’m in Brighton and work – whether I feel like it or not is irrelevant.”
Neil Finn:
On the topic of writing everyday, Neil Finn has said “You have a few days when things click and it seems easy all of a sudden – writing. But most days, you actually have to put the hours in to get through the embarrassment of hearing your own ideas in their raw state.”
Challenges to Writing Everyday
There are multiple challenges that we will face as songwriters when we try to write everyday. People often complain that they have no time to write in a day. In actuality, songwriters don’t realise that even 10 – 15 min is more than enough time to develop a song. If you chip away at a song a little bit at a time, you will eventually have completed it.
Another issue regularly described is cringing too much at your ideas in their raw state. Unfortunately, when you write often, you will inevitably write things that aren’t great. Part of being a songwriter is understanding that you have to allow the bad things to be written so that you can eventually write the good parts.
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #1 – Write Everyday
It’s important to not let perfectionism get in the way of us practicing everyday. If you focus on the process and creating good repeatable habits, you’ll be able to more consistently write good songs. Remember, there’s no such thing as sudden inspiration – only hard work, discipline and practice.
The media often portrays great songwriters as simply having inspiration strike them, then magically writing inspiring songs on their first try. In reality, a lot of revision is done between the song’s first draft and the version that the listener hears. Here, we’ll discuss how revising your songs is a necessary habit for great songwriters.
A famous quote often repeated by many artists which was originally said by RC Bannon, is “Great songs aren’t written, they’re rewritten.”
Amazing songwriters understand that the majority of songwriting doesn’t happen from flashes of inspiration. They don’t assume that the way the song came out first is the best way. In fact, they realise that the best version of the song can only be reached through various changes and iterations.
Revising your songs gives you the chance to take them through a process of development and refinement to get them to the finish point.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Revise Their Songs
Neil Finn:
This genius behind Crowded House champions this concept and talks about revising his own work. He says “I’ll try as many times as they can possibly be improved on. Occasionally, that does mean that things get over-polished or overworked, but I actually think that most of the time when I’ve gone the extra mile to refashion something or re-edit or change words, it’s almost always ended up better.”
Paul McCartney:
A great example of how revisions can make or break a song is Yesterday by Paul McCartney. Contrary to popular belief, the song did not come to him in a dream. The song actually came out with a jumble of lyrics such as “Scrambled eggs, oh my darling, how I love your legs”.
Only after spending a year on revising the song did he manage to create the version that we know and love today.
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #2 – Revise Your Songs
In conclusion, great songs don’t just appear on the page magically. We don’t wake up one day, have inspiration strike us and write the next great hit of the century. Instead, disciplined songwriters take the time to revise their songs. This way, they manage to turn them into the best songs they can possibly be.
We’ve all been there before: You get a sudden idea for a song, and you tell yourself that it’s alright, you’ll remember it later. But let’s be honest, most of the time, we won’t be able to accurately recall what it is later. In this article, we’ll teach you how you can collect everything and ensure that you’ll never lose an idea again.
Collecting everything doesn’t so much mean that we have to record everything we see or hear. It means ensuring that we have a system in place that easily allows us to record any songwriting ideas that come to mind. Whether that’s through carrying a notepad around, recording voice notes or typing in your phone, you need to ensure that you can keep track of your inspiration somehow.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Collecting Everything
Bela Fleck:
Grammy award-winning banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck has spoken about how he used to have to tour around the world at a time where handphones didn’t exist. When he got an idea for a song, he would call his house and leave a voicemail, singing whatever idea he had in his head. Then, when he got back from tour, he’d listen to all the voicemails and jot down the ones that he liked.
This story sums up really well the sense of desperation to capture an idea that a great songwriter should have.
Taylor Swift:
When you watch documentaries of Taylor Swift, you’ll notice that she always has her phone with her. In Thiago Forte’s book “Second Brain”, he talks about how she makes a habit of capturing every single idea that she has as it’s happening.
Then, she uses that as an archive that she can return to during the songwriting process. This is reminiscent of the cliché where songwriters are seen to have stacks of journals, lists of voice recordings and voice memos in their phones. The point here is that you should collect your ideas however you can, using a variety of different formats.
Max Martin:
Sometimes, ideas strike you at the most inconvenient moments. However, that doesn’t mean that you should just give up on recording them. Max Martin talks about this in the making of the popular Britney Spears song, “Hit Me Baby One More Time”.
The idea for the song came to him at 1 AM, when he was already fast asleep. Instead of telling himself that he’ll do it when he wakes up, he forced himself to roll over and mumble the melodic idea into his phone. After that, he had another idea and couldn’t quite go back to sleep. So, he rolled over and recorded another voice note into his phone.
This whole situation sounds inconvenient to us, but it shows just how determined songwriters have to be when collecting ideas.
Relating this Back to Stepping Away
All of this relates back to when we talked about stepping away as being part of the songwriting process. If you haven’t read that article, you can check it out here.
It’s important to understand that stepping away is part of the songwriting process. You’re not taking a break from songwriting, you’re just moving into a different mode of the creative process. So, even when you’re out taking a walk, having a long drive or jogging, be sure that you bring with you some method to collect ideas.
We shouldremember that inspiration could strike us at any time. In order to capture that inspiration, it’s imperative that we prepare methods to record ideas no matter where we are. In this way, we can be sure that we won’t lose any of our songwriting ideas and will always have a creative archive to draw from.
Songwriters are often solitary creatures. Most of us like to work away at our projects, treating them as our babies and ensuring that they never reach another person’s ears till they’re complete. However, one of the most crucial habits that distinguishes highly effective songwriters from the rest is their willingness to seek and embrace feedback. In this blog post, we discuss what getting feedback means, why it matters and more.
It’s necessary to understand that getting feedback doesn’t mean sharing your song the week before it releases on Spotify. While that is important, that’s asking for support and not getting feedback.
Getting feedback means asking for a third party’s opinion during the process of creating your song. This gives you the chance to take their opinions onboard, and consider how you might better improve your song.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Find Getting Feedback Important
John Legend:
During a Hollywood Reporter Roundtable discussion, John Legend talked about how he shared a collection of songs that included his hit single “All of Me”, with a group of trusted friends and collaborators. What’s important to note here, is that at the point in time of sharing his songs, he didn’t know that he would release “All of Me” as his single.
However, when he got feedback from the people he shared them with, all of them unanimously agreed that “All of Me” was the song. In this instance, John used feedback to help him narrow down which of his songs he should focus on and develop further. He understood that a third party would be able to make a more impartial decision, since he as the songwriter was too close to the matter.
Dua Lipa:
Sometimes, feedback can be given in the form of collaboration or co-writing. On a Song Explorer episode, Dua Lipa discusses the writing of her song “Levitating”. She talks about how the song was constructed working with some of her long-time collaborators in the studio bouncing ideas off each other.
This situation can be described as her receiving real-time feedback. She’s essentially taking their suggestions onboard, making changes and throwing it back to them again. Through this, we can see that collaboration, co-writing and feedback sometimes all blur the lines between each other.
Sting:
In interviews, he talks about how he often starts a song by himself. Then, he takes the song draft to his band, and if they can’t make it work within 30 minutes, he scraps the idea.
You can see from this that Sting uses feedback not only as a way to develop a song, but also as a process of elimination. In this manner, he’s able to ensure that he doesn’t waste time on developing songs which might not work out. He uses feedback as a tool to help him decide.
When to Ask for Feedback
There are multiple stages throughout a song’s life where you can ask for feedback. The initial draft phase of a song is one of the best times that you can get feedback. Since the song is in its early stages, everything is still very easily changed and there are so many different directions that it could go in. By asking for feedback, you’ll be able to easily influence your song in the early stages of its life.
However, for some people, it’s too difficult for them to share a song in its first stage. This is understandable as the first stage is when things are still very raw, which would make many songwriters embarrassed of sharing. If this is the case, you could polish your song a bit more first, before using the second or third version to seek feedback from other musicians, producers or songwriters who don’t necessarily write in the same genre or style as you.
Who to Ask for Feedback
A lot of musicians aren’t sure who to ask for feedback. This is mostly due to the fact that songwriters are often solitary, and have trouble forming the right relationships to help with this process. One way to go about it, is to seek out a community of songwriters or join some songwriting groups.
An amazing example of this is our Patreon channel which we specifically set up to invite other songwriters in and give them a safe space to be able to share their songs at different phases of the writing process. We also host songwriting groups that run 4 times a year that anyone in the world can join. – click here to check that out.
Another thing that’s really important, is to identify and follow the kinds of songwriters whose music and songwriting you love. Find out who the producers on that record are, then take a chance and reach out to them, asking if it’s alright for you to get some feedback.
You should also be sure to actually go watch live music shows. These environments are great to physically meet people in, foster relationships with people and ask for the kind of feedback that you’d require as a songwriter. This might result in you having to pay people for their help. However at some point, it’s really important to hire people who have the skills and knowledge to help you take your own craft to the next level.
As songwriters, we need to be open-minded enough to understand that feedback is meant to be a tool to help us grow. To that end, we should actively seek out feedback to further develop our craft and ensure that we can make our songs the best versions of themselves that they can be.
Songwriting isn’t just about writing songs. It’s about how we find inspiration and ensure that we can write not only consistently, but also regardless of whether inspiration jumps out at us or not. Here, we’ll discuss a part of that process: Stepping away.
It’s important to note that the creative process is not just all about being hunched over your desk or laptop and pounding away at a line that you can’t solve. While this is important, it‘s only half of the process of songwriting.
When we step away, we allow ourselves to enter a different headspace. By taking a break, we can achieve breakthroughs and gain new perspectives that we may have never thought of before
If you’d like to discover more ways to enhance your creative process, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Find Stepping Away Important
Sting:
In an interview on the Sodajerker podcast, he says “There’s something about the binary rhythm of walking around – left, right, left, right – that opens up the creative channel. If I get stuck with a problem, I’ll go out and walk it off.”
Paul Simon:
Songwriter Paul Simon is also a fan of stepping away when he’s stuck. He has said “I think it’s very calming, it’s like a Zen exercise really. The act of throwing a ball and catching a ball is so natural and calming that your mind kind of wanders. And that’s really what you want to happen. You want your mind to wander, to pick up words and phrases and fool around with them and drop them.”
Tom Waits:
This prolific songwriter has also talked about how he will deliberately go for long drives as part of the creative process. He feels that by putting his brain in a completely different state of mind, it helps to create new connections between ideas that he wouldn’t have come up with sitting at a desk.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Even classical musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been quoting saying “When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone and of good cheer – say, traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during during the night when I cannot sleep – it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.”
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #5 – Stepping Away
Stepping away is a habitthat is just as important for songwriters to practice, as it is for them to practice writing songs. By stepping away, you allow yourself to create connections you never would have thought existed. Thus, helping you to write songs more consistently and efficiently.
Songwriter Habit #6 – Thinking Like An Anthropologist
It’s easy for us as musicians to say that we listen to lots of music. However, what differentiates the way we listen to music from the way popular songwriters listen to music? In this blog post, we’ll discuss what we mean by thinking like an anthropologist when listening to music, and why it matters.
In 2008, when I was given the chance to learn from John Mayer, he talked about something that stuck with me till this day. He said that on every day of the week, he listens to the Top 10 Hits. However, he doesn’t listen critically – instead he listens with curiosity and with the intent to learn from the song/ artist.
This is essentially what it means when we say to think like an anthropologist, in regards to listening to music. It means to listen to without judgement, and only with the intent to take things apart and learn. You don’t have to enjoy what you’re listening to. Instead, listen with an open mind and understand that it’s possible to learn something from anything.
If you’d like to discover more ways to enhance your creative process, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Question 1: Why Do Millions Love These Songs?
The first question that John Mayer asks himself when he listens to songs, is “Why do millions love these songs?”.
Music doesn’t just end up in the Top 10 because it’s had millions of dollars pumped into it. Rather, it’s because millions of people actually enjoy it that songs can become famous. While it’s easy to dismiss popularity as a product of mere marketing or trends, that would be a mistake.
Taking the perspective of an anthropologist allows you to think more about why these songs are loved by millions. Then, we can take what we learn and try to apply it in our own songs.
Question 2: How Can I Use These Elements in My Own Songwriting?
The second question he asks himself is “How can I use what I’ve learnt in my own songwriting?”
Learning from a song and using it in our own songwriting doesn’t necessarily mean that we should be imitating what we hear. Instead, we should be trying to understand the mechanics behind what makes these songs great.
For example, if you enjoyed a bass riff in a song, understand why you enjoyed that bass riff. And then, maybe use a bass riff in your own songs as well, but put it through the filters of your own style and aesthetic to truly make it yours.
Remember, the key is not imitation, but emulation.
Question 3: How Would I Improve This Song?
Finally, the last question John asks himself is “If I was the producer/songwriter of this track, what would I have done differently?”
As songwriters, it’s not sufficient for us to be able to say that we just enjoy the vibe or mood of a song. We have to be able to articulate exactly why we like the song. For example, ask yourself, is it the melody, chords or lyrics that you enjoy? Then, try to articulate the mechanics behind what makes that part enjoyable to you. If you can identify and articulate what it is that you enjoy, this will enable you to then emulate it.
The next part of this is understanding that we all have something to contribute to a song, based on our own experiences and knowledge. You should try and develop the mental flexibility to listen to a song and ask how you could make it closer to what you’d imagine it to be. Not be judgmental and simply brushing it off as being a style that you’re not a fan of.
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #6 – Thinking Like An Anthropologist
In conclusion, it’s important for us to develop a non-judgmental attitude when we listen to music. This way, we’ll be able to learn from songs and provide ourselves with a larger toolkit to draw from when songwriting. If we listen judgmentally, then we deny ourselves that chance to learn and grow as songwriters.
As musicians, we often fall into the trap of listening to things that we’re used to. After all, the familiar is safe and comfortable. However, this is actually something that might be detrimental to your growth as a songwriter. Here, we’ll discuss why listening to lots of music is one of the traits of a highly effective songwriter.
Listening to lots of music doesn’t just mean listening to things in a large quantity – it also means listening to multiple different kinds of music. As artists, everything we consume will eventually be turned into creative fuel that we use to write songs. So, listening to a large variety of music means that we’ll have many more sources of inspiration to draw from.
A great analogy we can use is how consuming music is similar to consuming food. If you only ate a diet of fish and chips every day, that would be extremely unbalanced. Eating a variety of food leads to better cooking and tastier food.
If you’d like to discover more ways to enhance your creative process, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Listen to Lots of Music
Bruce Springsteen:
This legendary songwriter has talked a lot about how he’s in output mode when he’s making a record, and doesn’t really consume much material. However, outside of that and in between records, he tries his best to consume as much music, books and movies as he can.
Dave Grohl:
The Foo Fighter’s frontman and Nirvana drummer has mentioned how one of his top 10 albums of all time is “Yo! Bum Rush the Show” by hip-hop group Public Enemy.
David Bowie:
He’s a huge fan of minimalist composer Steve Reich’s work, particularly the composer’s album entitled “Music for 18 Musicians”. In addition, he has talked about how Kendrick Lamar and other similar contemporary artists have influenced the ≥making of his 26th and final studio album, “Black Star”.
Bob Dylan:
Prolific songwriter Bob Dylan said “Anyone who wants to be a songwriter should listen to as much folk music as they can, study the form and structure of stuff that has been around for 100 years.”
Some other amazing examples are Lady Gaga who loves Iron Maiden, Lana Del Ray who is a huge Eminem fan, and Miley Cyrus having an obsession with Radiohead.
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #7 – Listening to Lots of Music
As artists, it’s our job to ensure that we widen our pool of experiences to draw from, so that we can create amazing songs. To that end, we should be sure to listen to lots of music, thus, broadening our creative palette greatly.
It’s one thing to be able to write a great song. However, it’s an entirely separate thing to be able to write great songs consistently and be a great songwriter. In this blog post, we’ll countdown what we think are the 7 traits of highly effective songwriters.
Effective songwriters recognize the importance of diverse musical influences. They don’t just listen to a lot of music – they consume a wide array of genres and styles.
Just like how a varied diet leads to better cooking and growth, listening to different types and eras of music fosters creativity. Bruce Springsteen has talked a lot about how he’s in output mode while he’s recording material, but consumes as much music, books and movies as possible in between the records.
Further examples of artists who drew inspiration from surprising sources, are Dave Grohl and David Bowie. The Foo Fighter’s frontman and Nirvana drummer has said that the album “Yo! Bum Rush the Show” by hip-hop group Public Enemy is one of his top 10 favourite albums of all time. On the other hand, David Bowie was a huge fan of minimalist composer Steve Reich, particularly his album “Music for 18 Musicians”.
Habit #6: Thinking Like an Anthropologist
A piece of advice that I was given back in 2008 when I was lucky enough to spend a week with John Mayer, was to listen to the top 10 on every day of the week. However, instead of listening cynically, he listens to them with curiosity instead. The 3 questions that he keeps in mind as he’s listening to these songs are as follows:
Why do millions of people love these songs?: It’s easy to dismiss a song’s popularity by saying that it got famous by having millions of dollars pumped into it. But the reality is that songs only get popular when there are a lot of people who actually like that song. As songwriters, it’s our job to question why and learn from it.
How can I use that thing in my own songs and songwriting?: This doesn’t mean that we should imitate what we’ve learnt from these songs. It means that we should think about the mechanics behind something and try to implement that in our own songs, using our own aesthetics and style. The key is emulation, not imitation.
What would I have done differently, if I was the songwriter/ producer of that song?: Asking this question involves realising that we all have the ability to contribute to songs in our own way and style. We as songwriters should be able to listen to a song and articulate exactly why we do or don’t enjoy it – whether it’s the rhythm, melody, lyrics or anything else. Once we articulate that, the next step is to try and recreate it in our own songs, with our personal style.
Habit #5: Stepping Away
The creative process isn’t solely about sitting at a desk or playing an instrument – pounding away at that line or phrase you can’t solve. Walking, driving, and engaging in non-musical activities can also inspire breakthroughs.
For example, Sting has mentioned in an interview on Sodajerker about how walking helps him when he gets stuck with a problem. Tom Waits has also talked about how he likes to go for long drives as part of his creative process, as it puts his mind in a completely different state. Even songwriters from long ago have practiced stepping away as part of the creative process.
Famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been quoted saying “When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone and of good cheer – say, traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during the night when I cannot sleep – it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.”
If you’d like to discover more ways to be creative, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Habit #4: Getting Feedback
Highly effective songwriters understand that feedback is crucial for improvement. Sharing work with a trusted network of friends, collaborators, and mentors can provide valuable insights and guide song selection.
As an example, John Legend in a Hollywood Reporter Roundtable discussion talks about sharing his collection of songs that included the song “All of Me”. At the point in time he shared it, he had no idea that “All of Me” was going to be the song he’d release as a single. However, all of the people he shared it with came back and unanimously said that this was the song, which is how he chose which song to develop further.
Dua Lipa has also previously talked about how Levitating was constructed via a sort of round-table feedback session with some of her long-time collaborators. Meanwhile, Sting often starts a song solo, before bringing it to the band. His rule is that if the band can’t make the song work within 30 minutes, then the song gets thrown out. In both of these examples, we can see that sometimes the lines between collaboration, co-writing and feedback blurring.
All-in-all, the important part is that we try to find people that we’re comfortable enough to share our songs with and obtain feedback from.
Habit #3: Collecting Everything
Capturing ideas as they occur is an essential practice for effective songwriters. Using a variety of mediums like notebooks, voice memos, or smartphone apps ensures no inspiration is lost.
Bela Fleck – a Grammy award-winning banjo virtuoso – talks about how he used to call his house phone and leave voicemails whenever ideas popped into his head because cellphones didn’t exist then. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift captures every idea as it’s happening in her phone and uses it as a library of ideas to come back to for inspiration.
Even Britney Spear’s world-famous song “Hit Me Baby One More Time” came about as a result of producer Max Martin suddenly having an idea at 1am that he woke up and mumbled into his phone. The key here is to understand that ideas could happen at any time, and to ensure that you’re prepared to record them in some manner.
Habit #2: Revising Your Songs
Great songs are rarely born fully formed. Country singer R.C. Bannon is famously quoted as having said “Great songs aren’t written, they’re re-written”. From this, we can see that songs don’t just come as a flash of inspiration that is then poured onto the page. Songs come from songwriters having developed systems and processes that involve discipline and perseverance.
A popular example is the story of how Paul McCartney wrote The Beatles’ hit song, “Yesterday”. Although the media often portrays him as having just dreamt up the idea like a miracle, what they don’t often explain is that the lyrics came initially as “Scrambled eggs oh my darling how I love your legs”. It then took him a year to refine the lyrics into the version that we know today.
Highly effective songwriters revise and refine their work diligently. They’re not content with initial versions; instead, they see the value in reworking lyrics, melodies, and arrangements to uncover the song’s true potential.
Habit #1: Writing Daily
Effective songwriters understand that consistent effort, even in short bursts, yields remarkable results over time. This means acknowledging that not every day will produce a masterpiece, but that the cumulative effect of daily practice will lead to growth and proficiency.
Leonard Cohen famously said “Inspiration is for amateurs – the rest of us just show up and get to work. A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” Nick Cave has also touched on this subject, talking about how he writes every day in his office, regardless of if he has the mood to do it or not.
In short, highly effective songwriters don’t let perfectionism get in the way of progress.
Conclusion: 7 Traits of Highly Effective Songwriters
As an overall, being an effective songwriter isn’t just about blindly writing songs. It’s about how you write those songs, the practice habits you develop and the processes you develop to help you write consistently. To that end, we should try our best to adopt these 7 habits so that we can become more effective songwriters.
If you would like more details, explanations and examples, then be sure to check out the video now
Learn professional songwriting methods and discover strategies for collaborating with artists around the world:
I’ve been baffled lately that there aren’t more songwriters in the world who write about writing. Luckily, there are centuries worth of novelists, essayists, and other author types who have written so lucidly and honestly about the craft of writing, its messiness, its need for discipline. (Some of my favourites are On Writing by Stephen King, Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman, and The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr.)
There is, of course, the classic ‘Songwriters on Songwriting’, which I dip into a few times a year, and has given me almost a decade of interesting insights. With that said, it also reveals the ways in which songwriters are much more oblivious to their craft than their counterparts in prose or poetry. There are so many references to being a ‘channel to the muse’ that it makes my muse want to shrivel up and take up chain-smoking.
With all of that said, there have a been two delightful books that came out in 2020 that are, I hope, forging a more honest and fertile ground for other songwriters to share the details of their practice.
I loved, and tried, his ‘word ladder’ exercise, which reminds me a lot of Pat Pattison’s metaphor collision exercises. The exercise basically involves having a column of nouns that are drawn from one area/field/room, and another column of verbs that are drawn from something totally unrelated. What I like about Tweedy’s version is the sense of freedom and experimentation in how to simply mix and match, with a loose brain:
“…take a pencil and draw lines to connect nouns and verbs that don’t normallyw ork together. I like to use this exercise not so much to generate a set of lyrics but to remind myself how much fun I can have with words when I’m not concerning myself with meaning or judging my poetic abilities.”
My go at the word ladder!
The exercises are fun, creative, and specific. But the real gems in here are the stellar insights into the creative process:
“One of the reasons I advocate so strongly for maintaining some creative pursuits in life is my belief that not knowing exactly how something like a finished song comes together creates an incredible magical feeling that always leaves me satisfied and full of wonder. There’s really no exact way to do it—it’s not like putting together IKEA furniture. It’s just about getting started on the right path.”
What I love about the book is that Tweedy is all about the wonder, but also about the nitty gritty of HOW you go about putting yourself on that path. I’m so glad he wrote it.
