Songs come from many different places. Sometimes they come from a conversation, or a bit of history, or a story from the newspaper. Other times they come from personal difficulties, or maybe some kind of breakthrough.
Tonight I was alone and driving back to my home in Ohio from a show at our neighboring state, Indiana. It's very cold and snowy right now, and most everything was closed and empty. It reminded me of this song, "Lullaby" which came from a night about like tonight. Just north of my hometown there's a little bar, and it's usually quite busy, but sometimes, when I drive by late at night, or early in the morning, there are just one or two lonely cars parked there. This was an image that I had in my head for a while, and then I wrote this song/story, and the lyrics are below.
I am curious though, for you songwriters out there, where do your songs come from, and which comes first, the lyrics or the music? I'd love it if you'd share your songwriting process.
By the way, thank you so much everyone for your overwhelming welcome into Steemit! You were really supportive of my #introduceyourself post, despite the odd picture.
"Lullaby"
Tonight it’s cold and clear and the stars are shining bright and yet all he sees
Is an empty road because he’s been driving blind, haunted by her memory
He’d find her in a bar, sitting all alone and she doesn’t know
That he’s been dying since he said goodbye, since he let her go
And there's a lullaby, lullaby on a lonely night
And the world has gone to bed
And nobody knows that they’re giving up the fight
That they’re giving up the fight tonight
It’s cold and clear and the stars are shining bright, he should be going home
Because the sun will come and he could see its light, but he keeps driving on
And now the bar is empty except for her, and she doesn’t know
That they’ve all gone and the tender should have closed hours ago
And there's a lullaby, lullaby on a lonely night
And the world has gone to bed
And nobody knows that they’re giving up the fight
That they’re giving up the fight tonight
Just to sleep in the night, just to sleep in the night
Just to lay down their heads and sleep at night
Then everything would be alright
And there's a lullaby, lullaby on a lonely night
And the world has gone to bed
And nobody knows that they’re giving up the fight
That they’re giving up the fight tonight
Now the lights are down and she should go home, but the jukebox plays their favorite song
It’s a lullaby, brings tears to her eyes and she knows everything’s gone wrong
And it’s cold and clear and the stars are shining bright, he listens to their favorite song
And the road it turns and he never slows, and he will never see the sun
And we’ve a lullaby, lullaby on a lonely night
And the world has gone to bed
And nobody knows that they’re giving up the fight
That they’re giving up the fight tonight
► Listen on DSound
► Listen from source (IPFS)