Topic Ideas

Hey all

Here are some more songwriting topic ideas for you.

Try not to look at them literally (unless of course the literal meaning inspires you!) Twist the meaning of the words… see what you can come up with!

-Write a song about a side character from Spider-Man

-Write a song about a kid named Billy who has a pet fish named Shelly

-Write a song about a zoo that nothing but one little great dane

-Write a song about the weather in The Rocky Mountains during June

-Write about what it feels like to lose at something big

Click here to see the previous Song Topic Ideas

Song Title Ideas

Hello

Here are some more song title ideas. Try not to look at them so literally. Read the idea, and if nothing usable jumps out at you, try to twist it around and look at it from different angles. Keep in mind I’m trying to inspire some creative thought, rather than just trying to give you some free song titles.

-Today’s Fortitude

-Wishing You Were Here

-Why Rock?

-Agony and Surprise

-Underneath the Locket

Click here to see previous song title ideas

Song Title Ideas

Hello

Here are some more song title ideas. Try not to look at them so literally. Read the idea, and if nothing usable jumps out at you, try to twist it around and look at it from different angles. Keep in mind I’m trying to inspire some creative thought, rather than just trying to give you some free song titles.

-The Angel Is In Oklahoma

-Draining Your Sanity

-Inside Pessimism

-True Surprise

-Confidence and Disappointment

Click here to see previous song title ideas

Topic Ideas

Hey all

Here are some more songwriting topic ideas for you.

Try not to look at them literally (unless of course the literal meaning inspires you!) Twist the meaning of the words… see what you can come up with!

-Make up a song about an ancient town filled with heroes and servants

-Write from the point of view of a lonely old person who used to live an exciting life

-Write using the phrase ‘Touch down’, but it can’t be about football

-Find out what big events happened on October 12.  Pick one that sounds interesting, read about it on wikipedia, and write a song based on the facts

-Write a song about working as a graphic artist while living in Indianapolis

Click here to see the previous Song Topic Ideas

Learn from the music business pros

Today I’m going to go a different direction and do a little book review.

The book is called “Behind The Glass”.  It’s a collection of interviews with music producers that have produced some amazing albums over the years.  Technically the book  isn’t exactly about creating music in the truest sense, but it definitely includes some talk about the song writing process.  I think it’s relevant to this blog, though, because I’m assuming many of you that come here are your own songwriter, band, engineer, and producer wrapped up into one.

The book is literally just a transcription of the interviews themselves.  Reading it will give you an interesting look on how the “professionals” do things.

Those of us who are searching for new creative ways to make music walk kind of a fine line… on one hand, learning from people who have done it before is essential, but on the other hand we’re trying to pave our own road.  I still think reading books like this can be helpful… you’ll walk away with a ton of ideas.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon.com.  Just so I don’t come across as sneaky or something, I’ll tell you up front that if you order the book from this link, Creative-Music.org will get a portion of the profit.  You can do with that info what you want!    If you’d like to help support this blog, then maybe you want to order from the link.  If not, no big deal.  I do recommend, though, whether you buy the book through this link or through your other favorite source that you do check it out.  I think you’ll be glad you did.

When creating that link from Amazon, I just noticed that you can get used versions of the book for pretty cheap.  Gotta love Amazon used stuff!

I wanted to quote what one of the reviewers on Amazon had to say about the book as well.

Great resource, but how does it rate for up-and-comings…?, January 5, 2001

By	Scott Woods (Columbus, Ohio United States) -

The other really good reviews tell you what you want to know about the logistics of the book. I want to talk about whether or not an up-and-coming musician/producer/composer can use the book in their daily work and professional lives to any useful extent.My quick answer is absolutely. It’s chockful of great interviews with unquestionable legends in the field. We always hear about the artists and get these clunky, chopped up interviews in magazines with them about what it took to make the record (“I had a dream”, “My contract was about up”, “It’s an homage to field mice”, etc.), but we rarely get such an in-depth look at who REALLY makes these artists SOUND they way they do. There’s a ton of stuff about the gear they use, how they use it and why they use it.

The slant of the book is a little high-end, which is understandable, considering the professional level of the producers we’re talking about here, so the average joe in their bedroom or basement studio may find the discussions about $10,000 microphones a bit overwhelming and useless, but the theories about how they’re used and what environments (an aspect of recording SADLY bypassed by big and small name studios alike) they’re striving to create are invaluable, and can be applied everywhere.

If you’re an aspiring artist, get it because it will tell you where the lines are in your working relationships with these people, and help you help yourself instead of looking at the studio clock with 6 more tracks you’d like to lay. If you’re a session musician, you’ll probably find it useful when the discussions turn to getting good sounds out of your instruments in various environments. And if you’re an aspiring producer, you HAVE to get it. It’s your guide through ego, business and the nature of what you wish to do.

As you can see, it’s an old review, because the book has been out for a while  (There is a part 2, but I haven’t read it, though), but the information in the book is still relevant and useful.

Check out the book and let me know what you think.  Or if you’ve read it already, leave a comment (positive or negative).  I’d love to know your thoughts.

Song Title Ideas

Hello

Here are some more song title ideas. Try not to look at them so literally. Read the idea, and if nothing usable jumps out at you, try to twist it around and look at it from different angles. Keep in mind I’m trying to inspire some creative thought, rather than just trying to give you some free song titles.

-She Loosely Gazes

-I Hated Relying on You

-Serving Notice

-We Separate

-Odd, Imprisoned, and Wasted

Click here to see previous song title ideas

Topic Ideas

Hey all

Here are some more songwriting topic ideas for you.

Try not to look at them literally (unless of course the literal meaning inspires you!) Twist the meaning of the words… see what you can come up with!

-Write about your dream to play quarterback for the Florida Gators

-Write about how you picture the future

-Write a song about life in a small African town in June

-Write about feeling like nobody understands you.

-Try to combine the following words into some kind of topic:    Admiting – Tender – Greedily

Click here to see the previous Song Topic Ideas

Today I’m going to share with you a collection of links with nothing but ideas on how to spark creativity.  None of these sites are “music” sites or “songwriting” sites, but they are written by creative people who want to make sure they keep thinking in creative ways.

Image via Wikipedia

Check them out and see what you think.  Maybe you’ll find some ideas that you’ll want to put in your toolbox for when you’re dealing with creative block.

1. Creativity Tips
2. TIPS DESIGNED TO GET THOSE CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING!
3. Tapping Into Creativity, 14 Tips on How to Be Creative
4. Eight tips for sparking your creativity
5. 16 top tips for awakening creativity and innovation
6. 30 Tips to Rejuvenate Your Creativity
7. Ten Steps for Boosting Your Creativity

Song Title Ideas

Hello

Here are some more song title ideas. Try not to look at them so literally. Read the idea, and if nothing usable jumps out at you, try to twist it around and look at it from different angles. Keep in mind I’m trying to inspire some creative thought, rather than just trying to give you some free song titles.

-When Will We Abide

-My Other Soul

-Her Demon

-Time Misleads

-Thinking Of You

Click here to see previous song title ideas

Today I want to share another link with you guys. This one is one that I came across quite a while ago, but I keep going back to it from time to time. It’s called the “Song Lyrics Scrapbook“. Basically it’s a list of lyrics that people have submitted (pretty much all consisting of 2-4 lines each) that they wrote but eventually decided to scrap.

I’ve used the site in a couple different ways.

One time I found a phrase on the site that I really liked. I ended up not using it word for word, but rather letting the idea of the phrase inspire me. I changed the wording a little to fit my new inspiration, and wrote a song around it.  The phrase was “Is anyone out there?  Is anyone even in here?”  I didn’t use that word for word, but it inspired me to write a Christian song where the main line in the hook was

‘Cuz even when if feels like no one is out there
I know there’s Someone in here

I didn’t take the suggestion word for word, but I let it spark an idea in my mind that I ran with.

I also found a more fun way of using the site, though…  I turned it into an “outside-the-box” mental creativity exercise.

I took a lyric that I found on the page. The lyrical line was:

Traffic Jam in my head
Thinking of words I should’ve said

I decided I wanted to use that phrase as a songwriting exercise. I started trying to think about it from different angles. Instead of taking the potentially obvious approach of writing the song from the point of view of someone who is dealing with hindsight being 20/20, regretting that he/she didn’t think of the right thing to say a little sooner, I decided to try to take it in a direction that a normal song wouldn’t go.

In the end, I wrote the lyrics from the point of view of a nerd/geek/dweeb type of guy that really wants to talk to the hot girl that he’s around all the time, but he gets too nervous to make the words come out. Here are the lyrics that I wrote:

Written by Jason Hannah on 12/5/08
Written to my song “Space Age Jam” from about 7 years ago

Verse 1
========
I’m dying to meet you, I just want to say hi
But I’m not sure you even know I’m alive
All my friends say you’re out of my league
And I know that it’s true, but my heart won’t agree

Even though you’re a model, and I’m just a nerd
I hypothesize I can rock your world
And it’s just my luck now you’re walking down the hall
Let’s just hope this time I say anything at all

Chorus
=======
Traffic jam in my head
I’m still thinking about what I should’ve said
But the gears froze up, I hit the brakes
When I’m around you I hardly know my name

Traffic jam in my mind
It happens around you each and every time
I don’t know, what to say
Even though I practice every day

Verse 2
=======
It happened again, I just froze
I was sweating so bad my glasses slid off my nose
I practiced at home in front of the mirror
Hoping that I could overcome my fear

But it didn’t work, you’re just too hot
I try to act calm even though I am not
But here’s another chance, you turned around
I’ll talk as soon as I get my tongue off the ground

As you can see at the beginning, I then put the lyrics to a piece of music that I had written years prior, but didn’t know what to do with. The music was written around a very weird guitar riff… the riff was just too odd to fit with much of anything, which made it a good fit for my geek song.

To top it off I tried to sing it in a nasally “nerd voice”.

Because it was just an exercise in creativity, I never took the time to record a polished version of the song. I did, however, record my nerd vocals over the original riff demo that I had laid down years before. It’s not a good recording, but it’s something to show for the thought put into the lyrics.

If you’re interested, you can play the MP3 below:

So how will you use the Song Lyrics Scrapbook? Creative practice like I did? Inspiration for your next songwriting session? Maybe you’ll find a line in there that fits perfect with a song you’re already working on?