Writing and Poetry/Lyrics... Many Thoughts. Many Ideas.

There are times when I just about give up. Then, there comes a time when I start paying attention to the music am listening to. As I spend a little more time with the music, I realise that the singer is trying to tell me something.

Songs have always been a part of my life, but I never thought that they would actually inspire me to write. Inevitably, a story can be created out of the lyrics of songs. As long as we remember that no two interpretations are alike, we can create an entire story. 

If we put our own thoughts, imagination, and a little bit of pleasure, then you have a story right there. This stands true for both poetry and songs. 

If one reads a William Wordsworth’s poem, Daffodils one can be truly inspired and inevitably inspired farther to write the story.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

It could inspire us to write on-

 a) The scene of daffodils,

 b) The scene the poet describes of himself ‘For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood’

c) The scene surrounding the daffodils

d) The scene when he seems to enjoy the sight and be inspired from it

The words from the poem can easily be transformed into a story. A simple one could be when you write of a guy, just taking a walk on the hills, and spotting a few daffodils and also the stars, the trees and feeling the breeze. And you can use your imagination to put in words into what he might be thinking and how the scene affects him. Could be happy, could be sad, nostalgic, etc. The words are endless if you put your mind to it. And it makes sense, since your imagination would usually be different from the next person’s.

Same with the songs, for example the song by ‘Scorpions’ called Winds of Change. I think the best thing about writing about a song lies in understanding it and interpreting it. Depending on the mood we are in, when we listen to a particular song, its meaning could change to suit our mind. The interpretation can be pretty straight forward and is easy to find. But what it means to you could be a lot of things, personal or even distant.

It could be the actual meaning of the song, and one can interpret that. Or it could just take on our own meaning. So, let us and invite music into our lives, this time with a twist…