A Machine For Making Beautiful Things – Songwriting Craft & Inspiration

by Robin Frederick

I’ve been thinking a lot about the art and craft of songwriting (as usual) and I keep circling back to a couple of obvious facts:

Every song begins with an idea in your mind.
Every song takes shape because something in you propels it forward, adding to it, sculpting it, changing, strengthening, and polishing it as it moves along.

It struck me that this process is something like the workings of a machine, a Machine for Making Beautiful Things. And like any machine, it needs a “User Manual.” So here’s my idea of what you might find in…

A MANUAL FOR THE PROPER USE AND CARE OF A MACHINE FOR MAKING BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Congratulations on being the owner of a marvelous Machine. You are in possession of something that is both universal (a creative mind) and yet totally unique to you. With proper care, it will give you a lifetime of remarkable service.

GET TO KNOW YOUR MACHINE

Your Machine for Making Beautiful Things is made of countless shining parts whose angles and planes reflect the world like mirrors in the moonlight. It has conveyor belts and cogs that make unexpected connections between ideas and images. Everyday objects, events, and words become intriguing, alluring, strange, or compelling when the Machine goes to work on them.

Above all, when maintained properly, your Machine will present you with an unlimited number of lyrics, and melodies which will move listeners in ways that seem magical. It will express not only your own thoughts and feelings, but theirs as well. It will create songs that start from nothing, come from nowhere, then take on a life of their own out in the world.

OPERATIONAL MODE

Optimally, your Machine is always in motion, always at work. Even when you’re asleep, the Machine is making beautiful and unusual things in your dreams. While the dream output of the Machine is hands-free, in the normal course of production your assistance will be required.

When it’s running at full speed, the Machine is neither silent nor invisible. It brays like a mule, leaps like Michael Jordan, smells like haute cuisine, and sprays color like Jackson Pollock. It can be difficult to control at times. The choice is yours to rein it in or let it loose.

WHO GETS A MACHINE?

All humans receive a bright, well-oiled Machine at birth. While you would think these young, inexperienced operators would be unable to run such a complex piece of equipment, they are surprisingly adept, turning out magnificent abstract pieces of musical art at the top of their lungs.

MANUFACTURER’S WARRANTY

Your machine is guaranteed to work for your lifetime. The switch is set to the ON position when it is delivered. You are responsible for keeping it turned ON.

THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE MACHINE

The complete Machine for Making Beautiful Things consists of three crucial interlocking Widgets. Each Widget is equally necessary.

Widget 1: INSPIRATION
Widget 2: CREATIVITY
Widget 3: KNOWLEDGE & SKILL

Although these Widgets are meshed together into a single Machine, each has characteristics and desires of its own. At times, the Inspiration Widget will attempt to run the Machine at top speed with no regard for sense or suitability. At other times the Knowledge Widget will try to force the Machine to follow a Manual of Rules. The Creativity Widget is prone to starting and stopping for unknown reasons, causing the entire Machine to be undependable.

To give your Machine the opportunity to turn out truly beautiful things that will inspire awe and love, it’s essential that you understand how to keep the working parts humming along together.

WIDGET #1: INSPIRATION

The engine at the glowing heart of the Machine is Inspiration. It is a source of luminous heat and boundless energy. Like a nuclear puppy, it runs everywhere. Sniffing. Wagging. Chewing up ideas. Tossing them in the air. Collecting anything that is amazing, emotional, irrelevant, or smells good.

NOTE: The nuclear puppy requires a small amount of fuel from time to time. Without that, it will run down and eventually stop. The fuel can be obtained by…

Noticing things that trigger your emotions.
Losing yourself in books, movies, and music you love.
Spending time rummaging through your memories.
Walking a mile in someone’s shoes. (A Verified Empathy source)

OPERATING THE INSPIRATION WIDGET
Inspiration prefers to play with at least two dozen ideas at once. Inevitably, these ideas get mixed up together. This is normal but operator assistance is needed.

Required steps for Operators:

Sort through the miscellaneous heap your Inspiration has thrown together.
Set aside everything but the raw material you wish to use. (TIP: Save the rest for future runs.)
You should now have an amorphous lump of something. Place your lump on the conveyor belt and send it on to the Creativity Widget.

WIDGET #2: CREATIVITY

The Machine now requires some instruction from you. It may try to communicate with you, asking for your input, or it may remain stubbornly silent, letting you guess what to do next.

Give your Creativity Widget a target to aim for—a theme or central idea makes a good target—and then let it go to work finding ways to get there. Creativity loves to uncover the connections between things. Sometimes it just takes a few words, an image, a comparison, or a physical sensation to bridge a gap.

Avoid forcing lyrics or melody lines into places where they don’t belong. Creativity is very good at finding places for things if you leave it alone. Keep your theme in focus as you allow your Creativity to sort through lines and phrases, trying them in different spots, changing the word order, or dropping in new words. Do not make decisions too soon. Your creativity will take the time it needs.

TROUBLESHOOTING: Sometimes your Creativity Widget will get stuck in a repeating glitch, trying over and over to do something that isn’t working.

STEP 1. Back away slowly, take a break, and let it restart itself.

STEP 2. Give it new choices. The Creativity Widget loves choices! Read a book or play some of your favorite successful songs to see how they solved the problem. Add these solutions to the Widget by pouring them in through the Ear Nozzles on either side.

WARNING!!

At this point in your song making process, an Inspector called “Your Inner Critic” may enter the room where you keep your Machine. In a very loud, rude voice, your Inner Critic is likely to say something like “That’s terrible! I hate it! Take it away!!! You have no talent. How dare you try to write a song at all.”

Do not stop your Machine. It will be very difficult to get it started again. The most effective way to overcome the Inner Critic is to talk louder than he does. The correct procedure is to shout: “It isn’t finished yet. I’m still working on it. It’s going to be wonderful!” and keep working.

WIDGET #3: KNOWLEDGE

The Knowledge Widget is the part of the Machine where you’ll add detail and strength to your song. It will be polished until it shines like a brilliant jewel and listeners will find they can’t resist it.

This is another area in which the Machine will require your participation. It will ask you questions and you will be required to come up with answers based on your experience and knowledge of what works.

Questions like…
Does your melody play on in the listener’s head long after your song is over?
Does your first verse sing “I am so interesting you must listen to me!”
Does the final line of your chorus shout “Remember me!”
Does the song make listeners feel what you felt when you wrote it?

Your Machine cannot answer those questions for you. Consult your favorite songs, the best songwriting books, and your own taste to find the answers.

KEEP YOUR MACHINE IN TIP-TOP SHAPE

If you want your Machine to do its best work, run it often. Resolve to use it every day, even if it’s only for a few minutes. Starting it up will become easier. Keeping it in top running condition will become second nature.

Be sure that you, the Operator, are well-rested and primed for work. The Machine breathes in and out with you. With each breath you exhale the machine spins forward. When you’re energized, the Machine is, too. But when you’re tired, it creaks and spits along, putting out poor quality work. No Machine can work well without a caring human by its side.

~ DO IT NOW ~
Turn on your Machine now and let it run. Toss a few inspired lines into it and see what it turns out. Check the Creativity and Knowledge Widgets in turn to make sure they’re working well. Test out a few new song crafting skills to see what happens. Listen to successful songs to hear how others use their machine. Above all, take care of your Machine and it will run for a lifetime.

May your Machine flow!