A few years ago, I fell in love. So, with intention, I sat down to write a love song. I was in Logan Square in Chicago, so I looked for an inspirational place to write a love song. I came across a bar that had an indoor waterfall and was described as quirky. I thought that a waterfall in a quirky bar would give me exactly the mood I was looking for to write a love song.
It was relatively early as far as Chicago bars go, so there weren’t many people when I walked in, so I sat at the bar in front of the waterfall. I thought it was perfect, except for the lighting. The bar was extremely dark. There were candles on the bar (I don’t remember if they were electric or real.) so I grabbed a candle and held it close to the blank paper. The candle flickered on the page. This was perfect.
As I looked around, I could see that the bar had other quirky features. In fact, it started to give the vibe of a place that launched a thousand doomed relationships. The bartender came over, and I ordered a bourbon. The heavily tatted and pierced bartender looked like they had some stories to tell as well. Nevertheless, I wrote “This is a Love Song” on the page to reaffirm what I was doing. I was here to write romantic lyrics.
I was stuck. The energy in the room, as more patrons showed up, threw me. I didn’t know where to start, so I jotted down, “This is the start of a love song.” After all, love songs need to start somewhere, and hell, Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote a love song called Your Song about a guy who wrote a love song for someone. It was a meta-love song. I could write a song about a love song. In Taupin-John song, the protagonist talks about finishing the love song. I could certainly write a love song that includes the beginning of the love song. In my song, the protagonist names the person he’s writing the song for, the ubiquitous “you.”
So far, the song was going well. The protagonist is writing a song for a special someone. Then I thought, why is the protagonist writing said love song? He states that he wants to get through to you. So, there is a bit of a disconnect between the protagonist and the woman he’s in love with. That happens.
Then I got to the chorus. The room was filling up and I was looking at people as they were coming together. I thought of all the possibilities for finding love in the world today. I started to get a little cynical about the whole thing, but I tried to stay on task. I thought an ordinary love song wouldn’t work today. People are a little more jaded. “And it’s not like other love songs.” Yes, that’s great. I have to write a love song that stands out in a world of trite love songs. My own cynicism was growing. My song might not be like other love songs, but let’s face it: it’s trying to manipulate you into loving me. The verse ends with, “But like all the other love songs, it plays you for a fool.”
Things went downhill from there. The protagonist feels the need to apologize, but he knows that he’s doing this for expediency. He doesn’t really mean it. He knows the offending behavior is going to happen again. But that doesn’t matter. He just wants back in. The song continues down that road and has the potential to be pretty dark.
Here is the song performed live at OuttaSpace in Berwyn, IL. I will add that after performing this song that night, I started thinking that the song wasn’t finished. I think, perhaps, it needs another voice. I want to hear what the woman has to say about what the protagonist is attempting to do.
Although the process for writing each song varies, and I’ll get into other songs, most of my songs tell stories. After all, I’m a storyteller. It’s what I do. If I get stuck, and if you want, you can take this as advice If you get stuck, I will keep thinking of the lyrics as pushing the narrative forward. If you’re out there living life and taking in everything around you. You’ll never run out of stories to tell or ways to tell them. I know I haven’t.
Henry James Morello 