You ever work on a song? Write the whole thing in five minutes Then the next one takes a month A week A couple days Wait— Back to a month You ever have inspiration Hit you all at once? Then disappear for weeks Like it gave you everything And left you with nothing Once a month Period. Well… Not that kind You ever get an idea In the middle of a conversation? Or halfway through a thought You were having with yourself? You replay it in your head Till it finally makes sense Then forget the best part Trying to remember how it went ‘Cause my head’s a movie With no intermissions Every scene’s a new idea And I’m still watching for the ending Rest? Sure I’ll pencil that in Wait— That’s a line You ever work on a song? Start with something personal Then take it personally Write about letting go And refuse to leave it be It’s intimate It’s imagination A little truth A little fabrication Everything is fine Uh-huh You ever write a line And wonder where it came from? Like you’ve been thinking something You didn’t know you had the words for? Then you switch it up Become a storyteller Make up a whole new life And somehow know it better Give a stranger all your secrets Call it fiction Call it art Somehow a made-up person Can still break a real heart You ever work on a song? Let’s write a lullaby Something sweet Something light Something that’ll help you sleep at night Just kidding Check out Not the Cure It’s got a few nursery rhymes You can sing along While I quietly ruin your bedtime See? That’s what I mean You ever work on a song? And the song starts working on you? Five minutes Five days Five weeks A month Sometimes you’re on a roll Sometimes you’re on a break Sometimes you write a masterpiece Then delete it by mistake You ever work on a song? Where the words just fall in place? Then spend three weeks on one line That you end up throwing away? I had a point I had a plan I had the whole thing in my head Then another thought walked in And took the microphone instead You ever work on a song? I was only gonna write A couple lines about writing songs Now I’m writing about writing About writing all along And somewhere in the middle Of explaining what I do I made another song You ever? Me too.
