How to come up with ideas for a song

Have you ever been inspired to write a song but don’t know what to write about?

Well, here are some ways to generate song and lyric ideas.

https://youtu.be/Rt29SGUvzjE

Stream of consciousness

The easiest place to start is with the tried and tested Stream of Consciousness. The most straightforward version of this is to set a timer for 5 – 10 min and just write.

Anything, everything, whatever comes to mind. No editing or judging, spelling, grammar, readability, nothing, just write and don’t take your pen off the paper until the timer goes off.

Most mornings I do it, I end up with a mashup of whatever I can remember about the previous night’s dreams and a ‘todo list’. And that’s fine, the whole point of this is to just write.

It really is as simple as it sounds.

Sometimes our mind will use simple as an excuse and say “it’s boring” or “I can’t think of anything”.

Then write about that! So when you are done,  read it back and see if any of the ideas interest you and log them.

Download the free lyric writing cheat sheet here

Stick to the facts

Pick out 10 or so facts about yourself or someone else.

If you can’t think of any random facts, google ‘Personality Questionnaire’ You know the personality profiles they have you fill out for dating sites, job applications or to see which house in Harry Potter you belong to, any of them will do.

 

Ask yourself

1. What is new in my life/some else’s, or the world? 

2. What’s changed in my life/ someone else’s life or the world? 

3. What have I acquired/ learned/ lost?

 

Headlines

Use headlines from wherever, the internet, newspapers, etc

This can be done with random words and phrases from news articles, advice columns, problem pages, lyrics from several songs.

Remember, we are only using these as starting points for creativity, by the time you finish you’ll have morphed any copyrighted lyric into an original idea. Right?

 

Picture it

Pick a photo or picture and write about that.

from magazines or newspapers, google stock photo sites, the more random the better and describe what you see or write a caption.

The pictures help ‘light up’ the visual centers of your brain.

So Instead of just looking at words, you’re looking at images and triggering new creative ideas.

 

Have a conversation with a song

Listen to some songs that inspire you and write your own version, imagine the song is a conversation and write out your responses to what’s been said.

 

Pet hates

Pet hates/pet loves, A pet hate is a behavior that you or somebody else has that you find really annoying. Pet love is the opposite. We all have them and don’t say you don’t.

 

Movies

Movies, t.v. shows, books. Use for titles or pick lines. Write through a filter. Pick a line or a title from a movie, book, t.v., news, a social media conversation around a topic, an influencer,

remember Copyright protection does not extend to titles, names, slogans or short phrases.

So have at it. Amazon, streaming services and social media are a great place to find these.

Quotes

Just google famous quotes and find lots of ideas. Also try proverbs, mems, cliches, Idioms, catchphrases, and ad slogans.

 

Get random

use a random word generator to come up with two words. Use nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, any descriptive words and put them together.

 

Respectful stalking

Get ideas from your or someone else’s conversations and experiences. So learn to really listen instead of just waiting for your turn to talk.