Writing the Lonely Song

People will at some point in their life be alone. Since this is yet another of those universal concepts, this is a great subject for songs, so many songwriters utilize this on a regular basis. Whether that loneliness is a positive or negative experience is pretty much up to the songwriter. Here are a few ideas to get this concept across to your listeners.

BEING LONELY IS FUN

Since so many people do find themselves alone, perhaps it would be better to show the up side of this event. Try to show in your lyric how being alone can be fun-you can hear things you normally wouldn't if others were around, for example. A person can also have time to contemplate things that really need to be addressed, and this could be a much needed few moments alone to figure out a dilemma. Perhaps life has been too hectic with work, noise, children, angry customers or whatever, and these moments of solitude are a desperately desired vacation from a not-so-nice existence. Perhaps it is a few minutes alone in a shower or bathtub, or fishing on a lake. Putting a good spin on a subject that people often view as negative can be a great way to help others see their lives a bit differently, and may be your ticket to a hit song.

BEING LONELY CAN BE CONSTRUCTIVE

Most songwriters know the value of being alone with one's instruments/pencil/computer, and just how fruitful such moments can be. Many of the great discoveries in history have been done in lonely moments, with the explorer left with only the grey cells inside his or her brain for company, and only the needed equipment to get the job done. To many songwriters, this is great songwriting material, too, with some even giving human qualities to a trusty weapon, bit of equipment, or perhaps an animal or vehicle that got them to where they needed to go. You could even do a little research on some famous person and find just what they did have to work with at that moment, and how they attained the fame we now know them for. Who knows? You might just write the next "Casey At The Bat" sort of classic.

BEING LONELY NO MORE

Lonely people who found other lonely people have written some of the best love songs. You can always make your protagonists seek out solutions to their loneliness, map out the steps they take and hopefully happy endings to their situations. So much negative music gets written anymore about how miserable people are; it is often refreshing to hear songs with solutions, not just more whining. Sure, there are plenty of popular songs in all genres with whining songs that make the top ten, but I would rather be a songwriter who helped people get on with their lives, not wallow in self-pity and perhaps even think of withdrawing from life instead of embracing it. Most of us would rather not be lonely, actually.

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