How I Write My Songs

And for another example, that second line, "I feel bad when I'm likened to a rounder." Terrible, of course. And inaccurate, vis-a-vis me. Who came up with that?

Playing around with it, trying to keep rhyming with "flounder," remembering the current topic of the song, the topic of many of them actually--the woman leaving the man she once claimed to love--I came up with, and settled on for the time being, "I feel bad when I cannot be around her." Obvious, of course; it's the same sounds, at least the way I pronounce them: "a rounder" and "around her." And the topic relates to the last verse, which includes a line along the lines of "I feel sad watching as she packs her luggage," which came about because at the time I came up with the "I'm so glad that I don't live in a flounder" line/melody my girlfriend was packing some luggage for a long weekend trip.

Luggage currently rhyming with rubbage, as in "I'm so glad that I've taken out the rubbage." Which isn't a good word, but maybe we--yes, I said we; I am including you, my imaginary reader, in this process now--maybe we can live with it.

So it's moving along. Though one never knows if it's moving in the right direction or not, or if ultimately it will move back to where it started or somewhere so different that it will be unrecognizable, will be, say, a song about bicycling through the Cotwolds in England and seeing more sheep than people. Probably, though, it will not end up as that.

What else can I say about revising? I tend to revise for brief periods as I walk to the grocery store or ride on the subway--here in D.C. called the Metro--or sitting at my desk at work. Last night I came across "around her"--came across it in my head, I mean, "came up with it" I suppose I could say, but it feels more like coming across it like you'd come across a old bill you haven't gotten around to paying yet--I came across "around her" walking back from the grocery store. Sitting at home and trying to revise, over long periods especially, like a job, doesn't seem so appealing. Though parts of the process must be done at home, at least the way I write my songs--working out the music on the guitar, seeing if I can sing it in the key it comes out in, etc.

A personal note: I have a headache. I'm going to go lie down, maybe nap if the pain subsides, maybe listen to some Prokofiev--his second string quartet, maybe, or a violin sonata on the my new CD with Gil Shaham on violin and his sister on piano. But given the way my head feels that may not work, and I may switch over to something more familiar-sounding, say a Mozart or Haydn string quartet. This wouldn't be background music, mind you, it would be music I'd attempt to listen to carefully, perhaps even following along with the score of the Mozart or Haydn. Having background music teaches you not to listen, which is a dangerous habit I think.