New songs incoming!

Nothing finished yet! But some lovely ideas taking shape...

1-1-11 Day 1

1-1-11
It's here! I'm starting to get nervous now. I realized today that I haven't written a song since last May!! Ugh. That is unbelievable. It now is 2:34 in the afternoon and I haven't felt like writing all day. Reeeeeally haven't felt like it. I've actually invested a lot of energy into procrastinating. I should have expected that. I should probably go kick things off with a ridiculous or funny song just to take the pressure off.... That's what I used to do with a new empty journal. I'd leave the first couple pages blank and then make a shopping list on the next page. After that, it felt like the pages filled themselves. I made up that formula years ago when I was overcoming perfectionism (which is just fear). Sounds weird, but it worked. Alright, no more procrastinating. No more fear. I love songwriting more than any other form. I've been writing songs since I was a toddler. This should be as easy now as it was then!

happy new years eve!!!

only a couple of hours left before the songwriting frenzy begins! i am a little nervous, but i’m mostly excited to get this party started.

i pray that you have an amazing night as you bring in the new year. and i pray that your new year would be full of unlimited creativity, meaningful productivity and true life!

inspiration

today i’m creating a writing area in our living room. got the keyboard and guitar and a beautiful window to stare blankly out of. so, down to business. where will i find inspiration for my new rush of songs? with 111 songs to be written i can’t just sit around and wait for a song to force me to write it. i’m gonna have to be calculated and have a plan of attack! i’m on the hunt for good ideas!

it’s time to begin aggressively tracking new ideas and melodies and chords. here is where i’m gonna look for lyric ideas:

first, i’ll go to my old boot box. i confess, a lot of those ideas are still there because they aren’t good enough to become actual songs. but i’m sure there are some treasures to be mined.

creative poetry always sparks creativity. i’m pulling out my favorite poetry books to keep next to the keyboard. the beautiful language and word choices always give me ideas and inspire new ways to say what i’m feeling.

of course, as a believer, the bible is an inexhaustible source of subjects and stories, ideas and revelations. the word will “never fail”!

story songs are everywhere: novels, news, family members, jokes, movies, television, sappy commercials, documentaries. history is full of songs waiting to be written. i have a few eras in time and cultures that i plan to study to find new musical ideas, characters and stories that are begging to be sung about.

life experiences are obviously a great source for new songs. whether they are trivial or profound you can just write about a lesson learned or tell the actual story.

musicology is an amazing source for awakening new areas of creativity within. listening to different cultural sounds and historical musical trends can incite all kinds of different songs.  

personal emotions and, even opinions, are good resources for sincere and inspiring songs.

things people say are always a source of songs for me. casual conversations are usually full of good ideas. i’ve overheard some of my best ideas at the table next to me in the coffee shop. preachers and prophets are also great for timely and relevant messages and creative words. ministers spend a lot of time and energy learning to communicate and prepare their sermons. they use a lot of acronyms, alliterations and metaphors that are good to steal.

spontaneous times of worship have produced some of my most favorite songs. getting alone with the lord and just pouring my heart out opens my music up for the holy spirit to pour his heart back out to me.

assignments are also an excellent motivator for me. different venues and events sometimes need a song with a specific theme or hook line or feel.

ok! i've got my eyes and ears open. songs are everywhere!
where and when do you get your best song ideas?

pulling out my boot box

when i was 24 my dad gave me a boot box for my birthday. inside the box was one piece of folded notebook paper, which held the first line of a song idea written by a songwriter named mickey newbury. he wrote it for me only a few weeks before he passed away. he was a prolific songwriter and a very special inspiration and friend to my father, ray hughes, who is also an incredible songwriter. mickey newbury wanted to co-write a song with me so he sent a first line for me to finish (knowing full well that finishing is the hardest part :). during their last visit together my father and mickey discovered that they both kept all of their song ideas in a boot box under the bed. scribblings on napkins, gum wrappers, post its, envelopes, were all tossed into the box when the song idea didn’t yet want to be finished. a little intimidated to immediately tackle mickey’s first line, i quickly covered it up in that box by a thousand other ideas of my own. 


i’m gonna sift through those this year when inspiration refuses to strike. and i’m sure that i’ll be tossing in hundreds more ideas to be written later. who knows, maybe this year i will finally co-write a song with the great, late mickey newbury!

no idea left behind

only 22 days til 2011! then the songwriting frenzy will begin! i am becoming more and more energized as i think about and prepare for all the songs that are soon to be born. i bought a tiny new notepad to keep with me for capturing ideas as they come. i usually use my iphone voice recorder, which syncs into a folder on my itunes. it works great to record lyrics and melodies but there are still some public places where it is weird to sing into your phone. another fun way to record on your iphone is with the simple songwriter app.

this year i need to stay prepared with whatever will keep an idea from getting away. i always say that i won’t forget, but i usually do unless i get it recorded. i have the most hilariously bad recordings of me singing into my phone in the middle of the night. i wake up (kind of) and record what i believe to be a truly brilliant song idea. the next day i discover that it was actually comic brilliance and it will never be heard by another human.

either way, i’m gonna need every single song idea i can find for this project.

how do you capture your ideas?