Push into the Flow...

I wrote a song yesterday. It happens once in awhile. I had a "vision," there were some images in my head that I couldn't shake, and I used those images as a starting point. You know, it's not an earth-shaking thing. Not sure about the song. Not sure if it will ever see the light of day, or make it to our band rehearsal room. The night before I watched Jim Jarmuch's "Gimme Danger," (2016) about Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Great movie, great, seminal band, and maybe not so surprising Iggy is totally inspiring. I mean, what an extreme rock and roller. Iggy said he was inspired by that TV comic Soupy Sales to write powerful, simple lyrics and songs in 25 words of less.

I tried to do it. I failed. My song is 102 words long. By Iggy's and Soupy's standards, quite verbose. I was playing a borrowed Martin guitar, a smaller-bodied one, mahogany, super-nice and easy to play. It sounds so good ringing out in the kitchen, high ceiling, hard surfaces, lots of nice reverb. I tend to use an alternate turning, it makes standard chords sound a bit foreign. I just tuned up and started banging away. I am always surprised when the words and chords start to work together to create unique lines of melody. I worked on the song for hours and recorded a demo on my little smart-flip-phone. Like I said, not earthshaking. But it was pretty consuming and exciting for me. That's the beauty of the creative thing, it's a flow activity. You push yourself into the flow and ride. Nothing better.