The Song Phenomenon

An up-close peek into a songwriter’s creative process.

“What do I write about? I never know.” — Nick Cave

It’s late. After midnight. I should go to bed so I can function tomorrow. But the guitar case is staring me down from the corner of the room and a restless feeling is pinging around inside my ribcage.

I surrender and strum a few chords. No particular idea in mind. No words. No real thoughts. I’ll just play a few minutes then turn in for the night. A feeling brushes across my skin and tickles my voice into humming a piece of a melody. Silly sounding non-words escape my lips carried on a tune that is being given to me.

The Muse.

She’s here. Just let herself in the front door and plopped down in the chair across from me. She’s totally invisible but commands the room entirely. I call her a she. She could be a he. No one really knows.

I imagine her in a long flowing fairy gown with a magic wand or maybe a tasseled flapper dress with flirty dark red lipstick painted on pouty lips. She’s always styled to the nines. I feel so under-dressed when the Muse is in the room.

She hands a word to me, like it’s a cigarette or a martini or a star.