First Two FAWM Songs
Posted on February 3, 2012
As those of you checking in on my Facebook Fan page have already seen, I’ve gotten a good start on February Album-Writing Month by writing two songs in the first two days of the month. I know myself well enough to know that whenever I’m facing a big scary project getting a good start on it is essential; it seems less scary when you’re making progress, and momentum sustains itself.
For my first song of the month I intentionally chose something I already had an idea about – a birthday song. It was inspired by a one-off song I wrote for my grandmother’s 90th birthday, which was all about the history of her life, but had a kind of sea-chantey repeating set of lines. I kept those lines from the original version (modified slightly to work in a new context) and wrote the rest anew, adding a repeating chorus and thinking about how to write lines that would be meaningful but generic enough that they could apply to the celebration of anyone’s birthday.
I’m actually quite pleased with the result, and can imagine singing it to people on their birthdays.
As with all songs I’ll write this month, I suspect there will be some editing to do after the month is over; my goal is to get to a completed song I can post, and one that has no glaring problems with it. But since I need to move on to the next song pretty quickly, some of the fine-tuning of lyrics will probably wait until I’ve made it through my 14.5 songs.
The second song came from taking up an idea I found in an old songwriting notebook – something inspired (I vaguely recall) from a dream. The line was “I should’ve checked the contract on my dream,” and I remembered something about there being a lot of extras in the dream. I’d also previously jotted down “sell-by date on love.”
So I decided to see what that song could become. I wrote a first verse about not realizing that I’d have to pay the extras in my dream union scale, and a second verse about not having realized that our love was supposed to have expired long-ago. It was at this point that I had to remind myself of my resolution to finish songs I started for FAWM and only decide if they’re worth keeping AFTER they’ve been completed. This was looking like a cute song that wouldn’t go anywhere.
But then I wrote a bridge, and when I got to the last two lines (“I didn’t read the label on my unsuspecting heart; I didn’t buy the warrantee on you”) it started feeling like it wanted to be a real song after all, and gave me a direction to go in finishing it. The draft needs some polishing, especially now that I know where the song decided to go. But I think it might have some potential after all, and that’s the advantage of pushing through and finishing before I give up on a song.
There’s still a long way to go this month, and unexpected things in my life that are making this month harder than planned, but getting two songs drafted in the first two days is a pretty good start.
For my first song of the month I intentionally chose something I already had an idea about – a birthday song. It was inspired by a one-off song I wrote for my grandmother’s 90th birthday, which was all about the history of her life, but had a kind of sea-chantey repeating set of lines. I kept those lines from the original version (modified slightly to work in a new context) and wrote the rest anew, adding a repeating chorus and thinking about how to write lines that would be meaningful but generic enough that they could apply to the celebration of anyone’s birthday.
I’m actually quite pleased with the result, and can imagine singing it to people on their birthdays.
As with all songs I’ll write this month, I suspect there will be some editing to do after the month is over; my goal is to get to a completed song I can post, and one that has no glaring problems with it. But since I need to move on to the next song pretty quickly, some of the fine-tuning of lyrics will probably wait until I’ve made it through my 14.5 songs.
The second song came from taking up an idea I found in an old songwriting notebook – something inspired (I vaguely recall) from a dream. The line was “I should’ve checked the contract on my dream,” and I remembered something about there being a lot of extras in the dream. I’d also previously jotted down “sell-by date on love.”
So I decided to see what that song could become. I wrote a first verse about not realizing that I’d have to pay the extras in my dream union scale, and a second verse about not having realized that our love was supposed to have expired long-ago. It was at this point that I had to remind myself of my resolution to finish songs I started for FAWM and only decide if they’re worth keeping AFTER they’ve been completed. This was looking like a cute song that wouldn’t go anywhere.
But then I wrote a bridge, and when I got to the last two lines (“I didn’t read the label on my unsuspecting heart; I didn’t buy the warrantee on you”) it started feeling like it wanted to be a real song after all, and gave me a direction to go in finishing it. The draft needs some polishing, especially now that I know where the song decided to go. But I think it might have some potential after all, and that’s the advantage of pushing through and finishing before I give up on a song.
There’s still a long way to go this month, and unexpected things in my life that are making this month harder than planned, but getting two songs drafted in the first two days is a pretty good start.