What works for us

I think every songwriter or songwriting team does things a little differently… Michael and I have been trying recently to identify what our ideal writing process is — something where we don’t get stuck with writer’s block or get frustrated with any songs.

One approach we’ve been trying recently is Michael will play and sing the chorus to a song he’s been stuck writing for years, and I’ll try to improvise lyrics for minutes at a time while he plays verse chords on guitar. We’ll record the whole improv session and then listen to it afterwards for any clever or insightful lyrics that stick out from the jumble. The tricky thing is picking out good song lyrics that still get the point of the song across without just stringing together words that sound nice.

We just took a break from a songwriting session right now, where I improvised lyrics to songs tentatively called “Christine” and “Hey Down There.” So maybe you’ll see something about those in the near future.

While I’m using this break to write this blog entry, Michael’s using it to cook himself another 6-egg omelette — got to keep those guitar fingers fueled.

Anyway — we’ve gotten some good feedback on Please Come Home To Me so far from friends via email, but if you have any opinions on the first song we posted, please leave a comment and tell us.