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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Do You Write? From Idea to Reality
Do You Write? From Idea to Reality
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jbone
1999 posts
Aug 16, 2015
6:29 AM
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I think things have to kind of pile up around me, and when there is a sort of critical mass I get inspiration.
Example, Post Katrina/Rita, I saw a good number of folks who'd been displaced by those nightmare storms, staying here in Jville, Arkansas, because the Air Force Base is here. And probably some also who had just made it this far on their own. Kind of by osmosis- at jams, at the bank, out with my wife while she interviewed some of the victims of the disaster- even just seeing the news coverage for weeks after the fact, and hearing first hand what life was like right then for some hard put upon folks- I internalized a lot of experiences, thoughts, images, and emotions.
All of this percolated for a few weeks, a couple months, however long. One evening at a jam in Hot Springs it suddenly occurred to me, I had a song ready and did not know it until that moment. Nothing was written down, the thing just surfaced pretty much whole and ready to send out the p.a. I called a tempo and a feel, and told the crowd "I am about to take a big chance here, stay with me and you may see a true miracle happen." Cued the band and we kicked off into Katrina Blues, which pretty much flowed out of me whole that night for the first time ever. Jo still marvels about seeing that happen before her eyes that night.
I later did some tweaking and recorded it with a guy on a doomed cd project. Since then we have worked on it between Jo and me and it's a good piece of work. It will go on the next project and we play it out sometimes.
Another example, I have fished for 55 years. I have played harp for about 43 on and off. Sang for 20 more or less. Written lyrics in a I-IV-V format for about 19. The other morning I sat down and wrote a new fishing blues type piece. The lyrics flowed almost unbidden and even now there are verses I will add. I can feel it, it's going to get some attention.
I have examined the process of writing and come up with a sort of sequence of events and actions that work pretty well.
1) A feeling which grows over time. A day, week, decade.
2) An idea of how to express the feeling
3) In my mind, a note, a chord, a riff
4) In my hand, a pen or a keyboard to type with
5) Some quiet time where the thing can be let out into the world, on a piece of paper or as a Word document.
6) At this point communication begins between me and a partner, most recently Jolene, on what it is and tempo, key, groove, whatever details strike me.
7) To the lab, be it living room or street corner, or more recently travel trailer. Sometimes I give Jo something to work with and then a little time for her to come up with something.
8) Back together with Jo, one of us begins in some fashion. I sing a line or a verse and she finds the place on the fretboard, or she kicks off some chords and I begin to sing and play harp.
9) Sometimes it's back to the drawing board, and sometimes something amazing happens and we have a song pretty much ready to polish a bit and then play.
I would call this a sort of grass roots effort. It's definitely reflected from my heart and guts and twisted mind, out into the world, with no thought of if it will "sell" or be popular. It just is what it is and it must live in the light.
The process would seem to be in the Raw, Real, Right Now category, but however. These ideas which surface were inside for a long time. We take in information from the world, and we feel a certain way about something. We carry on with our lives and we let things lie inside us, and sometimes they germinate and begin to grow. Meanwhile we are living life in all it's immediate detailed glory, and this thing, it grows some more and keeps seeking the light.
Ultimately, something breaks through into the conscious mind and heart. It must be written and it clamors near the surface to be let out.
Pen to paper, lips to microphone, harp to lips, spoken words to partners. Now the real creation begins.
Ultimately either a song happens or it's set aside for more inspiration or editing or adding to.
That's how it works for me. How does it work for you?
Read more: http://talk-music.proboards.com/thread/3905/feeling-finished-product-write#ixzz3iz5qwF9z
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marine1896
331 posts
Aug 16, 2015
6:57 AM
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The last song I wrote was back in 2013 inspired by a friends nightmare of going through the Atos medical assessment the previous year with throat cancer. A guy that had worked since he was 14 years of age I had known him for the last 25 years of his life and was ruled fit for work and he died in 2014 I titled it "You can't get sick no more" like a lot of songs over the years I try to write lyrics based on real event's and or in the tradition of blues about life, women, politics, good times and bad times however I usually stick with traditional blues patterns and generally avoid that 70's funk/rock thing which is considered "modern blues" by some!
I have noticed I usually throw my lyrics together pretty quick if its something I'm very interested in or it has made an impression on me it just seems to write it's self in my head and usually the music is sort of there from the start, however sometimes those lyrics can be reworked into say a slow blues or whatever. And if I'm working with another instrument I'm always open to ideas.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/16/atos-doctor-claimants-biased-medical-assessments
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"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
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jbone
2000 posts
Aug 16, 2015
7:36 AM
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I've written from my own life and also from things imagined or perceived. One of my notables was post KATRINA and the overflow that came out of me that night.
I'd like to hear your song 1896. I will guess it's a sort of protest against the monolith that is insurance these days.
We both write here and we both have an idea of what the song will be. Jo wrote a real jazzy swingy thing from out of seemingly nowhere which is on the current cd. We both wrote to that effort and some of it was so fresh it still had the wrapper on when we recorded.
I find a kind of urgency sometimes that spurs me to get an idea down and as complete as I can before I lose the feel.
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nacoran
8616 posts
Aug 16, 2015
1:08 PM
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I've written songs all sorts of ways. Sometimes I'll be in bed and a couplet will come to me. I'll flip on the light and write it down, then a few minutes later I'll get another one. Sometimes I sit down specifically to write something. For a while I hosted a songwriters' circle and we had a loose topic to work on. Sometimes I'm depressed and just have to get something out. I've wrote a lot of songs in my old car. It's radio was busted so I'd sing to myself (I'd keep something in the car to record it, or keep singing the same verse over and over to memorize it). I used to write a lot at open mics. Something about hearing live music would just get me inspired. I've even written a couple lyrics on the fly at practices, but never tried it on stage.
At one point we made a list of songs that every band writes- the one about a girl that got away, the one about driving fast, the one about being broke, the one about rock and roll... the trick doing that is you have to either be very different than what else is out there or you have to do it better than the classics. It's hard to write a song about how you wish your father was a bigger part of your life when you've got to compare the results to Cats in the Cradle.
One of the weirdest things, and I think maybe it's less true than it was when I was younger but still applies, is I tend to write happy songs when I'm blue and blues when I'm happy.
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Nate
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kudzurunner
5605 posts
Aug 16, 2015
3:20 PM
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jbone, that is a brilliant post! If we had a nomination for "post of the year," you would get my vote. Thanks for taking the time to think that through and share all that.
The one thing that struck me is how lucky you are to have your life partner be a vital element in your creative process. My wife doesn't play an instrument, so her role is somewhat different. But she has a great eye--so anything that I do that involves graphics (artwork, photos, a website), I always ask for her advice.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 16, 2015 3:20 PM
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jbone
2002 posts
Aug 17, 2015
3:50 AM
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Adam, we are lucky men to have our spouses involved in our other passion. My last wife was a total opposite from Jolene. Jo has done so much to help bring my ideas to light, and I do the same with her. We each have unique skills that compliment the process and we end up with something bigger than the sum of its parts.
Thank all of you for your kind words. You know sometimes something is in there and has to come out on a quiet morning, say after a gig the night before.
I feel a kinship with many of the members here that allows me to be concise and frank in my thoughts. I have you Adam, and Nate, and some others to thank for that. Providing a forum where the true essence can be expressed is invaluable. I posted this on another forum some time ago and got not a single response. With that in mind I must compliment you guys who have responded. You get it. See, that's why I have my mail sent here.
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marine1896
332 posts
Aug 18, 2015
1:16 PM
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@jbone; Sorry man, never recorded that or much else always lots of rehearsal's and stuff but never been fortunate enough to get to the stage of recording plus my working life (long hours and staying away on jobs) has always been an issue. But, your right on the money (for me anyway) songwriting and it's process is important almost as much as woodshedding in some ways without a doubt! The blues...it's all about expressing yourself and telling the world not only your problems but everyone's problems about everything and anything that's what the great bluesmen and women taught us that's their legacy musical and social and so much more. Some of the classic blues tunes lyrics are poetry to me, I mean my main man Sonny Boy II's "Mighty Long Time" for me is about one of the most moving songs ever cut...just genius and the lyrics...forget about it as they say! All subject's are of interest and it probably stems from my early musical endeavors writing songs in punk bands in my early teens and one song in particular I wrote called "Black gold misery" (about oil and it's world wide procurement by whatever means and at any cost) actually evolved from lyrics in a punk band and over time reworked for a blues band, thinking of others "Give the kid a break" about modern child poverty in the early 2000's... relevant even more now, "Broke down and hungry" (about a car breakdown and the hellish night that followed in the middle of nowhere... pre mobile phones)! I also try to use words that crop up in blues songs titles a lot or a play on some of the classic song titles as a sort homage or tribute, even though the subject matter can be very different! Great post as Adam says, pity more folk did not contribute.
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"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
Last Edited by marine1896 on Aug 18, 2015 1:19 PM
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waltertore
2875 posts
Aug 18, 2015
2:23 PM
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I always like to quietly chime in that life is one continuous song and if one is willing to let go of the rules imposed on what music is suppose to be an endless stream of songs will always be at your door. You can walk into them literally and become the song by putting yourself in a place of no mind/thoughts and let it come to you. It is an out of body experience that feels 100% real. You travel around the globe, to death, birth, different times, and into other peoples stories. It is much like the old Gumby claymation shorts when they walk into books and become the story. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Smiling With Hope Pizza-pizza with a social cause
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Last Edited by waltertore on Aug 18, 2015 2:42 PM
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Goldbrick
1094 posts
Aug 18, 2015
3:45 PM
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There is that great Duke Ellington story about how a song came to him in dreams for a couple of nights and he finally wrote it down when he awoke one day.
The next day he played it for a band member who said " but you already wrote that song" He was playing Satin Doll
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jbone
2004 posts
Aug 18, 2015
5:01 PM
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I take my muse at face value, There are times I am dry for months and then seemingly all at once I get 2,3, more ideas at the same time.
Some of my material has sprung out of current hip phrases. Some is just from inside someplace, from something that happened yesterday, today, or last year.
Most of what I write is a tribute to the founders of roots and blues in one way or another. If not for RJ, Skip James, RL, Muddy, Wolf, Mr. Dixon, Minnie, Rosetta, and all of the rest, we may not even be having this discussion!
Walter, indeed life is a song in itself. And finding meaning and a way to express the everyday is a true gift.
One of the best things I have ever had was a recorder. The latest is a decent little camera that does still and video, but all the way back to reel to reel and cassette, I found ways to get a record. A lot of it hurts to even hear these days frankly, but the later stuff is so great to see and hear, even if it never gets out of the house! I would urge anyone who writes a song to find a way to record it. If only for your own archives.
I began with a yellow legal pad and a #2 pencil. Things have evolved to Word documents, sometimes though there is no other way but scribble a few words on whatever's handy until I can get to my little office and focus.
One song on the latest cd sprung from Jo noodling on a guitar and me finding lyrics that fit. It turned into the funkiest blues thing we've ever done.
I've never written the same song twice but care has to be taken to make each work it's own unique thing. That can be hard but I always try to keep it simple and let the song find it's own groove.
It's so amazing to get something down and done and then bring it out to people's ears. We find that folks we never met relate to what we play sometimes, on the street, in a club, wherever. Several people I have sold the Party cd to have given us solid feedback, and that means a lot to us so we can stay on the course and keep making real and vital music happen.
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walterharp
1665 posts
Aug 18, 2015
6:17 PM
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my process is a bit different usually..but lots of ways.. usually it is a groove and a melody that are searching around for lyrics that match them.. .then all of a sudden they will make a feeling and the words will pour out
but sometimes in the end that groove and melody do not work, so then i have words.. and sometimes the words find a new melody or groove.
they can just flow out at times. or sometimes it is tons of work and revisions till they gel
the part about it being something important that bumps around a little in your brain is a good one
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jbone
2005 posts
Aug 19, 2015
3:58 AM
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I sometimes drive a 6 ton 26 foot diesel box truck. It's loud enough that I don't bother with the radio. Instead, the rhythm of the truck on the road has brought some lyrics up just by virtue of the motion on an hour's drive to a customer. Since there is already a basic rhythm the words just find their way out!
Many times we will sit down and I begin singing a capella, or with maybe a tambourine under foot for a basic tempo, and Jo then begins finding the right stuff on the neck.
Early on, between working in a band or duo, I was writing lyrics and taking them out to a jam night. I was kind of forced to have an open mind and to trust the guys on stage with my work, to bring it alive. I would try to describe what I had in mind, like "Muddy and Tbone Walker run into RL Burnside, they have a few drinks and go wild on Reconsider Baby", or something like that. Many times the result was not just different than what I'd imagined, but better as well. This is the case with many of the songs Jo and I have authored, she will take the basic idea and expand on it on the neck of the guitar, and a simple song will become something more, and unique.
Last time we recorded, in December, for the current cd, we had a rhythm section in on it. It was not a very long session but we got everything done that we wanted. On a couple or 3 songs the muse took me and I added and modified lyrics, made a new verse here or there, and made other spontaneous changes on the spot. Sometimes this is top notch and sometimes it falls flat. Have to use good judgement on what will work like that. If you are lucky to have some real pros on board, it works well a lot of the time.
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Georgia Blues
164 posts
Aug 19, 2015
8:06 AM
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I have been only writing lyrics since our band got together about 5 years ago. Before that I'd written in a number of other forms… essays, lectures, short stories, but never a lyric. Most of my stuff comes from my own experiences, and it only seems to make sense to me as blues. Amazing to me how much fodder you can stack up in a lifetime. Some of it's political, a lot about love and drinking, one about radiation treatment… travel figures big in my lyrics. I cannot for some reason think in musical terms (rhythm, melody etc.) when I do this. Weird. Our guitarist and I collaborate on the music, and our drummer always has an idea or two on how to make it a more interesting composition. After a life as a visual artist it really is a most satisfying creative outlet.
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jbone
2006 posts
Aug 19, 2015
8:46 PM
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Good on you Georgia! However we can make an idea or a feeling into a tangible hearable reality, to me that's what it's really about.
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BronzeWailer
1766 posts
Aug 20, 2015
12:15 AM
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Interesting thread jbone.
I have long dabbled in songwriting, poetry etc. I was a pathologically shy, introspective youth and barely talked to other people so writing was my main means of self expression.
I don't have any set routine or process.
I will write from my own experience (losing my job in the GFC; haven't had a full-time gig since, largely of my own choosing).
Other's experience: I used to busk in the financial district quite regularly. A guy who collected the cans for recycling had a pet rat named Princess who used to scamper around on his clothes. She got a cancerous tumor on the leg one day. He had it operated on successfully by the vet. He was taking her home on his shoulder and somebody grabbed her and ran away, never to be seen again.
Or I will imagine someone's experience and write about that. I wrote a song about someone trying to help another person with an addiction, but the person leaves one day never to come back, and the feeling of the person left behind. Then something similar happened close to home, and the words suddenly rang a lot truer.
The germ of a song might be a throwaway line, or a riff which becomes an instrumental, and then one day the words that fit will percolate to the surface.
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mr_so&so
926 posts
Aug 20, 2015
10:38 AM
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I wrote my first song about 5 years ago. That one started with some lyrics. Other songs I've written have started with harp phrases. One was inspired by listening to a Blind Willie McTell song. I just try to stay open to letting songs come any way they want to. I usually have to work with them and shape them for quite some time before they solidify, especially the lyrics.
Another thing that I often do is write new lyrics to old songs. Lots of blues songs have been passed from person to person and the lyrics stop making a coherent story (or even sense) after a while. St. James Infirmary is one of those. I like to bring the story back by rearranging things, keeping lyrics I like and writing new lyrics. I also like to play old gospel tunes because the melodies are so catchy. But I'm not religious, so I don't feel like I can sing them with conviction. I write new lyrics and change the song into something I can sing. This has often been done in the past, e.g. during the Civil Rights Movement, hymns were re-written as protest/freedom songs that people could sing because they already knew the tune. For example, Pete Seeger wrote Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind on Freedom). I've even done this for some copyrighted songs. For example, I wrote new lyrics for People Get Ready to make it about the environmental movement.
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Last Edited by mr_so&so on Aug 20, 2015 10:42 AM
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jbone
2013 posts
Aug 24, 2015
3:53 AM
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Jolene is writing something this morning. It may not even have a part for harp in it but so what! The muse leads where it will.
Watching someone you love and care for go through the process and come into their own as an artist is worth uncountable riches. Being a small part of that in fact, is priceless in my book.
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JustFuya
803 posts
Aug 24, 2015
2:25 PM
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The first song I ever wrote was for a "Homegrown" album that a radio station in San Diego put out yearly (70s?). The subject had to have a local theme. I had already banged a few chords out as a novice on the guitar so the melody was complete if poorly executed. I wrote about one of the nude beaches:
.....
Where your tan is complete
From your head to your feet
And nobody's complaining
Except when it's raining
.....
We missed the album deadline because I insisted that my finger hammers on the D chord were essential. My collaborators insisted on strumming it out because they found it as difficult to play as I did. One of the guys did get some mileage out of the altered version after I left town.
My second song was written shortly thereafter, during a breakup:
The happiness we shared my love
I soon will not forget
From Sunset Cliffs we traveled far
Although we never met
.....
I wrote the rhyme and then did the melody. I sang it for friends a few times until I was informed that the melody was an almost note for note rip off of an Oreo's commercial. More importantly, it had a shocking, bitter twist at the very end. I've never been one to share my innermost feelings with strangers. I altered the ending during a reconciliation but it dulled the edge which I considered to be the song's best feature.
So I gave up writing songs. I believe what Walter Tore says about honesty. I think it's a key ingredient in most great songs. If I bare my soul musically anymore, it's instrumentally.
BUT, I did begin a new song many years ago:
I used to be normal
And then I got better
.....
That was it. I would occasionally sing those 2 lines during gigs. A drinking buddy asked me why I never finished it. I told him I had a blockage. An excellent writer (columnist), he suggested 2 more lines off the top of his head:
I used to be dry
and then I got wetter.
I thought of making a group project out of it. I have participated in story writing using the same concept with complete strangers. I have always wondered if the same thing had been or could be done with songs. I recall a recent effort on MBH to do something like this with harp but interest seems to have waned. Perhaps with some structure it can be done.
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walterharp
1669 posts
Aug 24, 2015
9:29 PM
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it used to be pearl jam,
but now its just Eddie Vedder?
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PropMan
62 posts
Aug 24, 2015
10:01 PM
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My baby'd come home
If only I let her
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BronzeWailer
1774 posts
Aug 24, 2015
10:11 PM
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And if my car wasn't gone
I might go and get her
BronzeWailer's YouTube
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KingoBad
1657 posts
Aug 25, 2015
6:36 AM
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My shrink proves that I am
With a certified letter.
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Danny
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mr_so&so
932 posts
Aug 25, 2015
9:54 AM
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She said to dress formal.
I showed up in a sweater.
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KingoBad
1658 posts
Aug 25, 2015
11:17 AM
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Blue star ointment -
Cures ringworm and tetter.
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Danny
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Goldbrick
1097 posts
Aug 25, 2015
2:17 PM
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Devil woman brought Whiz
Tho I only eat cheddar
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BronzeWailer
1775 posts
Aug 25, 2015
4:38 PM
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She said "that was good,
but my husband is better."
BronzeWailer's YouTube
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nacoran
8633 posts
Aug 25, 2015
8:04 PM
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My girl is flying in
And I got to go and get 'er.
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Nate
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KingoBad
1659 posts
Aug 26, 2015
6:13 AM
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My apologies in advance...
It wasn't the length,
But the girth that upset her...
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Danny
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marine1896
348 posts
Aug 27, 2015
3:21 AM
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Ok for the first time in a long time and inspired by this thread and recent events and not so recent events in America I'm sitting in the tea hut yesterday alone doing some paper work for this job and a song came right into my head! Thinking of it as a stop time, I've titled it "Gimme that gun" and yes it's semi anti-gun but not anti-America cos let's be honest and I've said this a ton o' times (not on here I think) America is one of the greatest countries in the world and for me personally it's culture, music, movies,classic cars/motorcycles...women ;-), the people I have met/spoke to are great so let's just be clear on that!
I may post the lyrics, don't know yet.
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"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
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Goldbrick
1098 posts
Aug 27, 2015
6:34 AM
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I said take a chance,
But she wasnt a bettor
Last Edited by Goldbrick on Aug 27, 2015 6:53 AM
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BronzeWailer
1777 posts
Aug 27, 2015
6:38 AM
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I'm not good at tongues
But I used a French letter
BronzeWailer's YouTube
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