If I’m lucky, I start out a song with an idea I like  – music, words, feel; whatever I can get – and some ideas about where I might go with it.

Or I might be messing around – aka ‘writing’ – and come across something I like. This then leads to other intuitions about where the song could go and what it could be about.

So I chip away at it – sometimes this takes an hour or two (rare), other times it goes over weeks or months (less rare, in my case) – until, if I’m lucky, the song takes shape, becoming something substantial…

In other words, the song has begun to take on a life of its own… which is what I’m searching and hoping for.

When this happens, I’ve noticed that something important in the writing process occurs.

What I wanted the song to be about, or thought it would be, musically and/or lyrically, is not so important anymore. Now there may be something going on that’s stronger and more interesting than what I originally intended.

At that point it’s best for me, as much I can, to let go of what I thought the song was supposed to be, and to pay close attention to what it is.

It’s time for me to get out of the way and let the song tell me what it needs, instead of the other way around.

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