The beginnings of songs are varied and often mysterious. In this blogpost I’ll go through some of the ways we can encourage, inspire, and take advantage of these first impulses.

1) The Title. A phrase hits me in conversation, reading, listening… or just thinking. It excites me; I think: ‘That could be a song!’ I always try, and mostly succeed, to write it down immediately, before I forget it (which for me usually happens within 30 seconds). It’s a substantial break to start with a title that resonates for me; it often makes a lot of the other parts of the writing easier because there’s already a strong focal point. Many songwriters won’t even start writing a song without a title they like. I often write without a title, but I’ll always be searching for one as I go. Titles are important.

An offshoot of this is when a title hits me and I sit right down and write a good portion of the lyric – or at least the first draft of it. The great thing about this is that the song already has a structure (in the lyric) before the music has even been written (similar to when I write music to someone else’s words), making the task of writing the music more straightforward and often easier.

2) Hearing, in my head, a phrase of melody that I like. I try to write it down or record it immediately (of course), fool around with it, develop it. Getting the key phrase or phrases of melody is just as important as getting the title.

3) Hearing someone else’s melody and/or groove that excites me when I’m home, in a store, or someplace, anyplace. It gets me going and as quickly as possible (again, before I forget) I sit down to develop and mutate it in my own way.

4) A good opening line. Sometimes I get a lyric line… it’s not a title but it strongly evokes a situation, personality, setting, etc. It’s attention-getting. Constructing the rest of the song is still ahead, but the opening line is critical in setting the mood and direction. Even if it changes later.

5) Just fooling around on the guitar and hitting on a riff, a chord sequence, or even just a sound, two or three notes together, that resonates for me. I try to be open to words that might come too. For me, this is a very common way to write. I don’t sit around waiting for lightning to strike!

6) Learning and playing someone else’s song that I love. Playing around this way, particularly with someone’s beautiful melody, will often lead me to a ‘revised version’ that’s all my own. I love doing this, probably because I can feel that I’m learning and creating at the same time (this is what’s always happening when writing; it’s just more obvious in this kind of situation).

7) Waking up with it. Sometimes I come to semi-consciousness in the morning with a song, melody, musical riff/phrase, or lyric running through my head. Sometimes it seems like something that was playing on the radio in a dream I was having. Sometimes it seems so much like a real song that it feels like it must already exist and be someone else’s. But almost always it’s not – it’s mine.

I’ve learned that I’ve got to make myself get out of bed (or at least lean over for a notebook) right away and write my idea down or record it. This is not easy but… Ever try to remember a dream? You usually only have seconds to write it down before most or all of it is gone.

I see sleep/dream-related ideas as gifts from my subconscious – you could say all ideas are, but these are glaring examples. I ignore them at my peril.

8) I feel a mood so strongly that a song (or part of one) comes out, related to that mood. Doesn’t happen every day, but it’s an impulse worth following. Some good stuff has come out of this for me.

9) And, every once in a while, a song just drops into my lap. Yes, the song just kind of ‘writes itself’, as they say. I look at it as a reward for all the other times of showing up and working at it. It’s like getting a parking space in Manhattan – don’t count on it, but if you drive around long enough, eventually it might happen.

(If there’s a theme here it’s get the idea out before it goes away.)

Song ideas come in many different ways. The questions are… Am I willing seek them out? And to accept them when they come (because they’re often not on my schedule)?

Let me know your thoughts, additions, disagreements in the Comments section below:

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