Breaking Down The Songwriting Process
The Lonely Man One of my favorite songs is Johnny Cash’s version of Sting’s I hung my head. I love the simplicity of the structure and music of the song, the focus is on the story. Of course, everything is made better with Cash’s emotive, gravelly voice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M53FcPoWtA I wanted to write a song like … Continue reading Finding Inspiration In Other Artists
Change Your Mind Do you ever hear a song on the radio and think, "You should have slept on that before recording?" Taylor Swift, one of my favorite artists, has a great example from her song Mine: And I remember that fight, two-thirty a.m.'Cause everything was slipping right out of our handsI ran out, crying, … Continue reading Let Your Lyrics Simmer
Only To Your Phone One of my greatest frustrations with myself is my poor memory. Thinking back to what started the writing process of Only To Your Phone, I have only flashes of memory. Anytime I think of how this song began, these images come to mind. The first image is me sitting on a … Continue reading Drawing From (non)Experience
Sew Me Up I remember the first time I had the idea for this song. One of my sisters is three years older than me. We spent my first year of high school together with her as a senior. We were very close that year. In my memory, we did nearly everything together. She ushered … Continue reading Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
A few years ago, while on my evening train home to the Chicago suburbs, I listened to a Ted Talk podcast hosted by Guy Raz. The episode told a story about Sting, one of the most prolific song writers and how, one day, he inexplicably lost his power to write. I was riveted by the … Continue reading An Introduction
Thoughts On Lyrics 