10 new song ideas

Because I can't seem to get into songwriting mode at the moment, I have decided to come up with some ideas for writing song that might be useful when I get out of this uncreative patch.

1. Imagine you have been asked to write a James Bond theme.
2. Pick up one of those awful cheap magazines and choose a story at random.
3. Watch a great film, split it into its main "chapters" and write a verse on each.
4. Think about your friends -- who has got a story to tell at the moment? Tell it for them.
5. Write about something that frustrates you (Billy Bragg told me this, true fact!).
6. Think back to what you were doing 2/5/10 years ago. Write a song about how you feel about that time now.
7. Listen to some internet radio of a genre you would never touch. See if they do things differently and then work that into a new song of your own.
8. Everyone has bad songs in their archives somewhere. Resurrect a bad song, even reference the bad song or its topic, and write a new one now you are a better writer (this one comes with a warm fuzzy "closure" feeling too!).
9. Go to http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/ and create a subject for your song.
10. Make a list of as many of your songs as you can think of. When you look at what themes there are, does it tell you anything? Are you too angry/soft/introspective? Can you squeeze a song out of that?
11. BONUS SUGGESTION: pick a random place on Google Maps, go and research it a bit on Wikipedia, and then write a song about it.

Well, I know this list isn't perfect but it's given me some hope that writing can still occur on some level, even if it's only as a precursor to actual songwriting!

Songwriting challenge: fail

Over a month has passed and this blog has not been updated. Admittedly I've been busy, unfortunately, not the sort of busy that has lots of songwriting goodness to report. On the other hand, all of the things that have been keeping me busy are probably worthy of a lyric or two, so in the sense that life is changing in ways I didn't see coming, I've probably at least got some inspiration.

In other news, I've been reading the guides at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/guide/song.shtml, definitely worth a look.

Another note, if you Google "songwriting" in the UK, #3 on page one is a naff affiliate marketing thing. Sort it out Google... a massive long page with about 400 different sizes/colours/typefaces? Really? Is it something to do with the Nat Geo dofollow "songwriting" backlink that OSE says is top? Do I want to pay $37 for an ebook on songwriting? No. Do I need to? Maybe. But still. I think I'm going off-topic now.

Time to go and type up some notes I made for lyrics and see if I can't fit a lovely cold beer in before bedtime.

Woman on Tube

There was a woman on the tube who had a card full of signatures. It didn't look like a birthday card, more of a tasteful impressionist sort of notecard, and I couldn't read what had been written inside but she seemed sad and wasn't too aware of the noise around her.

Thinking about this reminded me of two quite different things.

The first was that stereotypical office mouse character in mediocre rom-com "What Women Want", who sort of disappears one day with plans to kill herself. On that note, stereotyping isn't so bad, it's sort of just inductive reason but with people instead of assertions. In crime-busting circles they'd probably call it profiling. So, mid-post unsupported statement alert, maybe there's nothing wrong with stereotyping people unless you actually really had the chance to know them better. You could say I could have asked this woman what was up, but that might have sent her over the edge if I just approached her asking personal questions.

The second was "Commuter Love" by The Divine Comedy, a song about a guy who goes to work and back on the same tube train as a woman he sort of starts to adore in a sweet/creepy way. He only has things like her literary tastes to go on, and has to satisfy himself with brushing past and smelling her perfume. He doesn't read too much into what she does off the train, which is perhaps where the line should be if he's getting a bit enamoured with a stranger. Great song though, check it out.

Anyway so I was thinking of writing a 'tube' song, since it's something I've conquered recently that I used to have a real problem with. Might go with the office mouse suicide risk girl, maybe something slower and more abstract about the tunnels and the infrastructure they support... in the meantime it's beer o'clock so I'll wrap this up with a few thoughts that come from listening to "Commuter Love" and what I remember of "What Women Want" (probably quite a lot given that it's on every Christmas).

1. People-watching might be a good place to start a song. However, don't get caught or you may appear to be a freak, and/or get arrested and/or beaten up. Noting details might be useful for direct use in the song, or helpful catalysts for the writing process/imagination. Be as observant as possible without scaring people. Maybe make notes on your phone if you think getting out a sketchpad is too much.
2. Each detail should have an implication or reason or people may wonder why you've mentioned it.
3. If you stereotype a character then unless there is some overt reason why you have done this (for example, Mel Gibson's character is supposed to be an arse which sort of allows him to come good in the end by realising this girl's value as she breaks out of the mould) you might come across as an arse.

The Wille-Hoopshank Songwriting Challenge Generator

Just, wow. The Wille-Hoopshank Songwriting Challenge Generator may not always generate the most useful suggestions for writing new songs but for the most part it's a very good start! I will be using this quite often for the duration of this experiment.

The root domain seems to be sort of on hold (see http://www.paulturrell.com/). I hope this tool doesn't disappear -- Paul Turrell, anything I can do? I have hosting and stuff and good intentions!

Using Jeskola Buzz, "People Come and Go"

Songwriting focus: "People Come and Go" (50% finished)

I've written half of a song that sounds a bit like The Chemistry Between Us. That's not such a bad thing on my first attempt to get back into it I suppose, but there are a number of things that seem to happen when I use Buzz to write stuff.

• In an attempt to find a more organic sound than the usual generators provide, I always choose a piano sound that is in many ways more recognisable as electronic music.
• I tend to arrange songs into dull 4-bar or 4-line, or 4-whatever phrases. There is always a danger that they will end up sounding like Whigfield (no offence, it's just not what I'm aiming for), or in this case, it just sounds like Suede (which is still kind of an old sound that I'm not looking for).

The way for me to get beyond this Buzz-related issue is either

• Stop using Buzz initially and record more freely. The act of tracking basslines etc. probably puts me into a very methodical mathematical sort of mood beforehand. Suggest I decide on BPM, record a wav and then adding to it in Buzz when happy with it as a start.
• Stop using a piano sound anyway. It never sounds good when I track it, because there is up to 10-finger polyphony when someone plays it live and I can never be bothered to track that properly. It will never sounds as good as when the boy TW is on the case, so in line with the previous point I'll stick to my guitar/wavs and use buzz to build around the song, not try and create it from scratch.

In terms of the song itself, it's roughly a made up story about a guy who died who I knew, who could perhaps have done more for the people he left behind. I'm not sure it will be finished if I carry on with the current Buzz version, because it's making me cringe a bit already.

Welcome to TB's Songwriting Challenge!

I am going to make myself write some stuff because I have been so lazy it makes me feel dirty.