There have been periods in my life, long periods, when I wrote two or three dozen songs a year.

In those same periods I’d frequently wake up with a fragment of music and/or lyrics, sometimes a whole section of a song, in my head, out of some kind of dream. Trained (by myself) to get out of bed, more asleep than not, I’d get the idea down. Otherwise I’d certainly forget it.

I can evaluate the quality of the idea later and develop it if it’s any good. The main thing is to pounce when it comes.

In the last few years my songwriting pace has slowed down to probably one or two songs a month… maybe fifteen, twenty a year.

Which isn’t bad… but more recently I noticed that even that output was beginning to decline somewhat. So I resolved to work on songs more regularly, and I’ve been doing it.

Even though I’ve stockpiled a lot of songs, I know that if I don’t use it (my songwriting), I’ll lose it. Also, I like to believe that I can get better at this songwriting thing – which isn’t going to be the case if I just think about it.

This week something else happened. I woke up from a dead sleep with a melody that I think might turn into a good song. It just came to me, about 2/3rds complete (the rest came after I force-dragged myself out of bed to write it down!).

This hadn’t happened for a while. I hadn’t even noticed that I wasn’t receiving the gifts that come unbidden when I’m tuned into my ‘songwriting channel’ (and, just like with TV, if you don’t have the set turned on and the channel tuned in, you miss the show).

For me these ideas often come out of a sleep state. But they can and do come any time or place if I’m writing consistently.

The easier ones seem to come when I’m putting in the time on the not-so-easy ones. Go figure.

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