I had a day off from work and so I thought that I would write my beach song. I found a lovely marimba sound and played something that suggested the movement of a crab on the sand (I know that sounds bizarre!) So far so good! I had a plan in my head since I went to the South at the beginning of April and unfortunately had an awful argument with my girlfriend. I thought I'd write about the argument and also the time that we spent at the beach, maybe talk about a car journey to the south and how the summer is just around the corner. Anyway, I threw in some imagery that included driving to the sound of Corrine Bailey Rae - 'Girl Put Your Records On'. The surfer dudes made an appearance, as did the seagulls flying overhead. Once again, so for so good! I thought to myself that this song has got to get into gear but something said to me embrace the percussive marimba sound, which I did. I then added some lovely strings which demanded a melancholy mood and not the upbeat style of a summer beach song. I had a working title, 'April Began' - "The Summer's Almost Here." This song steered itself, and demanded i embraced a theme of yearning to belong, beginnings that go badly wrong and a memory from when I was 3 years old, suddenly found it's way into the picture. Bizarre, since I'm usually quite good at adopting a disciplined approach to writing. The song is now finished and it is in no way an upbeat, light-hearted summer theme song. It is moody and I think at times, beautiful . it is also a little uncomfortable to listen to, in a good way. By the way, the song ended up with the new title 'Summer In Spring' based on the idea that beginnings can often seem so perfect and so the best part of a relationship can sometimes be experienced then. Holidays are sometimes a little like that too!
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about writing. Maybe you'd like to talk about a disciplined approach or perhaps have a similar story of how a song seemed to demand that it was written in a particular way.
Paul