Detour

 I have re-started a regular exercise schedule and though the lb's aren't budging, the spirit is shaping up.
Here's a quick "run" down of my exercize history. I was in a car accident in 2001 that eventually lead me to the hospital for pain management in my lower back. After a couple epidural steroid injections and months of physical therapy I was asked to walk to rehab my injury. In my typical impatience, walking took too long and one day I started to jog. It hurt everywhere... but it was faster. I signed up for a half marathon in May of 2002 and ran a full marathon in the fall of 2003. Competing in duathlons (run, bike,run) and 1/2 marathon events was a great experience. To see human triumph is truly inspiring. The last full marathon was in January of 2007. The last duathlon was in October 2007. I would consider another 1/2 marathon somewhere in the future, though the full's and the duathlons are likely part of the past.
I still have issues with my lower back though light exercise seams to keep it manageable. More recently I have just three "very" rules for running.
  
Not very fast.
Not very far.
Not very often ;-)

What does this have to do with song writing?
Prior to 1999 I smoked about a pack a day and ran only when chased. I took my health for granted. After being bed ridden for two weeks and after months of rehab; I was given a gift. Not only could I walk, but I could run, bike and swim. (Even hang glided once.) Until the last three years I had picked up the guitar only as a trick. I took my gift for granted.

It's another beautiful, sunny Sunday morning. I'm taking the dog for a run this morning and playing and singing for 200 friends this evening. May the road you're on be blessed.      

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.                     

Love song

I used to think love songs were the styrofoam cup of music. With war, injustice, great works of literature and art, how could a love song compete? Almost twenty years ago, in a hospital ER room, my ignorance of love met a teacher. My heart was unconditionally given too another that night. We celebrated our seventeenth wedding anniversary this past summer. I love you baby. It took me about ten years of softening before I wrote her an honest love song. Most of what I write now... love songs.  

LOVE is the biggest little word ever sung, spoken or screamed. It's about Jesus and what he did for us, it's holding your daughters hand, it's considering others before yourself. We "need" water, food, shelter and love. The things we "want" just don't seam as meaningful. What "love" song spoke to you?

Take Note

Whether inspiration comes from God, literature, art, someone else's story or your own, be honest. Record the inspired moment with truth as best you know how. Filling in missing colors or adding "artificial flavors" will reduce artistic credibility. Well selected adjectives and colorful language will come. For now record the moment and be honest.
Also:
Deciding to take a "mental note" of an inspirational moment, is deciding to forget about it. Document the moment with a photo, record a message on your phone, write/type a note. It doesn't need to rhyme or be award winning prose. It needs to be recalled. (I have a collection of melodies recorded on my phone that are NEVER meant to be shared :-)
Inspiration: 
Last night our family went out for ice cream. In the ice cream parlor Miranda Lambert's song, The House That Built Me, played above the chatter of the room. The girl behind the counter making waffle cones knew every word and quietly sang along as she worked. The smell of the waffle cones reminded me of pancakes with my grandpa when I was a kid. We waited in line for half an hour to get our dish of ice cream all the while smelling the waffle cones being made... And none of us got a waffle cone.
Now I can't say this is or will be a song, but I do know, as I watched her sing, it was honest. I was inspired to take note.

Experience

A song is a means to communicate with an audience. To relate with them an experience they too have likely had but did not articulate into lyrics and melody.
The actual song writing part of song writing typically happens late in the process. First comes an experience that provides inspiration to create a "short story" worthy of a listener.
      
With every moment that passes you have an opportunity to witness and record inspiration. The still calm of a late summer morning. A child's chalk drawing on the driveway that spills out on too the road. While dinning outside on the avenue, an old, beat up car passes by with a creepy doll strapped to the front bumper and the driver stares at you as they pass. (wish I was kidding....happened last night!) Hoping for an enlightened moment will more often leave you with less inspiration. Seek and you will find.

Inspiration

Inspiration often comes from experience. Experience doesn't have to be a moon landing to count as inspirational. When writing about your youth in New Jersey or recording in Nigeria, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney recognized the inspiration within the experience for Born To Run and Band On The Run. Experience and inspiration happen in every country & every large and small town. Recognizing it, recording it & sharing it become the challenge.
God bless,
Joe Solay