Day 1: Sittin' on Top of the World

I decided to start off my Song-a-day Challenge for January with a silly little pop song. Let's call it "Sittin' on Top of the World". Thankfully today was a holiday, because it took me 4-and-a-half to 5 hours to write this, and it's just first draft. I'm daunted by the prospect of having to do this for the next 30 days...

If you're interested in the process at all, here are some details:

This started forming when I got into the shower this morning around 8:00 (I think). The shower is a pretty common place to get ideas-- I'll often record a memo on my iPhone after I get out, just to log whatever lyrical, melodic, or rhythmic hook I come up with. I wanted to write an upbeat tune for New Years, and it started out as "Tip my hat to you" for the chorus, but once I started adding astronomical imagery, it just turned into something else. That's often how songwriting works-- you start with one idea, then it takes you on a different tangent. Since I'm committed to writing one song per day, I decided not to fight the diversion.

Anyway, after eating and loafing around for a bit, I really got started around 10:00. I broke out the guitar and a notepad, but a large portion of the songwriting process for me involves just pacing around. The first verse finished is the first verse of the song, and I usually write the lyrics and melody at the same time; the melody often comes from the rhythm of the language. Ideally you want the lyrics to have a natural cadence (sometimes you gotta cheat, though). The first verse probably took 1.5 hours, the other two verses and the bridge each took about an hour to write, then I did some minor clean up.

Now, how does this differ from what I normally do? Normally I don't hammer out a full length song in one sitting. What most likely would've happened is that I'd knock out the first couple verses, then sit on it a bit. I'd say the bridge and the last verse usually are the most difficult for me-- this exercise will probably help with that. Sometimes you just need to turn off your internal editor.

Where does it go from here? I'll have to admit, this song sounds way too much like a Broadway show-tune for my taste. Sometimes I'll get some ideas that just seem a little too pop. Honestly, I'm not sure I would've bothered to continue writing this one if it hadn't been part of the challenge. As it is, I'll probably try to sabotage the catchiness of the tune, maybe by making the rhythm less driving and coming up with a more dynamic guitar part. The chords are a bit too major, too; I might try to insert some less basic chords, or at least less obvious ones. Of course, after writing 31 songs, this one may not even make the cut. It's fun, but I'm not sure it's the style I'm ultimately going for.