Most of us have a notebook or a computer folder packed to bursting with unfinished songs, lyric fragments, chord progressions, and little threads of melody.
"Why can’t I finish any of these #$%$#ing songs?"
Hey, I can relate. At one point, my hard drive was so cluttered and hopeless that I actually felt relieved when I dropped my laptop and cracked the hard drive in late 2011. That little misstep wiped the slate totally clean of my life’s work.
After an initial sick, sinking feeling, I felt peace. Then excitement. A fresh, virginal hard drive! A clean, empty desktop. On that desktop I created a single empty folder. Then, inside that folder: a single new text file. I felt such freedom. Such a sense of possibility—like landing in a new city where nobody knows you. Total, total freedom to rethink everything, to become an entirely new person.
Spoiler alert: if losing all of your work feels like a jailbreak, you’ve let things get out of hand.
"This time will be different," I swore. "I’ll write one song at a time. I’ll see each one through."
Care to guess how long it took for the unfinished songs to start piling up again?
If you guessed "About 90 minutes," you are correct. In no time at all, my idea file was a bottleneck of incomplete thoughts again: just a massive, messy, overwhelming cluster of ideas and drafts.
Starting a new song is much easier than finishing one. Thinking up new song ideas delivers a thrill and a sense of possibility, but developing an existing idea takes work. Patience. Commitment. Discipline.
The real proof of a songwriter lies in sticking with it. Wading steadily into all that tough problem-solving that comes in the middle of the process. Staying cool when progress is slow or stagnant. Showing up even when it feels futile. Learning about the craft when you find gaps in your knowledge. Recognizing when you’ve taken a wrong turn and need to scrap an entire verse. Soldiering on when you’re in over your head.
In short: doing whatever it takes to see that song through.
By all means, pursue new song ideas—capture each one right away. But train yourself also to focus and set aside time to work on one song.
Inspiration doesn’t just happen at the conception of a new song. It also happens in the middle and toward the end. Sitting down, day after day, to tackle the hard questions and the complex puzzles doesn’t give an immediate psychological reward. But in time, it pays off with something much better world: a finished song.
Then you can move on to the next one.
Commit. Stay the course. Keep working.
“Thinking up new song ideas delivers a thrill and a sense of possibility, but developing an existing idea takes work.”
Spot on! I know how you feel, Nicholas (and I think every other songwriter in the world does too).
I also keep a text file containing fragments of mostly lyrics and interesting song titles that would be a hit if they ever saw the light of day 🙂
Interestingly, I once saw a YouTube video of Adam Young (Owl City) where it showed him in his house and studio working on his second album. At one point in the video he was browsing through his Mac computer, and in it was a text file with a collection of phrases like “Bubblegum Pink” and others. If you listen to his songs, this is where he gets most of his unique lyrics.
Here is the video if you’re interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roL2gMmxwyo
Cheers,
You know, Endy, I wonder whether text files are just difficult to work with in general. I’ve been considering a stack of index cards instead.
Thanks too for this video, Endy. I never would’ve stumbled across it in my usual travels and circles, despite Owl City’s popularity.
Clearly Adam Young loves the work. I respect that.