I like driving in my car

Driving around with the radio on seems to get my brain into songwriting mode really quickly. There seems to be just enough for my motoring mind to concentrate on to let my thoughts float off and have random ideas. I can spend quite a while trying to get into that state when I'm just sitting with a pen or guitar in my hands, but driving around for 10 minutes seems to get me there quicker.

I usually have the radio on in the car. Having the radio on makes me think one of two things - A 'This song is terrible, I can do much better than that' or B 'This song is fantastic, how inspiring' - both outcomes make me want to go and write a song. Now you could say that having the radio on and driving is too much to deal with if you actually want part of your brain to float off and get creative, but personally I find that having the radio on is another reason for my mind to wander, it seems to help. For the first 10 minutes or so I find that I'm actually listening to the songs that are playing, but after that my mind wanders off regardless of what's on.

Last night this was all happening but I had the radio down fairly low and there was quite bad reception for some reason. There was some 'stuff' playing, can't even remember what it was.

I mis-heard the lyrics to lots of songs.

My brain was trying to fill in the gaps. I came up with a great hookline, which actually I thought I'd just heard being sung on the radio. When I got home and checked, it turned out I'd entirely mis-heard whatever it was and come up with something original.

From now on I'm going to play the radio quietly in my car. Perhaps I can mis-hear some more songs.