REWRITING

I don’t really know why I stopped songwriting tbh - I just drifted away from it. Music became a passive activity as life and other things got in the way. After brief dalliances with other hobbies, I realised that nothing could take the place of music and so in May 2024, I decided to focus back on writing. This time around however, I am taking it more seriously. So, where to start?

HOW TO WRITE SONGS

Of course, these days, everything start with YouTube. After searching for videos about songwriters, the algorithm presented a video by the How to Write Songs Team. If you’re interested in songwriting, there are few better resources than HTWS. In fact, so impressed was I about their content, I joined their online community and enrolled in my first songwriter workshop. I was allocated to a group of twelve writers in total: we were the Flamingos.

THE RIGHT FIT

To become more serious about songwriting, I definitely needed to become more disciplined. These workshops are perfect for me. Every two weeks, for a total of eight weeks, you are given a new prompt or brief to work to. So, at the end of each sprint, you should have four songs in the bag. You have a group of other writers who give their feedback on your submissions. It’s not only good to receive the feedback, but the workshops make you listen critically to other songs and active listening is a great skill to fine-tune.

PROUD OF ME

The first prompt was around Childhood. I wrote a track called Proud of Me – my first song in around a decade. In the song, I imagined a secure and happy childhood of a child and older sibling and wrote from the perspective of that child as an adult having lost their sibling at some point during their childhood. It’s not as dreary as it sounds – honestly, check out the lyrics. I was certainly proud of myself for this milestone achievement.

SUNSHINE

The second prompt was around Road Trips. There were some additional requirements in the instrumentation to include and the vibe: a southern California sound. My song followed a couple who were taking a trip through the Redwoods. The song is decent enough but it’s not good enough to share here; certainly not yet!

ECHOES OF YESTERDAY

Prompt three involved finding a word in another language that doesn’t translate perfectly into English. I choose Hireath which is a Welsh word meaning is a pull on the heart that conveys a distinct feeling of missing something irretrievably lost. I’m very pleased with this song – I’m sharing the lyrics to and will have an updated recording to share in the near future. It was the last song I recorded in Garageband before having to upgrade my Mac and DAW (I use Logic Pro X).

APPLEMAN

The final prompt was to write from the perspective of a fairy tale or folk lore character. I wrote a track about Johnny Appleseed. I got lost in the lyrics though and wrote about the man rather from his viewpoint. While I really liked the melody, the lyrics were not great at all. I have since rewritten the lyrics and the new song is called Say What You Want to Say.

THE JOURNAL

The purpose of this journal is to track my journey. It is to record how the songs evolve while I write and record, I’ll post updates to see how I progress. This is my first milestone. This is where my journey restarts.

[25.12.24 / CT]