The Moment

Where does a song come from? Before I begin let me confess, I'm not a great student of music. I had some guitar lessons in grade school, though I have not yet learned to read music. I took guitar lessons from a blues guitarist for about a year in high school and studied musical theater in college. I don't have a lineage of music. My dad used to say his musical expertise began and ended with tuning an a.m. radio. So I didn't learn it in school and it's not immediately apparent in my DNA. 

Inspired notes, poorly recorded melodies on a phone, two line poems & chord progressions come together somehow in a moment. I can't speak for anyones else's process, but for me, it happens a bit like Extreme Makeover Home Edition. They don't really build a house in seven days. There is a lot of work involved in getting all the pieces in place. But when all the parts are ready and brought to the site and the blue shirts start swinging hammers, it's going up in a hurry. I'm not a carpenter and my wife will be the first to say I'm not handy at building or fixing things around the house, but about once a month or so, I build a song. To be honest, I don't feel I can take credit for the moment it occurs. It really feels like a gift. I normally write early in the morning, sitting down with my guitar strumming a couple chords and two or three lines of a lyric fall into place with a melody in minutes. It weirds me out in an emotional way. Most times I find myself in tears thanking God for the moment.

I have recently written a song called Tears Of Joy. Our band had just played out on a Saturday afternoon around the time of my wedding anniversary. My wife and son are both in our band. They both are impressive and inspiring musicians. Early Sunday morning I'm strumming a recent favorite chord progression and out falls this lyric.
 
Dripping wet with song in an all wet tone
The salty taste sweet in the sounds of what we've sown
We don't talk about how far we've come
We reminisce of the kiss and laughing at the sun 
Tears of joy

I prefer not to break down a lyric and reveal what I think each word means. Some day, for someone first hearing the song, it may well mean something I had never considered. If the lyric is narrowed down to my vision for the song, I believe it might loose it's intended purpose. That said... When the blue shirts started swinging the hammers on Tears Of Joy, it may be about the moment.