We all have an ongoing monologue in our heads. It changes as we move through our day and our lives, but at practically every moment there are thoughts and issues running through our minds.

These of-the-moment themes, usually with a lot of emotion behind them, will tend to pop up in our song lyrics. Sometimes their fit is exactly right – our mental talk perfectly coincides with what our song is about. Maybe at the time of writing we’re angry, happy, jealous, full of desire, full of ideas, feeling isolated… and that’s what the song’s about too. Great.

But more often than not the thoughts and emotions directly at hand don’t exactly fit the song. And it’s easy to see and hear that most great songs are extremely focused, using every single one of a song’s limited number of words (and notes) to contribute to or amplify the main point (and sound good too).

This is where songwriting discipline – the craft – comes in. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds – to somehow get confused regarding what a song’s about (when it was once so clear). It’s also easy to convince myself that this point I want to make really belongs here, in this song (even if it doesn’t).

But good songwriting usually rewards the discipline of holding out for what fits, not just what’s at hand. Yes, I may have a good lyric… but it may not belong in this song. I have to have the courage to let it go (or save it for another song) and trust that if I keep chipping away there’s something out there (or in here) that will truly fit.

It’s not that hard to write lyrics that are in the general vicinity of the song’s idea. What is sometimes quite hard is to insist that the general vicinity is just not good enough and to do the labor of finding the right word, line, Verse, Title… whatever is needed to make the song as good as I can make it.

“Does it belong here… in this song?”

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