For the last month or so I have been gallantly failing to keep on target with the 50/90 songwriting challenge.

So far I should have 30 songs.

I have 23.

Rather than working hard to get back on target, I thought I’d share how I wrote my favourite of those 23 songs. It’s called ‘Self Made Man’ (lyrics at the end of the post):

[audio http://www.wellwrite.co.uk/songwright/selfmademan.mp3]

This song was written with no inspiration. Not a single idea came to me, except for those I eeked out with my own sweat and tears (all right, mild effort whilst sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee). If you’re stuck for something to write, you might want to follow the steps that i took to compose this.

1. Lyrics - I brainstormed the theme and lyrics. I thought about my normal songwriting – and my tendency to write about unusual characters and/or body horror and to combine the two into a man who was gradually replacing his entire body with mechanical parts. A literally ‘Self Made Man’ (yes, I like bad puns).

My brainstorm consisted of lots of mechanical parts and materials, which I then combined into my first verse. After that, I thought about narrative, and decided that the second verse would mention the reaction of the other people in my self made man’s town, and the bridge would be about the wife that he lost.

With a narrative, and the rhythmic structure of the first verse, I had all I needed to complete my lyrics.

2. Melody - Sitting on my sofa, coffee in hand, I considered what sort of melody I wanted. The song wasn’t the most cheerful tale, so I decided on a minor scale – started humming up a minor scale…. But who wants a normal boring minor scale? I decided to try adding a flat fifth, that heavy metal devil’s interval.
I ended up with a melody that, with variation, follows this pattern : G Bb A C Db.

I decided that my four lines would have an AABA structure, so the third line went something like DDD DbDbDb, then the fourth went back to G Bb A C Db.

3. Accompaniment –arpeggios, I started with a G minor chord, but what would chord with fit with my Db? Well, Db=C#, so why not A augmented : A C# F. Aaah, I had my accompaniment.

4. Refrain – Whilst improvising, I accidentally came across the Aaah-ed melody as intro and outro – the only genuine bit of inspiration in the whole song.

4 steps, almost no inspiration, and a song I’m really quite pleased with. If yu want to steal any ideas, think about sort of narrative your lyrics need, what sort of scale and melody, and what accompaniment will fit with them.

It began when I fixed my eyesight
cut lenses from diamonds and glass
Tore out my eyes and reshaped the sockets
with frames of copper and brass
Then to make my arms stronger
I weaved tendons of cat gut and wire
Steam powered muscles, the might of ten me
I can lift heavy loads and not tire

I’m doing the best I can
for I am a self made man

The town they tried to evict me
when my legs became pistons of steel
black polished pincers are better than fingers
oil is my only meal

Now when i clank down the streets
The townsfolk they all stop and stare
they all shy away from my whistling hellos
But I’m better and no longer care

I’m doing the best i can
for I am a self made man

There used to be a woman who used to be my wife
I’ve cleaned off all the rust she left
from all the tears she cried

There’s one tiny spot, one little place, one last piece of flesh
This time tomorrow it will be replaced with gleaming wire mesh

I’m doing the best i can
for I am a self made man

Related posts:

1. Songwriting still isn’t lyric writing (but lyric writing can be fun!)