Songwriting bubble

I'm sure we all know what it's like when we're in the 'mood' to write a song, even if being in the right mood has been a decision and not an accident. I find it's good to take this mood outside of the songwriting environment with me - I guess you could call it a 'reflective' mood where what you are experiencing is heightened, a different sense of awareness. Watching TV in this state gives me entirely different ideas as I find I am more 'cynical' and on the lookout for catchphrases and interesting commentary, going for a walk and just looking at other people can take on a whole new meaning. It is definitely an altered state and everyone must go there at some point to do anything creative.

However, make sure you always have a pen and paper or a recording device on you at all times, you never know when this inspired state may strike! The amount of times I've had apparently great ideas and forgotten them before I've got home as the bubble has burst and everything's got out of context.

Sometimes I'll absent-mindedly flick through the papers or a trashy novel just to see if something triggers off something. Listening to a talk radio program can do it, so of course can surfing around the net looking at all kinds of stuff.

If you're not inspired it's because you're in 'normal' state in my opinion, and you have to do as much as you can to get yourself into this heightened state. Sometimes those long walks, car journeys and even gym workouts can let your mind float off and find some new horizon - don't waste those thoughts, write them down - I don't go along with the old idea that 'If you can't remember it then it wasn't any good' - sometimes the old idea wasn't a great lyrical idea, but was a great idea just in itself, a place you can return to.

I always have a 'book' that I write in. There's always a 'current book' as the others get filled up. I go and choose a really nice different looking book each time I buy one, one that looks important and as if something interesting should be written in there. This helps me psychologically and helps me enter the bubble a bit easier. Each time I start a new book, I go through the last book and write down any lines or bits that I really like in the front of the new book, as well as any other ideas I've had.

The good thing about having a book is that you can follow your train of thought - I find this useful as sometimes the idea for the song is better than the way it's panning out - and if I have a strong idea for a song I can at least re-write it from scratch until I've found a way of writing it. Having song ideas on bits of paper makes it difficult to see how you felt at a particular time, a book serves also as a kind of diary of how your brain has been ticking over. Of course, there's ALWAYS times when you end up srcibbling lyrics on a post it note or a napkin in a restaurant, but when that happens I always try and stick or staple these spurious notes into my book at a relevant page.

Often I'll come up with an idea for a song but no lyric - and I write these down anyway so I can come back to them. Often these 'scenes' are locked in my head but I would never remember them without a written cue. 'Woman in car fed up with urban life wants to leave her husband but hasn't got the courage to leave so keeps going for drives to fictional friends houses before she comes back just to leave the house and pretend she's free' for instance. Sounds long? Yes, well, at least as soon as I read it I can go straight back to where I last was in my head and the way I felt about it, especially if there are some other thoughts and ideas scattered on the same page as I wrote those words.

When I'm in this bubble I'm not exactly great company.