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Writer's Block, or What To Expect When You're Expectorating

So, sometimes, I can't write a lyric for spit. Other times, they just seem to flow through me, like the bad chicken burrito you had for lunch from the little street cart.

One of the ways I deal with it is to play with words and word order. For example, I like to start with song titles, but frequently, the Aether has other ideas, and sends me single lines, as images. One of these just popped into my head on seeing the CBN Group title, The Blues Exchange. First, I ran that all together: thebluesexchange.

Yes, you've seen the same thing, haven't you? It got me to wondering, what exactly is The Blue Sex Change? How would you write a song about that image? Could you make it a double entendre? Could it happen in a mundane situation (man washing his tidy whiteys at a laundromat, forgetting to check the drum for the new blue Lacey underwear left behind by the previous user, and taking them home, on the off chance he can give them back next week, and meet the girl of his dreams)? See, already got a story line, where 10 minutes ago, I had zip, nada, nuttin' honey.

So how does it work for the rest of y'all? Or is it just me?

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Comment by Slowpaw Steve T on April 5, 2012 at 8:07pm: You're on the money Oily, though Blue Sex never changes, and you won't usually get any change from it....especially in a darkly lit back street...! always a few different ways of looking at things (-;

On the subject of lyrics and songwriting, many great songwriters like Hendrix got their inspiration from watching TV, adverts were specially favoured by him, or a scan through a newspaper should remove the "block"

Personally if i think too hard for an idea it will never come, song ideas for me are like buses, walk miles looking for one you will end up exhausted and frustrated, but wait at the correct juncture and sure enough two or three will come along together!

Sometimes i hear a phrase or subject which goes "ping!" inside my head and i say to myself - "there's a song in there...!" like a sculptor eyeing up a roughly hewn block of stone - these ideas take a few weeks or months to ferment, there is always a whole rack of them to work on, i imagine how they could sound in my head - tempo, style, tune, which guitar, drums, etc., and after being roughly noted down on my mini voice recorder they are eventually brought out, rounded out, practiced and polished before committing to "tape"...though the recording process takes ages as it is often interrupted by a new riff or song ! (-:

Comment by Jamie MacBlues on March 31, 2012 at 11:14pm: Ron, ma man That's aboot the "sighs" of it lol. BTW, nae whacks at Ms Nicols for me (straight missionary pos, that's me; nane o' that S&M malarkey here in Glesga, ma man) ;)

Comment by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 31, 2012 at 5:49pm: Jamie,

Nichelle Nichols *sigh*

Hmm. Might have to take a whack at Uhuru's Blues...

Comment by Jamie MacBlues on March 31, 2012 at 9:32am: When Uhuru was younger , Ron, ma man, ah personally, would have given her a few of ma own photon torpedos. (nudge nudge, wink wink,)

Comment by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 31, 2012 at 8:16am: Klingon funerary dirges are all the rage in the Kirellian Sector now, I hear.

Still, Uhuru's Blues is nearing the top of the Galactic charts, with a photon torpedo.

Comment by Jamie MacBlues on March 31, 2012 at 6:21am: @Clock : peojfoirnbvj dsjk IUPBWEV JK aH AGREE, ma man ;)

Comment by Jamie MacBlues on March 31, 2012 at 6:20am: Ah blue sex change is where the surgeon is opeating in the open air, and if he looses something, he can say ; it wass the wind: "it BLUE away"; there ya go, and not a Dennis Weaver in site.

Byeeee, Ron ma man; gaun tae ma burds ;)

Comment by Clock The Wolf on March 31, 2012 at 3:11am: >--------{ kfligo;pkgjsdkvliofd.lbjnfdpbo[p'fdokbdILfzu }--------/p>
Randomly messing about on the keyboard can yield startling results...

Look, a new Klingon funerary dirge!

What, you don't like it?

" Ptah!!! Klscghkjdligiull!!!!!!!!! "

Comment by Uncle John on March 31, 2012 at 2:42am: Ha! You make me laugh. I surely can not sit down and say I am going to write a song. I have to have an idea that strikes my fancy first. I have a list of song ideas waiting for inspiration.

Seems to help to listen to old blues that is new to me. I do this - not frequently enough- on Pandora. Lately I have a channel of Lazy Lester that is good.