Day 2 - So Many Songwriters To Inspire Us All

Wanting to take Chris' assignment seriously, I spent a few hours last night looking up songs I remembered as impressing me, either for their titles, themes, or opening lines. Some difficult decisions.

Here are the nine I decided on, though the same exercise could come out differently a thousand times. I've included the names of the writers with each song. After all, for me at least, it's as important to know who wrote the song as who performed it:

Titles: 

1. Blue Bayou (Roy Orbison & John Melson)

2. Nowhere Man (John Lennon)

3. Someday (Alan Jackson & Jim McBride)

Themes: 

1. alcohol addiction (Whiskey Lullaby - Bill Anderson & Jon Randall)

2. pure unadulterated love (Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman - Bryan Adams, Michael Kamen, Robert Lange)

3. life is tough (Born Under A Bad Sign - Booker T. Jones & William Bell)

First Lines:

1.

"Turn down the lights, turn down the bed

Turn down these voices inside my head"

(I Can't Make You Love Me - Mike Reid & Allen Shamblin)

2.

"Well, if I had money, I tell ya what I'd do

I'd go downtown, buy a Mercury or two"

(Mercury Blues - K.C. Douglas & Robert Geddins)

3.

"On days like these, when the rain won't fall

And the sky is so dry, that even birds can't call

I can feel your tears disappearing in the air …"

(Days Like These - Janis Ian)

Interestingly, I keep an extensive list of song ideas, and guess what? Sometimes these ideas take the form of titles or hooks, sometimes a story or theme, and sometimes a few lines (though they don't always end up as the first lines of the song). Nice call, Chris!