Song Club #14: Spring

The signs of spring’s arrival, and the feelings they evoke, provide fertile ground for songwriting.

NOTE: This week I’m continuing my experiment with a different format for Song Club. Instead of song provocations, creative missions, and artist reflections I’m sharing 7 small music-making experiments. I’ve included a little poll at the end of this email. I’d love your feedback on what you prefer. 

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Spring is a season that arrives softly but makes its presence felt with bursts of young life and returning color. It's a time of renewal and rebirth, when the long, cold ache of winter melts away, and the world awakens in a riot of light green and tender buds. There's a palpable sense of hope and new beginnings as the days grow longer.

The signs of spring’s arrival, and the feelings they evoke, provide fertile ground for songwriting—from lyrics to arrangement. ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by The Beatles feels like the season it celebrates: sunny and propulsive, leaping forward. My Morning Jacket’s ‘Spring (Among The Living)’ evokes a vibrant reawakening, starting with a distant howl that grows into a colorful cascade of guitars. In ‘Spring In Hours’ Florist’s Emily Sprague sings about ‘love in all your senses’ and ‘the world outside in color’ before ending the song with the stunning line ‘Maybe there’s something that takes us beyond this/And flowers like spring in our arms.’

In keeping with the spirit of the season, there’s a stunning array of possibilities that bloom when you draw songwriting inspiration from spring. This week, I’m inviting you to explore it in your songwriting.

Keep going,

Lucy

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7 Small Songwriting Experiments:

#1: Explore the imagery of spring where you live in your lyrics. Try pushing beyond what you’ve heard before. What is spring like in your particular neck of the woods? Bring that specificity to your songwriting.