[Stephen]

The songwriting process


No I'm not one of the great songwriters but I've written quite a few I'm happy with, none published so far. So I thought this might be of interest to those who say the process is difficult for them.

Today I was riding home on my motorcycle and wondered what I might call an album if I ever made one. The title that came to mind was “Of course” which might seem ordinary but has a special meaning to me. Then I thought well if that was the title there might be a song with that title too.

A few scraps of snatches of phrases came to me, which I tried to remember. Some of them came back as I sat down at the typewriter to string some words together for a new song. I had a feeling for it, a kind of slow swing (because Annie doesn’t like fast swing a la Stephane Grapelli), sounding a bit like a classic because I love the classic songs.

Here’s what came in the first half hour or so. The actual process is very difficult to analyse. The state of mind is free-flowing and receptive, and it’s probably enough just to set your mind in that direction. It’s a listening kind of thing, being able to snatch the thoughts that resonate, the phrases that have rhythm, the lines with end words that rhyme, before they slip from memory. If they do slip, they can sometimes be called back, but the whole thing is kind of slippery, it can’t be taught like other arts in terms of steps, it’s a kind of leap to a thought high in the air. You can see the difficulty I’m having describing it.

Anyway, what I intend to do is keep you up to date with my progress on this song in the hope that this is of some interest to those of you struggling with lyric writing.

As more verses come, if they come, I’ll post them. I have a kind of rhythmic feel in mind, and a style, so in my mind I’m listening for sounds and sequences of notes that will fit. As I do I will try to remember them, find a chord progression that fits. I might develop a chord progression from that start. Let’s see what happens. I might decide in the cold light of tomorrow morning that the whole thin is cr- ahhh rubbish. Back to you soon.

Oh, before I go, I’m looking at the fourth and fifth lines and thinking that’s where a rewrite may be needed. It depends a little on whether I can find a tune that fits with the rhythm of the words.


Of course the love between us is the real thing

Of course you can believe it’s true

Of course it’s bigger than we can imagine

There’s something about it that’s more than it appears to be

That’s more than me and you

Of course you can believe I’m thinking of you

Probably when you’re thinking of me

Of course the we two are really one,

Of course we’ll always have the sun,

Of course, of course of course, I love you