Where do Songs Come From?

Where do songs come from? I saw Arlo Guthrie perform this spring and he told this wonderful story (of course!). He said writing songs is like fishing. You just sit down by the stream, cast your line, and wait for the fish to bite—and you have to be ready when they bite. He made a very funny joke: it figures he had to sit downstream from Bob Dylan. Bob took all the good songs first!

Songs come to me from multiple tributaries. My best songs have spawned from at least three sources. The sources can be of a different nature, but I need at least three to get into the flow.

One inspiration can be a snippet of melody, going through my head, presenting itself to me. Where the heck did THAT come from? Oh, well… let me just hum it a while. Mark it down for later.

Or inspiration for a song can come from a groove, a rhythm, a sense of energy. I might just be jamming on my piano and I like the feel on my fingers.

Sometimes a phrase of a lyric will show up. It arrives at the door and I say, “Hello, step right in.” It will hang around for a few days, and if I can it match up with one of these other bits it may just stick around.

But for me to reel in a full blown song, the random tune, groovy groove or catchy phrase on its own is never enough. I have spent many a frustrating song-writing session trying to pull something out of a phrase that just goes nowhere. Kind of annoying. But I don’t take it personally anymore.

The strongest pull towards “songdom” is always a wider concept. The deeper flowing idea, if you can pull one up, will easily hold it’s own. Then it’s just a matter of plugging in the music and the lyrics to get the point across. It’s a feeling, the heart of the song, the theme, if you will. Once I find one of those I know I will be able to complete a song. Whether it’s “good” or not… that’s another story!

For example, today I wrote a song called "You Set Me Free.” I put it up on myspace if you want to hear my demo: www.myspace.com/kilissacissoko

It’s kind of a breakup song—one of those songs where you lift your chin and gather your pride and walk on after a failed romance. It started out, frankly, as a little riff. This very silly little doo-woppy melody, and then the catch phrase lyric presented itself. Knowing how to pace myself in the process, I didn’t worry too much about where it was heading. I just laid down a very rough demo so I would remember it. Then I went grocery shopping, or something like that. You know, just forgot about it for a few.

Back to writing, I rolled up my sleeves and I realized where this was heading and I set out to build the lyrics. I had figured out the stylistic parameters, kind of a minimal Motown take-off, but somewhat updated (hopefully!). I wanted it to be very laid back and somewhat weary, yet also simmering with understated energy. You get the picture? Knocked down, but not knocked out! After that the lyrics just came right along. It’s kind of amazing how easily they flow once I have the format figured out. I had a few images I wanted to incorporate (that’s another tributary!), and as the verses came along, it became clear how they would progress to build the story.

It’s not a descriptive story, per se—with a beginning, middle and end; it’s more like a reflective narrative. I think everyone has been through a heartbreak. The less I say about a specific situation the easier it will be for a listener to put their own story in it and relate to the essence of the feeling.

So, I had gotten that far but I still needed something else! Another trickling stream. That’s when I went to wash the dishes. Let it sit. I came back and by the blessed favors of the waters, I got my bridge. I borrowed the word “disingenuous” from Dar Williams. I didn’t really think I would keep it, but in the end it seemed to work. I also picked up a phrase from Berry Gordy. I read his bio this week (hence the Motown feel, I suppose!) and he said something about winners and losers that I paraphrased in my song, so I want to give him credit for that!

I made my complete recording and polished it up as best as I can with my current technology—will be better with "real" musicians. But I’m happy with it. It is what it is. I’ve decided to write in a “singles” format. That is, each song is written on it’s own terms, for it’s own sake, and in it’s own realm. The next song I do may be completely different. I’m trying to write 100. This one was like… number 45 or something like that. But that is a topic for another blog entry!

* ... and a note here, on "revisions"... I revised the song tonite (8/12/09), a few days after the original post. I changed only a few tiny things around and it all made so much more sense. I also changed the title; I had originally called it "It Didn't Mean That Much"—but I realized that it DID mean that much—so I had to fix that! I also had shared the original demo with somebody else who made a savvy suggestion which I incorporated just by flipping some verses around. Songwriters... get Garage Band. It's a great tool.