JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Where did those lyrics come from? - reflecting on previous writes

Hi Colin,

You started with the car, and it turned into this? The human brain is a fascinating thing, how one thought trips another. The lyric is outstanding. So descriptive. Nothing is wasted.

For me, every song is different. Sometimes I'll get what I think is a great line and start adding around it. Sometimes it goes nowhere, sometimes it leads to "the real song" which had nothing to do with the original line (which then gets nix'd).

If I'm writing playfully and impersonally, I'm mainly listening to the sound of the words and how they crunch all together. If I'm writing more personally, I am trying to make sure my meaning/intention is clear. Sometimes playful turns into personal and vice versa. Personal songs are way harder for me.

I can't remember where any of them came from, other than from getting a good line and working around it, like I describe, or simply intending to write about a certain things, then sitting down and focusing until some words come.

One "happy accident" I recall.."The Clam Song" which I wrote because I heard two different friends use the same "Happy as a clam" statement on the same day, and it got me to research clams a little, and I decided they were probably not very happy, really, since they're basically a foot and a mouth, and only ate plankton..plankton rhymed with inner sanctum, and within a few minutes I knew I had something..a song written in the first person about an unhappy clam. The song is offline right now, but here's the lyric:

I hate bein' a clam
A foot and a mouth are about all I am
Stuck in my shell, this is no inner sanctum
And out of all this food around
All I can eat's plankton

But make me an oyster
And I'd make great pearls
And mussels seem to have the knack
For pickin' up girls
But this water's so dirty
From your garbage and spills
That almost gettin' beached is all
I ever do for thrills

And I drift with the tide
That's why this march of I'd's
I'd rather be a seahorse
Hey that's no charge for the ride
At the bottom of the food chain
You don't much give a damn
Ah I guess I'm just unhappy as a clam

Makin' love the clam way means
That you never touch
And the thought of shells collidin'
Never turned me on much
I'm a failure at clam love but
God knows I've tried
When I do I just get so
Scallopy inside

And I drift with the tide
And this ain't no sea of bliss
I'd rather be a starfish
Hey that's no charge for the wish
Sea life gets so boring
How much more can I stand
Ah I guess I'm just unhappy as a clam

They slung a rope 'round my family
Hauled 'em off on some ship
Turned my mom into chowder
And my dad into dip
Now if you're happy as me
Then you must be in hell
But before you abuse analyze and accuse me
Drift a mile in my shell

And I drift with the tide
And I'll drift away real soon
I'd rather be a blowfish
Hey that's no charge for the tune
At the bottom of the food chain
I'm right below the spam
Ah I guess I'm just unhappy as a clam

("The Clam Song" ©1994 Michael Zaneski)