Inspiration

Subject: Inspiration
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 11:57 AM

I've been in dozens of workshops for songwriting, and read many threads about the craft of songwriting. This thread is about the inspiration that leads to the creation of a song, or a tune. This is all fresh in my mind, because a song came to me unbidden yesterday, and I marvel at how inspiration (for me) is so often a response to friends and experiences in my life. I imagine it's the same for everyone. I thought I'd give this as an example of where inspiration often comes from for me. I've written folk-tradition inspired songs, rockabilly and rhythm and blues inspired songs and songs that were inspired by a particular conversation or friend. As often as not, it's after the song has seemingly appeared out of thin air that I see where it came from.

For example:

In the early 60's, I took guitar lessons from Dave Van Ronk. I didn't want to become a blues guitarist, but Dave was a wonderful teacher and he gave me all the basics I needed for finger-picking.
When we'd be sitting around after a lesson, Dave would show me some blues licks and talk a little about blues guitar, but I didn't actually "learn" much blues. After about three months, Dave felt that I had all I needed to do the music I wanted to do and I stopped taking lessons. But, his music was somewhere inside me, and just waiting for a time when I needed it. I needed it yesterday, more than forty years later.

In recent months, the blues has kept cropping up in my life. When my friends The Beans couldn't participate in the Gospel In Black And White Workshop I've done for so many years, I asked dwditty (Rich Gallagher) to do some gospel blues. And, as his idol is Dave Van Ronk, the connection was refreshed.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me if I'd do a blues at a Black History Month celebration coming up in another week or so. I told him that I am not a blues guitarist, as such and it would be a lot better if they could get a black blues player for Black History month. But, I got out my guitar and started brushing off some of the blues I used to play.

And then, Azizi started the thread on blues and I copied a couple of blues CDs for her.

Two nights ago, I was practicing with my Gospel Quartet and we were encouraging our bass singer to do a song we love.. Every Knee Has Got To Bow. Joe does a great job on it (in our minds) but he is uncomfortable with the timing in a couple of places, so one of the other guys asked me if I would sing the lead. Joe was real happy for me to take it over, but I'm not a bass singer, and even though I can hit the notes, I don't have the power that Joe has.

On the drive home, I was singing the lead to Every Knee Has Got To Bow, and didn't like what I was doing, so I just started singing something out of the air. I had absolutely no intention of "writing" a song.. it was just a way to pass the time on the way home.

The last piece in the puzzle I think is that I've recently read a book, Secrets Of The Vine which is really an exploration of the parable about the vinekeeper and the branches, and "abiding" in Jesus.

So, the first lines that came out were:

In the morning, when I rise
I thank Jesus for just being alive..

And the song was on it's way.

There's no need to post all the lyrics here, and this isn't an attempt to subliminally proselytize. I'm talking about the wonder of inspiration, whatever that inspiration might be.

The thing that was interesting is that the rhythm and melody was straight blues, probably influenced by an astonishing recording of Ain't No Grave Can Keep My Body Down by Bozie Sturdevant. That recording has harmonies to the lead, almost moaning. And I think of Blind Willie Johnson and Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground, which still sends shivers down my spine, with no words.

In fifteen minutes the song was there, the harmonies were in my head, and I was anxious to get home to get my guitar out. When I did, I was back in Dave Van Ronk's apartment, recalling things he talked about, playing the blues.

So there you have it... a rather long-winded explanation of the inspiration for a song... take a forty year old experience, a festival workshop, some beloved recordings, a book, a Mudcat thread and a late night drive home, and stir thoroughly.

Anyone else want to share an inspiration of theirs?

Jerry

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Amos
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 12:14 PM

Being more of a secularist, my inspirations all come from redheads like the Gaelic Goddess. There's no way I can explain it!!:D

A

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 12:18 PM

Gotcha, Amos:

I'm not talking about spiritual inspiration, here. Carl Perkins has inspired more than one song of mine.. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Bert
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 12:38 PM

Not as elegant a story, but just goes to show you can find insiration anywhere.

I was in the grocery store and started pushing a shopping cart. Instead of going forward it took a sharp left turn. The thought came immediately, this cart has a mind of it's own.

So.

With apologies to Connie Francis.
Tune "My heart has a mind of its own"


At the local grocery store, I found a shopping cart
But one of its wheels just wouldn't start
although the other three, they all turn left you see
Guess my cart has a mind of its own.

I wanted aisle thirteen to buy some baking goods
but these wheels, they don't turn the way they should
and so I ended up, in personal feminine stuff
Guess my cart has a mind of its own.

The butcher fancies me, each tim I pass him by
he looks me up and down and winks his eye.

I tell this cart of mine to find the checkout line
but it wants to go around just one more time.
I've been around this store eleven times or more
Guess my cart has a mind of its own.

Guess my cart has a mind of its own.

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 01:10 PM

Jerry,
I don't really consider myself a songwriter, maybe because I'm guilty of minimizing the importance of children's songs and chants like the rest of American culture..

But songs lyrics do come to me out of the blue without any prompting from me, or in response to my mental request to the Power above for help with the creation of a song.

For instance..in 1997 I started a children's group in Pittsburgh, PA called Alafia [ah LAH-fee-ah]Children's Ensemble. The purpose of that group is to explore the creative and performing arts potential of traditional, adapted, and originally composed African American game songs, rhymes, and cheers.

The children usually perform these songs & chants with handclapping, and foot stomping. A percussionist who plays the {West African} djembe drum, and an electric keyboardist also join in this music making in a selective, innovative way... One keyboardist the group has used added a decidedly gospel flavor to the compositions. Another keyboardist that added accompaniment to the children's voices, handclaps, and footstomps played the songs with more of a jazz sound..

To promote group unity several of the songs I wrote include the word "Alafia', a Yoruba {Nigeria, West Africa} greeting word [and, I was recently told, also a Hebrew family name that means "power" {that was a happy coincidence!}

One of the tidbits of cultural information that some African Americans in my area have picked up is the affirmative Akan {Ghana, West Africa} phrase "Ase! Ase!" pronounced 'ah-SHAY ah-SHAY'. I have read that "Ase" is life giving energy from God. However, the way it is most often used seems to be similar to the religious phrases "Amen!" and "Hallelujah!"

There is also a Nigerian/Liberian/Ghanaian{??}song called "Alafia Ashe Ashe" that is reasonably well known among Afro-centric African Americans [in my area at least-though as you can see I'm not certain which African culture it comes from}.

I wanted to use that relatively familiar phrase "Alafia Ashe Ashe" in a song for the Alafia group. But when I tried to write something,
I kept being unsastified with the results. So I decided that since the seed was planted-or the thought was out there in the ether-I should just leave it alone, and let it come when It willed and not when I willed it.

Not long afterwards, when I was in a relaxed mood- the words and the tune 'just' came to me. As it turns out the song was more mellow than I had originally 'planned' for it to be. Instead of using the song in their more uptempo community performances, the Alafia group has sung it during their sessions as an inspirational song.

As I'm sure any performer can attest to it's such a good, indescribable feeling when a song you wrote 'works' and you see other people singing it and enjoying it...

But my view is that I didn't really write the song-or anyway I didn't write it alone. I see myself as a conduit for Energy that uses me to create the song. The words and the tune come because I'm receptive to that Energy and I've learned not to force creation.

---
Here's the song that I'm refering to:

Alafia Ashe

Chorus:
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe

We are walking far today
We are singing on our way
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe

Work is hard, no time to play
We are singing on our way
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe

Chorus

Do you best that's what I say
We are singing on our way
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe

Do your best in work or play
We are singing on our way
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe
Alafia Ashe Ashe
Alafia Ashe

Chorus
{with last word in last line extended}

(c)1998 Azizi Powell

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 01:11 PM

I don't write songs, but JtS does. He gets his inspirations in some interesting ways.

The inspiration for one of his best and funniest songs, "Pasties and Thongs", happened this way...

The husband of one of the members of some political body in Columbus, Georgia, left her and ran off with a stripper. So she arranged somehow to get a law passed requiring that strip joints in Columbus couldn't serve alcohol and have naked strippers dancing at the same time. If alcohol was being served, the dancers had to wear pasties and thongs.

Another interesting and amusing inspiration was a week long song workshop he took at the Kerrville Folk Festival. The actor, Ronnie Cox (Deliverance, Beverly Hills Cop, etc.), was also participating in the workshop. Mr. Cox had written a song about traveling around with some guy named "Jack", and he sang the, as yet, not quite finished song to the other participants.

JtS wrote a parody of Cox's song and at the workshop the next day, sitting right next to Cox, JtS sang the parody. It was called "I don't know Jack".

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 02:34 PM

Thanks for the contributions! Inspiration comes from every source from God (to us who believe) to TV commercials. And everything in between. Irritation works fine, Bert.

A few years ago, I was home visiting my parents and after sitting around listening to my Father expound on his perspective of life, I finally got so frustrated, I went for a walk. As I was walking along, I just started singing, making up the song as I went along.

"We are drowning in the details of life
Seeking answers without any clues
We all think that we're playing Wheel Of Fortune
When our lives are more like Trivial Pursuit"

And in honor of my Father (and myself ans all the rest of us.)

"I do it this way, 'cause it's the way I do it
And I've been doin' it this way for fifty years
And there's a comfort in knowing the way to do it
And it saves the brain from all that wear and tear"

Not exactly Stardust, but it served it's purpose..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: jeffp
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 03:21 PM

For some reason, inspiration seems to hit me in the shower. I don't have any idea why. I'll be washing away and all of a sudden I'll be humming a tune I've never heard before. OK, sometimes I have heard it before. But they're original often enough to be encouraging. Sometimes there are words to go with the tune. They may be part of the finished song, or they may just be placeholders to help with the scansion.

Usually the subject is something that has been on my mind for a while. It may be current events or something I've been reading about. Here's the most recent, inspired by my wife's current battle with cancer.

The House of the Dying Tumor
© 2005 Jeff Porterfield

There is a place in Columbia
The Center for Oncology
And they've saved the life of many a fine soul
And one of them was me

My mother always told me
There was cancer in my genes
My father had a large prostate gland
And you all know what that means

Now the only thing a tumor needs
Is a body to play host
And the only time that it's satisfied
Is when you've given up the ghost

Now mothers tell your children
To do what I have done
The doctors may just save the life
Of your daughter or your son

I've got both eyes on the future
And I'm moving on from here
I'm looking forward to a life
Where I don't have to fear

There is a place in Columbia
The Center for Oncology
And they've saved the life of many a fine soul
And one of them was me


The first two verses and the "mothers tell your children" verse came to me in the shower. The rest I worked out over the next few days. Obviously the tune wasn't original this time. I forgot to mention that I also do a lot of parodies.

jeffp

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 03:35 PM

Someone should write a parody on Another Day In Paradise.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 03:42 PM

In re-reading my post I want to make an addition/correction just for the record:

I was incorrect in the title that I gave for the uptempo traditional West African song [and dance] that is known to some Afrocentric US folks. That song is "Funga Alafia". The words to the first verse of that song are:   
                   Funga Alafia
                   Ashe Ashe
                   Funga Alafia
                   Ashe Ashe


I want to make sure that I give credit [to the ancestors] for this song since it certainly served as inspiration and as a basis for the one I say I composed. I built on that foundation and didn't start from stratch.

But I guess no created effort starts from stracth-how could it?

That being said, I still believe that that the words and the more moderate tune for "Alafia Ashe" that are found in my first post in this thread came to me from outside of myself {or deep within myself}.

And maybe it was God or maybe it was the ancestors who helped me.

Irregardless, I am grateful.


Azizi

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 03:45 PM

A couple of years ago Frank and I were at the Blistered Fingers Bluegrass Festival in Sidney Maine. We had to leave briefly to go get two new tires for our camper (blowout on the way up, stopped to visit Kendall, but that's another story). The ride for tires took us north along a beautiful road that followed the Kennebec River Valley.

As we drove along, a scene appeared before my eyes, just briefly glimpsed in passing. Then a song showed up in my head, fully formed with both melody and lyrics. I began to cry when I tried to sing it to Frank, and couldn't. We both saw the scene one more time on the ride home from the tire place.

Later that night, I wrote the words down and sang it for the first time (back at the festival) into Kendall's tape recorder. It's such a tear-jerker that I still can't sing the thing, so one of our band members sings it with Frank doing harmony.

I guess that scene was just waiting for me to drive by to catch the song "Hillside Home."

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Vixen
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 03:49 PM

I saw the thread title and knew it was you, Jerry!

My songs can come from anywhere...usually they're fragments and it's only later when I have time to piece together bits from days, weeks, months, years of scratching that a whole thing emerges.

Sometimes they come to me entire--the shower is a good place, and so is behind the wheel. Also just before waking up and just as I'm dozing off. I had one song come to me in a dream, where I was dancing around a kitchen with somebody's infant (not their "baby"), and singing at the tops of my lungs. I've written several gospel songs, and I'm not religious and don't know or listen to much gospel. I've written songs I can't sing, and ones I can't play, and I have NO idea where they come from (the future, when I *can* sing/play them???)

I have a hard time convincing people who ask that my songs do not come directly from my life, they do not always reflect truth or reality (though I like to think they sometimes demonstrate Truth or Reality) and that a lot of what happens in songwriting, for me, is mechanical--a rhythm or a rhyme often dictates the words I use, not the experience or inspiration from which I write.

Another good thread, Jerry!

V

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 04:36 AM

My inspirations come from stupid situations for the parodies - often suggested by the original lyric, as in my lament for chocolate - or from the research I do into my family history and traditional customs. Several songs have half started from the researches, usually not the story I want to come! I must have something like 20 songs partially written. One day, I'll find the ends of them.

Many songs have sort of welled up, from situations around me. Three came to being due to the death of someone I admired greatly, one of them being written at the beginning of the session and sung at the end of it. The second just sort of wrote itself over a week and the third, well that one took a year from the tune being written (I don't usually do tunes, this was the first!) to the lyric being completed.

One day I'll manage to write a chorus song!!

LTS

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 04:40 AM

I see a bit fell out.....

As for the inspiration of my faith, well, that's something for me and my church. Much of my spiritual writing is soooo obscure and based on odd leaps of logic that it doesn't bear repeating! I've done a couple of liturgical pieces, usually for the Mass service, just putting old tunes to even older words. One day I'll have the confidence to show them to someone.... maybe!

LTS

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 09:12 AM

Hey, c'mon Liz... now you've aroused my curiosity you goin' to leave me hangin? Much of my music has earned it's obscurity. Sounds like you're imposing obscurity on yours.. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: freda underhill
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 09:39 AM

I used to work with refugees. after one particularly harrowing trip, on the flight back, words just floated into my head. here are some excerpts..

Take Me to the Border

To the tune of Take me to the water
As sung by Nina Simone


Chorus

Take me to the border
Take me to the border
Take me to the border
We will survive

No more suffering
No more misery
No more cruelty
We will survive

Chorus

Farewell to property
Farewell to our history
Farewell to family
We will survive

Chorus

None but the desperate
None but the loneliest
None but the luckiest
We will survive

Chorus

Escaping animosity
Fleeing from atrocity
Traveling across the sea
We will survive

Chorus

Farewell confrontation
Follow inspiration
Seeking liberation
We will survive

Take me to the border
Take me to the border
Take me to the border
We will survive

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Auggie
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 10:22 AM

Don't be so flippant Jerry. Carl Perkins IS a god (small g) to many of us

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 10:30 AM

That's true, Auggie: If you haven't seen the Carl Perkins concert with George Harrison, Dave Edmunds, Eric Clapton, Ringo and the rest, it is FANTASTIC! Even my wife, who doesn't know his music, and is much more into soul music and R&B loved it, and watched every last minute of it.

May just have to go back and watch it again, now that I think of it..

And freda:

What a terrific song... I can hear it, just reading the lyrics, as the songs is a very well known black gospel song...

Jerry

Subject: RE: Inspiration
From: freda underhill
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 10:34 AM

if you are ever in the top end of Western Australia, take a drive along the Gibb River Road
, through the Kimberleys..
. you will see a sunset at Winjana gorge. I went with a friend a few years ago. we drove in a jeep at the end of the day. parked and walked through a huge crevice in the gorge, to the oasis inside the Gorge
we came in along the white sands, where dozens of johnson's river crocodiles were sunning themselves in the river. The light was pink and orange from the setting sun, the place was haunting beautiful.

we drove back through the red desert, and as the jeep bumped along, here came another song... (Sung to the tune of the Little Pot Stove, written by the Australian whaler, Harry Robertson)


In the blinding summer sun
On the red and dusty road
Where the heat burns through the summer sky
And great rocky gorges rise

Where the brolgas dance at sunset
And the parrots swoop so free
And that old Brahmin bull
Is a lookin' now at me

On the red and dusty road
As we roam along the way
Sweeping skies reach out their endless blue
To that orange sunset haze

Purple clouds and blushing sky
And a sudden flash of rain
Wind is rushing through my hair
And the lightning bolts again

And we wander down Windjana
Cliffs of red and marble pink
All the trees so white and slender
Dripping leaves of vivid green

On the red and dusty road
As we roam along the way
Sweeping skies reach out their endless blue
To that orange sunset haze

Giant cliffs of ochre rock
Round the winding waterways
And that flat horizon stretching
Through the shimmering orange blaze

And that silver river shining
Through the sands of lightest white
And beneath those massive boulders
Lie the Johnson's crocodiles..
On the red and dusty road
As we roam along the way
Sweeping skies reach out their endless blue
To that orange sunset haze

And the gang gangs black and soaring
Cross the grey green grassy plain
And those ancient hearty boabs
Reach their fingers to the sun

And it's homeward bound and it's over
And we'll leave that water hole
And I always will remember
Those Johnson's crocodiles..

On the red and dusty road
As we roam along the way
Sweeping skies reach out their endless blue
To that orange sunset haze

On the red and dusty road
As we roam along the way
Sweeping skies reach out their endless blue
To that orange sunset haze..