Here’s one way to invent song ideas at will

It’s surprisingly easy to generate dozens of song ideas any time you want to. “Inspiration” is actually something you can control. It’s a set of skills.

Here’s one way to do it: Summarize any famous song in one sentence, then experiment with loosening its elements and replacing them one at a time. Eventually you’ll find the beginnings of a song that’s entirely your own creation.

As an example, let’s start by writing a short summary of the song “In the Wee Small Hours”. The song’s easy enough to summarize: It’s about missing a girl in the dead of night. Now that we’ve summarized that in one line, let’s start breaking it down.

In the (blank) small (blank blank) of the (blank blank)

We’ll start with the time. Who says “the wee hours” are when you have to miss somebody? You could write a song about missing them in the morning. Or at dusk. So we could loosen the concept to “Missing a girl (at a time of day).” This gives you a wider range of creative possibilities to choose from when writing a song of your own.

We could take this a little further. Who says it would even have to be a time of day that you miss somebody? Instead it could be a certain day of the week. Or a specific holiday. Or an entire season. It’s certainly possible to miss someone in the summertime, when the tiger lilies she planted bloom in the yard. So “Missing a girl (at a time of day)” becomes “Missing a girl (at a time of day, week, or year).”

Even just coming this far, we’ve already generated lots of possibilities to explore. But all we’ve done so far is disregard which time of day the original song used. You can go on loosening the premise of “In the Wee Small Hours” more and more, ending up with a very flexible template in the end. For example:

1. Missing (a person) at a (certain time)
2.  (verb -ing) (a person) at a (certain time)
3. (verb-ing) (a person, place, or thing) at a (certain time)
4. (verb-ing) (a person, place, or thing) at a (certain time or place)

Of course a girl, or a love interest, isn’t the only type of person you might miss. It’s quite possible to miss a parent, a brother, a child, an old friend, a teacher.

And of course missing someone isn’t the only possible feeling you might have about that person. “Missing” could become: loving. Or resenting. Or admiring, as a friend. Or merely appreciating a person, perhaps wondering where she is now.

Finally, it’s possible to have feelings about not just a person, but also a certain place. Or a certain thing… and keep in mind that “thing” here doesn’t have to mean a physical object. Assume that you can replace any noun in a song premise with any other noun: so you’re free to choose new options of any kind. You can name a person, place, thing, idea, state, or quality. You could miss an old boyfriend, Paris, 1969, freedom, love, or common decency.

Peeling the onion

What we’ve done here is progressively loosen the whole idea of the song one layer at a time, opening it up to more and more possibilities as we open each layer. Once the concept is fully opened up, you can then put the concept back together again in your own way by choosing new specifics. I’ve totally disassembled the premise of “In the Wee Small Hours” and reassembled it as “When the Tiger Lilies Bloom”, a new lyric that’s all my own.

Best of all, this loosening and tightening strategy is a conscious brainstorming process you can use at any time with any song premise to generate dozens of new ideas. Odds are good that one of those ideas will speak to you. And it only takes a few minutes.

Try this:

Go ahead and reassemble “In the Wee Small Hours” to form a new song concept that you like. You don’t have to actually write the song, necessarily, but at least practice using one song premise to generate variations.

Keep in mind you can reduce any title, phrase, or line of lyric to a template in this way. It’s an incredibly useful technique that’s helpful not only for understanding the structure of a line, but also for inventing lots of new ideas at will.