Songwriting is a very weird process. For months, sometimes even years, either you churn out shit or write nothing at all and all of the sudden inspiration strikes! It been over a year since I even made a contribution to "The Wizardry of Songwriting" series, let alone actually writing and completing a song that is "audience/ stage ready."
This usually occurs at the most inconvenient times: while you are napping, cooking, driving or doing anything else important. But it's an itch I can't scratch till the song is written down, completed and set to chords.
Of course, is an integral part of this process. As my music companion/ partner in MobeyDick and as my friend, he literally acts as a sounding board for me, bringing out the best of my original music: even if it means playing with strange toys - Like the bells on Rockadoo, which I thought he was mad about but turned out to be brilliant.
I am sure he thinks I'm equally as mad when
I send him new songs, which usually consist of groggy or disjointed voice notes and scrawled lyrics. But somehow, historically, we've made it work!
I've had a considerably long dry spell since I wrote Rockadoo in 2023. There was just so much going on, like fighting for survival, that hindered my creative process or any inspiration.
We are attendingAndy's Club #2 in just a few days, and up until a week or two ago, I thought we'd just shuffle old songs around and make them sound good.
But lady luck had other things on her mind! My muse had apparently been working behind the scenes as I churned out THREE NEW SONGS! Andy's club is a perfect place to perform them for the 1st time, s that is what the club is all about. Creativity.
I get all of my inspiration for my music from my own life. I feel like, as a songwriter and vocalist, for the songs to mean as much to me as they do and to produce such emotionally connective performances.
Apparently, I had a lot to get off my chest!
"In My Dreams" - Country/ Soft Rock - inspired heavily by the soundtrack to the "Yellow Stone" series
This song was written about loss. Loss of my sister, loss of my dad, loss of many friends who I've lost contact with or become estranged. It's song about death and learning to love someone from a distance, even though they are still alive. My ex sister in law just passed away at the age of 48, which is incredibly young. This song was written about two weeks before she passed and honestly, I didn't even know she was ill. But, there is a line in the song about someone playing with my hair, which I didn't quite understand. She used to dye my hair and give me regular hair cuts as she had studied and practiced as a professional hairdresser. The line "You brush my hair and pin an butterfly" belonged to her before I even knew it.
"In My Nightmares" - Style inspired by Skunk Anansi
Although I have done A LOT of work on this, including PTSD counselling and cognitive behavioral therapy, this period of my live was deeply scarring and I was incredibly young. I still feel like something was stolen from me, and although I will never really get it back, each time I sing about it, it feels like I get a bit of myself back and I get a chance to make the younger me proud.
"King and The Queen of the Night" - Inspired by Meatloaf's "I would do anything for love, but I won't do that." and Celine Dion's rendition of "It's all coming back to me."
This song is an 80s Glamrock inspired song that I envision plenty of harmonies, an electric guitar, drums and working on bringing in the emotion as much as possible. It's my story of what it was like to be the girlfriend/ almost wife of "the leader of the pack," and how it felt at such a young age. In some ways it saved my life and in others, it destroyed it. I have never really written much at all about this period of my life, even though it was so poignant.
Hopefully, by next week, I'll have some music videos to share with you and the lyrics for each song!