Guest Blog: James Rotondi, “How to Write a Song A Week, Part 2: Hungry Babies and Wet Socks”

I urge this because it works, and because it saves you from having a pile of unfinished song lyrics lying around, which the great Robyn Hitchcock once described to me as being like “hungry babies or wet socks.” Put off the embellishments—some people throw harmonies on there while the lyrics are still in the gibberish stage!—until later, and don’t get too comfy with the mere sound of the words, or again, how killer that chorus may be. Get the words down, tell the story, explore the language of this present mood while you’re in that headspace, on a legal pad in pencil preferably, and when you’re done with the first draft, if it’s messy, with tons of erase marks and cross-outs, write it out again, all nice and readable. Then grab your recorder, with your dependable settings, and lay it down.

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Done. Sweet.

Which brings us to the second basic rule that I was talking about earlier. What if your song is not as good as you’d hoped, or not that cool or timely, or not in the genre you think you’re part of, or not up to your image of yourself as the next Tom Petty or Joni Mitchell? Even better. This is why being a part of a songwriting club goes beyond merely pushing you to write regularly. It pushes you to accept your artistic humanity. Sometimes we may be transcendent, and other times we will be mundane. Regardless of what comes out, the song club rules insist that you simply let it go. No worries—there are only a couple dozen really good songwriters about to listen to your raw, vulnerable creation. No sweat, right?

More on letting go, and finding your muse when you need it, the next time we chat.

Best of luck. And remember our phrase, which you can use anywhere in your new song this week: Make It Happen.

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