Where your song ideas come from

[Casey H]

This subject is very much on my mind lately. 90% of my song ideas come from real life feelings, experience, etc. Even a new song will come from something somewhere in my life- possibly many years back.But one thing that plagues me is I really love writing about slightly less "universal" things. I usually don't enjoy writing about the more common "man loves woman", "woman loves man" "man leaves woman", "woman leaves man", etc. things that a great many songs are based on. So you find songs in my catalog like "Physical World" (admiring a woman at the gym), etc... There are exceptions-- I do have a few more universal ones but it's the more quirky things that really motivate me.I am very much aware that to meet my goal of film/TV placements, the more specific the lyrics, the lower the chances. I know I have to crank out those universal ones... I know that conventional advice (the advice I would give anyone else!) would be to start with the quirky idea and then mold it to the more universal theme. But it does take a lot of the fun out of it for me... Not complaining... If I choose to write a song about an off-beat subject and it never gets placed, I won't bitch about the horrors of A&R folks, the music industry, etc. (If I was a performing artist it would be different).The most talented and successful people take a real life experience and write about it in a way everyone can identify with.Not asking for advice here... Just expressing some feelings... Casey

[arkjack]

The bigger question is " Where do my song ideas go?'. Last night I was kicked back in my chair and letting the neurons and synapses fire away and I was getting one great idea after another. I was too lazy to pull out my notebook, as well as somewhat scared that I would kill the moment of creative freshness by trying to write them down. I figured some of those thoughts were so great that I was counting on remembering them. I'm sitting here this morning chatting here and going 'What the hell was I thinking?'.. ...... I mean really, what the heck were those great ideas yesterday? Where did they go? Ohhh .... that Muse is a tough little nymph to catch..... ArkJack

[Casey H]

Quote:The bigger question is " Where do my song ideas go?'. Last night I was kicked back in my chair and letting the neurons and synapses fire away and I was getting one great idea after another. I was too lazy to pull out my notebook, as well as somewhat scared that I would kill the moment of creative freshness by trying to write them down. I figured some of those thoughts were so great that I was counting on remembering them. I'm sitting here this morning chatting here and going 'What the hell was I thinking?'.. ...... I mean really, what the heck were those great ideas yesterday? Where did they go? Ohhh .... that Muse is a tough little nymph to catch..... ArkJackDoes your cell phone have a voice memo record feature? If not get one that does... I have my cell phone with me all the time anyway so any worthwhile thought gets dictated into it immediately... Casey

[linziellen]

Hey,It baffles me! I don't know where my ideas come from. I think they say that the left side of the brain is rational, analysing, deducing, logic. So I figure my music and words are coming from the left side! I get my best ideas when I'm not looking, I can be in the bath, traveling, supposedly sleeping, relaxing. I have to be quick though because if I don't write it down on the nearest thing I get hold of...a leg, a dashboard, the bedroom wall (joke) then it will leave as quickly as it came along. I once read that if a song doesn't stick with you it's probably best scrapping but I can't actually keep up with my ideas, so I get them down quick and piece them together when I have more time.Also I notice a few other people get their inspiration from other artists and their music. I do this too. Nothing like a good old ear bashing of all your favorite music, afterward the words seem to flow.Thanks, great thread.Lindsey (PS - I think my ideas might be coming from my heart and travelling straight through to my fingertips)!

[Casey H]

Interestingly, I have 2-3 songs I am finishing right now, all based on fairly personal things. It's not that no one can relate to the subjects, but they definitely are not in that "universal" mode... But I am probably going to demo 1-2 of them anyway because I feel good about them and I am willing to invest in my personal expression... That being said, I have no illusions that music libraries will jump up and down begging to sign them. I can, however, use the music tracks and maybe the choruses and make alternate versions down the road with more universal lyrics-- so a lot of the expenditures (music tracks) will be good investments. More later... Gotta run... Casey