SONGWRITING
HONORING INSTINCT | Kevin MacDougall
I mentioned once , in passing , that sometimes you can just feel what a song wants to have happen lyrically . How , each time you mumblehum through the melody of that new idea you have , you find yourself gravitating to the same cadence , or you continue to return to the same vowel and consonant sounds , and even the same implied syllable structure . You will have a section that feels like a chorus , and every time you switch from the G major to the D minor , you ’ re going “ Ffffuhhhh – luunnn – nuzzz ” at that change .
Why is that ?
What is leading you there each time ?
The answer might just be … instinct .
So , when you later say to someone , “ I have the chords and the melody , I just don ’ t have any lyrics yet ”, you might actually have a bit more than you realize .
Instinct is so natural to us , and to our artistic process , that it ’ s easy to forget it ’ s there . It ’ s also easy to run away from our instinct before we ’ ve fully learned what it has to show us . This is why , over the years , I have put more and more emphasis on honoring my instincts and preserving my inspiration . I have found that I can return to the hard work of finessing a lyrical section just right at any time , but what I can ’ t do is return to the instinctual feeling that made the song begin to happen . And if you ’ re the kind of songwriter who works on a song over the course of weeks ( or months , or years ), and not someone who finishes most of your songs right away , then what I ’ m saying might be especially helpful for you .
To me , developing ways to honor my instincts and capture my inspiration is the difference between the songs that work and the songs that don ’ t .
Allow me to invite you into my process .
Let ’ s say you ’ re playing around , and some chord changes strike you . You like them . You like them at that tempo , and with that feel . This is something , you say to yourself , inaudibly . You can just feel it . You ’ ve discovered a thread , and you ’ re eager to pull that thread and see where it leads .
You keep playing the chord sequence . As you do , you get a sense of a melodic center and begin vocalizing over what you ’ re playing . That vocal addition evolves and begins to crystallize into something you really like . It ’ s happening . The song is happening .
At that point , you begin to mindfully consider what the song might be about . The emotional posture implied by this particular segment of chord and melody factor in , as do things you ’ ve been considering recently . Perhaps a key phrase strikes you … Whatever the case , you land on an idea for what the song is about and where it ’ s headed .
And this is the key moment where it ’ s easy to get the cart before the horse , miss the forest for the trees , and other such clichés . This is the key moment where I think it ’ s wise to value keeping an Instinct Journal over jumping ahead to trying to write fully-formatted lyrics . The spark which ignites a song holds space with us for only a short time , and we want to learn everything we can in the little time we have with that spark .
An Instinct Journal works something like this :
Once you know what a song is going to be about , you have a theme . You can now take that theme and put lyrical formatting , rhyming , etc . out of your mind entirely . Forget about them ! Instead , begin exploring the theme on a page . Write down the language relevant to that theme : terms , phrases , scripture references , prayers , whatever the case .
Next , you will write down any associated