Meditation ~ On Writing Lyrics

I've been writing songs for years, and by far the most challenging aspect of the process is writing lyrics. I've yet to find an artist who writes lyrics that I would feel great singing. In singing lessons that's always been a sticking point, "these just aren't my words!" Yet, finding my own words has been pretty tough. Why?

It occurred to me that, for better or worse, my goals are deeply literary, and developing a literary mindset takes time and maturity. That's because great literature explores the deep meaning behind the seemingly mundane encounters, daily highs and lows, and happenings of life.

Life is happening and God speaks to us through the people we meet, the things we desire, the set backs that occur, and the never-ending onslaught of everyday duties. From time to time, something "important" happens, but much of life just kind of goes by. Yet, it is all incredibly important, if we have the eyes to see it. After all, our lives and scripture attest to one and the same thing: God acting, and God speaking. God is always speaking. Are we listening?

To write songs is to see life in technicolor instead of black and white. It's to take a step back and give a life experience dignity and purpose by pondering it and trying to write about it. Why did God permit me to experience this thing? What can I learn about myself and God after having passed through it?

So, why not just write an essay about the experience? Essays are great. For me though, to write a song is to give a life event double honor. I not only intellectually explore the purpose of something I went through, but by setting it to a compelling tune and beat, I "set it off" like a gem stone in the perfect setting. Sound helps to amplify the emotions embedded in the experience, emotions I may have missed. Maybe when I was actually living through it, I didn't take the time to process my emotions and be fully present. Maybe I let the experience slip past me and I took it for granted. In writing a song, I get to "relive" the experience and capture all those emotions that slipped past.

Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living. When I stop writing songs, I fear subconsciously that my life will not be fully lived. I live it fully when I write about it.