What inspires you to write?

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i know exactly what you mean

MusicminD said:
There's not really a particular thing that inspires me to write. Actually an inspiration could be anything or anyone. Sometimes the idea just puffs out and my mind just generates words. I may sound corny but in my case, it's not me who writes the song but the song writes it self out of whatever there is.
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MusicminD said:
I may sound corny but in my case, it's not me who writes the song but the song writes it self out of whatever there is
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It often drives me to distraction when people talk about songs writing themselves :D. There isn't a single element in a song that would be there if a human being didn't put it there, no matter how predictable. End of story !
Or to put it another way ~ if a
MusicminD said:
song writes it self out of whatever there is
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and the song is crap, do you blame the song for it's lame writing ? :D
Protocall said:
Just wanted to hear what other artists do to help them write new lyrics. Is it listening to a certain artist? Being in certain emotional states? Drinking?
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Protocall said:
What inspires you to write?
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There are actually two totally separate questions contained within the OP. And therefore potentially two answers.
In terms of lyrics, it could be literally anything that catches my mind at that moment. I've written about God, drugs, childhood, relationship fallouts, food, dentists, teeth, babies, shit, disputes, homosexuality, parenthood, hunger, marriage, traffic wardens, death, squirrels, siblings, my Mum, schooldays, religion, abortion, the sun, sleep, the devil, cleaners, work, shops, my Dad, friends, enemies, TV, rats, mystics, dogs, postmen, pygmies, the cave, computers, strange lands, my kids, the streets of London, crime etc........
I often have a load of lyrics on the go in various stages of completion. Some will come in moreorless one go, others may take months or years.
But the question of what inspires me to write can't be answered because there isn't any form of inspiration that I look to. I don't know beforehand what will inspire me to write so I can only answer the question in terms of what has inspired me prior to the moment I answer the question.
For example, couple of years ago, I was driving past a shop called "Kosher cuisine" and straight away, a melody and a beat came into my head. I worked the phrase and melody into a song. I recorded it and it's done. That sort of thing happens alot.
 
grimtraveller said:
But the question of what inspires me to write can't be answered because there isn't any form of inspiration that I look to. I don't know beforehand what will inspire me to write so I can only answer the question in terms of what has inspired me prior to the moment I answer the question.
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Right.

I also don't look to anything in particular for inspiration, though a few songs have been inspired by someone or something.
For me it's usually one of those as-it-happens moments, and it could be anything (sometimes at the oddest times)....but most of the songs that come from those moments aren't as much about pure inspiration, but more to do with perspiration.
The bulk my songs start as ideas that pop in to my head, often as small bits and pieces....and then the rest is work.
 
miroslav said:
but most of the songs that come from those moments aren't as much about pure inspiration, but more to do with perspiration.
The bulk my songs start as ideas that pop in to my head, often as small bits and pieces....and then the rest is work.
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That's the thing. Songs are work. That's why I get a little irritated by the notion that they write themselves. That's an overhang of 60s 'magic' and it does two things in my view; firstly it presents one as a mystical channel, hip and in tune enough to 'pick up that which is magically floating through the spheres' :facepalm:. Secondly, it absolves one of responsibility for writing crummy songs.
But because songs are 'work', that doesn't mean they are stodgy boring rubbish. Inspiration exists, of that I am more than comfortable with, but inspiration alone is a bit like a four chord progression on acoustic guitar played over and over ~ incomplete and in need of shaping.
 
grimtraveller said:
That's why I get a little irritated by the notion that they write themselves.
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Well....I think what people mean by that (at least what it means to me, and I've said it too at times) is that some songs have a more obvious direction, almost an "it can't go any other way" foundation, so that the song "writes itself" (with work, of course :) ).
If you pick a certain kind of unique topic, the lyrics tend go in an obvious direction.
Same thing with certain chord groupings if/when you keep a song in a given style.....there's only so many way to go.
More generic topics give you more options, but are IMO even harder to write and NOT sound like some other song.
I mean...how many blues songs sound the same, and cover the same ground..? :D
IMO it's harder to write a decent "love song" since that's such a general topic that's been done to death....than it would be to say...write a song about the "girl with purple hair and rose tattoos working at the food mart checkout".

I also feel like that about a lot of recording sessions....that at some point the song starts to define itself, and after that things just fall into place. If you try to force something else...it doesn't work as well.
Hence the feeling that the song comes to life and "records itself (with work, of course). ;)
 
I write to express myself. I want to get my feelings out. Also, I want people to discover me too
 
You're already a sensation on HR you just need more exposure.
 
If I am writing lyrics first, I establish the mood by conjuring up the spirits of late and great songwriters.
Once I have established contact with them, (Croce, Chapin, Morrison et al.) I draw blood from my left arm in order to have the appropriate shade of red while scribing (I am right handed.)
This helps to cut-down on errors (I don't want to waste any....ya know?) Once "inspired" to write, I chose the appropriate substrate. For instance, a love song would be written on the inside of a label of a can of Hormel chili (makes absolute sense n'est pas?)


For music, I start by bashing my head against a hard, rough textured surface to the desired beat I am looking for. This establishes what I call the "Throb "TM method. Once established, I have a constant beat to follow (I could buy a metronome....but, why bother.)

Others on theses boards have made reference to using illicit substances to augment the creative process.
Can you believe it? Why? When there are simpler, more natural ways of establishing the mood.

Oh well, to each his own. I suppose everyone is different.:rolleyes:
 
I have recently just started to just roll out words in a very loose way...they kind of turn into the song....then I edit them to tighten it up. Sometimes it works, other times it's a throw away. Any time that I try to write a certain song it comes out like crap. ..like I want to write a love song about XYZ...never works for me. I wrote a lot of poetry in college where rhyming was thought to be uncool or cliché. It narrows down your choice of words when you are trying to rhyme..makes it easier.

Here is an example of this stream of consciousness kind of writing - https://soundcloud.com/tom-paul-2/stay-in-the-game
 
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