Comics and posts about songwriting | Page 2 | Bassist Wanted

Reworking the deadline

Last verse of “Electric Wheelchair” complete! First song-a-day song: done!
DAN: Hey, by the way, I can’t meet to write tomorrow.

JOHN: And I'm busy Wednesday. Well, long as we do seven songs by next Monday, righyt?
DAN: Yeah. Yeah, totally.

JOHN: Or you know... no one knows about this song-a-day deadline... I could see, like, song-a-week working.
DAN: Ooo, or song-a-fortnight.

JOHN: Yeah... something we can follow through on, you know?
DAN: Hey, by the way, I'm gone all of February.

Finishing during lunch hour

DAN: Hurry up with the last verse, dude. I only get an hour for lunch.
JOHN: (sigh) Dan. I will hurry as much as I can.

JOHN: But if you're serious about our song-a-day project, then stop putting limits on my creativity.
DAN: What "limits"?

JOHN: Uh, limits like lunch hours, limits like bar chords, limits like 3-person backing vocals!
DAN: I just think it's unrealistic to write parts for a children's choir!

JOHN: Build your walls high, Dan! I'lll happily hurdle them!
DAN: The bar chords is just 'til I can find my Curt Mitchell videos....

I Write the Lyrics

JOHN: Whoa. What's with the lyrics, man? I write the lyrics!
DAN: No, yeah, these're just filler lyrics.

JOHN: Filler lyrics are still lyrics! I write the lyrics! I'm the lyricist!
DAN: Fine, I'll just go "la la la" then...

JOHN: No! Not "la la la"! It's... it's "tee diddley dee"! I write the lyrics!
DAN: (sigh) Fine.

JOHN: "Tee diddley dee dah dee"! I write the lyrics! I'm the scribe! I'm the wordsmith!
DAN: It's 3am, man. I'm gonna go catch the bus....

Mom helps write

MOM: Honey, your soup is ready. And Daniel... play C#sus, NOT Dmin7.
JOHN: Jesus, Mom! Will you leave him alone?! Dan, man, sorry, dude....

DAN: No, she's right, it fits better with your melody....
JOHN: Man... do not encourage her...

MOM: Now, move to D, transition into picking, and alernate up- and downstrokes.

DAN: Move to... OK, wait, what?
MOM: And there's Cokes and juice in the fridge.
JOHN: There's carrots in here! Mom! Jesus!!

Almost midnight, half-a-song

JOHN: Dan, we have 10 minutes left before midnight and only half-a-song.
DAN: Well, instead of song-a-day, can't it be, like, song-every-24 hrs?

JOHN: Ooo... I like that. Yeah.
DAN: Well, OK, we started writing at 8:30. Then we watched "Monster Garage".

JOHN: Yeah, that clearly shouldn't count as part of the 24 hours.
DAN: Right, so 9:30. Though then I watched half of "Fools Rush In".

JOHN: I thought you were peeing.
DAN: Then "Iron Chef", "Good Eats"... whoa. We wrote this half-a-song in, like, 15 minutes!

First words that come to mind

JOHN: OK, come on, song-a-day. We're overthinking this. Look, just give me a word, and I'll say the first few words that come to mind. Those'll be the lyrics.

DAN: OK... "vegetable".

JOHN: Um... all right... "staring blankly at the wall... my mind is gone... I drool, I fall... here or there... I'm always... in... in my wheelchair."

JOHN: Hmm. Pretty God damn touching actually.
DAN: Totally. A song about a disabled dude. We could, like, win an Oscar, John.

I’ll riff, you think of lyrics

JOHN: OK, OK, a song-a-day, starting today. So... first song....
DAN: Why don't I just riff? Maybe that'll get you thinking of lyrics.

JOHN: OK, sure.
DAN: So... how about... like....

JOHN: OK. Dan, this... this just sounds like "China Girl".
DAN: Hey! It is "China Girl"! I didn't know I could play that! Cool!

JOHN: Damn it, Dan! Focus! Focus, man!
DAN: OK, but hey: with this, "El Scorcho", and "Little Indian Princess"... we could totally do like an "Asian Subcontinent" medley.

Let’s write about stuff we care about

JOHN: OK, song-a-day. Now... the best songs come from the heart. Let's write about stuff we care about.
DAN: OK. Hmm... OK.

DAN: Well, OK, dude, how about like oil and the Middle East? Like it's like all... you know, and... I mean, oil companies, and... it's corruption, man. They're protected by corruption.

JOHN: OK. OK, man, I'll write that down as a potential topic.
DAN: Yeah. Definite potential.

JOHN: How was Syriana, by the way?
DAN: Good.

A thousand crappy works of art

JOHN: Let's attack it like this: rather than put pressure on ourselves to try and write the perfect song, let's just commit to writing one new song every day.

JOHN: I've heard that any artist has, like, a thousand crappy works of art in them, and the sooner you get those out, you know, the sooner you do the awesome stuff.

DAN: That's cool. So, like, every bad song we write is actually helpful.
JOHN: Yeah, exactly.

DAN: So "Cathartic Target Practice" was like the most helpful song ever.
JOHN: "Cathartic Target Practice" is a misunderstood... look, let's just get started...

We need a new song

JOHN: We need a new song. A song that gets on the radio. And people request it at all our shows. And we play it. As the cold opener or as a mid-set adrenaline boost.

JOHN: And then we think, "We're more than just one song, dammit!" And our next album is a total departure, all noodley and instrumental, and critics pan it. And it bombs.

JOHN: That's what we need, man.
DAN: Yeah.

DAN: We could also probably use better amps.
JOHN: Oh yeah, totebags. Yeah, these Rogue 120s suck ass.