The Wayfarer's Lyric

inspiration…

Inspiration is the trickiest part… you need to be inspired to do anything… and inspiration is the hardest element to find.. its also the one thing that cannot be acquired or forced, it has to happen…

Many a times, you come up with a great melody and a great vocal line to go with it… and you find the words aren’t coming as freely as they should and whatever you’ve written down is sounding forced and/or contrived… this is where the virtue of carrying that little black notebook kicks in… you’d probably have bits and bobs scribbled in it already… a quick browse might spark fresh ideas or you might just find a set of lyric that goes with the new song you just wrote…

Which brings me to a gentleman known as Sting. Sting is one of the greatest songwriters of our times. He is a multi-instrumentalist who has spawned some incredible songs as part of The Police and during his solo career. He has also been inducted to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. Personally, I love the way he crafts his songs.

Sting’s songs are born out of titles. He gets a title in his head. He then builds his lyrics around that. Whenever a riff or a melody kicks in, he pieces the musical bits together, goes back to his lyrics and finds what goes with it. 

Also, if you look at his discography, most songs have long titles (usually four words).. Message in a bottle, Tea in the Sahara, Wrapper around your finger, Every Breath you take, Canary in a coalmine, Man in a suitcase… Sting has a distinct style. That’s what sets him apart.

And thats probably what every songwriter should aim for… 

peace

the songwriter’s toolbox

“I’ve got a little black book with my poems in.
Got a bag with a toothbrush and a comb in.”

—- Nobody Home - Pink Floyd

There’s something nice about writing down lyrics, poems and thoughts in a book… the feel of pencil gliding on paper… the mistakes that are stricken off… the doodles that happen on the sides when you bust your brain cells trying to get that killer line of lyric… these are things that you cannot simulate with a computer… which is why my little black bag has a couple of notebooks in it… with random thoughts and lines scribbled on them…

There is the convenience that word processors offer… the spell checks and grammar tools… and the possibilities of clean editing… but then… nothing does beat paper… 

There is also intrinsic value in putting things on paper. A while ago, INCUBUS auctioned off a hand written score of their song Promises, Promises. A great souvenir for any hardcore INCUBUS fan (like me). You never know, your book of lyrics might eventually end up in some fan’s hand. 

Getting back to the topic… here’s what I carry with me:

1. a lined notepad (helps me scribble down thoughts)
2. a bound notebook (most ideas go into this)
3. pens and pencils (am more of a pencil person but pens are the way to go if you want your work to stand the test of time)
4. handheld audio recorder (used to use a BOSS recorder but sometimes even the phone helps) 
5. my harmonicas - helps get a melody going at times

There are two other things that can prove invaluable - a DICTIONARY and a RHYMING DICTIONARY. Learnt this lesson the hard way. Once a song is out, it cannot be recalled. So you got to make sure the lyrics are grammatically correct, contextually fitting and meaningful.

In the end, no matter what the tools, its inspiration and creativity that shines through. Those cannot be packed in a bag. 

Cheers

(Source: rajeev.me)

and then there was the first post…

i have my blog… its there on my website http://rajeev.me/blog… but then there was this urge to start writing and exploring the various facets of that incredible art called songwriting… having engaged in the craft for a couple of decades, it remains one of my favourite activities… time to dissect, disassemble and discover the secrets… 

of SONGWRITING!