Chapter 20 — Ten Song Seeds to Get You Started
Prompts, Beat Patterns, Hooks, Titles, Situations
Here’s the thing… people always say they want to write songs, but then they sit down, stare at a blank page, and suddenly decide this is the perfect moment to reorganize their sock drawer or research the history of the banjo, or build that perfect moustrap they’ve been thinking about for years.
That’s where song seeds come in.
A seed is small, simple, chewable — but it grows into something big if you water it with just a few lines, a rhythm, and a little attitude.
And before we get into the seeds, let’s make this perfectly clear:
⭐ Why My Book Isn’t Like Anybody Else’s
Most songwriting books try to teach theory — modes, inversions, cadences, re-harmonizations, Nashville number charts, all that jazz (literally).
Great stuff if you already know how to use it, but what if you don’t have any background in music?
But the thing is, I’m not teaching theory.
I’m teaching the core craft, the way the Village writers did it, the Greenwich folkies, the jazz cats who scribbled on napkins between sets, the blues players who made songs out of thin air, and the studio pros who could turn a scrap of an idea into a recordable track before the engineer finished tuning the snare. Yes, most drums are tuned.
This isn’t academic.
It isn’t stiff.
It isn’t technical.
It’s alive.
It’s how real songs were — and still are — made.
And most importantly:
It works.
So let’s get those seeds into the ground.
THE TEN SONG SEEDS
Each one is something you can start right now, without waiting for inspiration to arrive on a double-horned unicorn, commonly called a “cow”.
1. The Three-Word Title
Pick any three words that sound good together. Doesn’t matter what they mean, and it surely doesn’t matter that they make any sense.
Examples:
-
Broken Radio Silence
-
Forgive the Moonlight
-
Last Chance Motel
Well, the motel thing, that could happen. However…a weird title forces the brain to explain itself. Boom — you get a finished song.
2. The Beat-First Approach
Tap out a rhythm with your fingers.
Any rhythm.
Now shove words on top of it until they fit.
That’s how half the Village wrote.
Rhythm is the skeleton — the melody grows around it.
3. The “This Happened Today” Song
Take something tiny that actually happened:
You lost your keys.
The toast burned.
A stranger smiled at you.
A crow watched you like it knew something.
Start there. Songs love small moments. Don’t even try to rhyme it. Just narrate the experience, and put that to music.
4. The Emotional Mismatch
Write a happy melody with sad lyrics
—or—
write sad lyrics with a happy melody.
This trick is older than Tin Pan Alley and twice as effective. Harry Nilsson wrote “Joy to the world was a beautiful girl, but to me, Joy meant only sorrow.” Any paradox will work.
5. The One-Line Hook
Give yourself a single line like:
-
“I wasn’t ready, but I went anyway.”
-
“The truth showed up wearing your jacket.”
-
“You can’t fix a broken heart with duct tape.”
Now answer it with a verse. Don’t think about it, just do it.
6. The Character Sketch
Pick a human. Real or invented. Let the words fly:
Maybe the barista with the tattoo.
Maybe the guy at the gas station with the haunted eyes.
Maybe the ghost who lives in your laundry room.
Give them a story. Let them talk.
7. The Problem Song
Start with a question:
“What’s the problem here?”
Now make the chorus the answer.
Old blues trick. Still gold.
8. The Place You Can’t Escape
Everyone has one — the alley, the town, the apartment, the diner, the memory.
Write what that place wants from you.
Not what you want — what the place wants.
This kicks open big emotional doors.
9. The Two-Person Song
Two voices, two viewpoints.
Doesn’t need to rhyme, doesn’t need to be a duet — it can be one singer switching roles.
Studio pros used this to generate contrast when nothing else worked.
10. The “What If Everything Went Wrong?” Song
Take something ordinary… and make it collapse.
“What if the date goes wrong?”
“What if the miracle fails?”
“What if the spaceship runs out of gas?”
“What if I show up and you’re already gone?”
Instant drama. Instant story. Instant song.
Your Job Now
Pick one seed.
Just one.
Write three lines from it.
Don’t get fancy. Don’t perfect anything. Don’t fix spelling.
If it grows, you’ve got a song.
If it doesn’t grow, toss it and grab another seed. No guilt, no drama.
===========================================================================
SONG: “Ten Little Seeds” Lyric Sheet
[VERSE 1]
I woke up with nothin’ but a coffee cup,
Blank page starin’ like it wants to give up.
But I’ve got a trick when the muse won’t speak —
Ten little seeds and it starts to leak.
[CHORUS]
Hey now, plant ’em in the ground,
Let the rhythm shake the dirt around.
One line grows, then the melody leads —
That’s all it takes…
Just ten little seeds.
[VERSE 2]
Got a three-word title burnin’ holes in my mind,
Got a beat on the table that’s keepin’ me in time.
Got a stranger in a story and a problem to solve,
Every seed starts small, but the world evolves.
[CHORUS]
Hey now, plant ’em in the ground,
Let the rhythm shake the dirt around.
One line grows, then the melody leads —
That’s how it works…
Just ten little seeds.
[BRIDGE]
Some songs jump out, some songs crawl,
Some don’t bloom and that’s okay, y’all.
Toss ’em, keep ’em, follow where it leads —
You only need one of those ten little seeds.
[CHORUS – FINAL]
Hey now, plant ’em in the ground,
Let the whole wide world come gather ’round.
When the heart kicks in and the chorus pleads —
You’ve got a song…
From ten little seeds.
[OUTRO]
Blank page don’t scare me now, indeed —
I’ve always got…
Ten little seeds.
===========================================================================
Here’s the Bardo bus! Climb aboard fast, while you still have a chance to make it!
===========================================================================
See You At The Top!!!
gorby