Songwriting is a form of art, but it is also a craft. It is a hobby, or can be a job, but for most fellow songwriters, songwriting is what we call our life!
Needless to say, there´s not such a thing as a manual for how to live a life. And neither is there a bullet-proof step-by step instruction on how to write a (good) song.
The way we songwriters approach this, differs from person to person. Mainly because songwriting is a very personal process.
Nevertheless, it´s always interesting and in intriguing to find out how fellow songwriters get down to it! Some say they start with chord progressions, while others build up a songidea around a line of lyric or even a poem.
What´s interesting to me though is to hear people say, they´ve started a song and finished it 2 or three weeks later. What´s so interesting about that, you might wonder…
Work till you drop
Well, to me writing a song is usually a one day project. Sometimes of course I´ll go back to it the next day and the next and thus the song evolves a bit. However, I just couldnt go to sleep without having found the actual shape of a song (once I´m writing one). I couldn´t sleep unless 90 % were finished. I forget to eat, I forget to drink, I totally forget myself during the songwriting process. I get soaked up in it and it´s not me who´s the one deciding I am done…it´s always the song that tells me “go sleep now…you´ve done a good job” or sometimes it will say: “let it be! You and I are not working!”. Fair enough I´d say!
So, I´m curious! How do you handle time management and how long do you work on your songs on avarage? How do you deal with passion versus reasoning? And how much do you tweak on your songs, once the basics have been built?
Leave me a comment!
Love,
Katie