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.