Song Club #16: Old Friends

Old friendships are rich terrain to explore in songwriting

QUICK NOTE: Through May, I’m going to try an experiment where I share my weekly efforts to write a song a week. In doing this, my hope is to create a space where others (you all) might feel safe doing the same. I’m looking for ways to make Song Club feel like an active and supportive community, as opposed to a broadcast. This is just one experiment in doing so. LMK how it feels?

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I’m going back to Australia in late May. I try to go back every couple of years, but I haven’t achieved it. As such, a cherished part of this trip will be seeing a handful of old, dear friends after a long, long time.

Old friendships—ones that go way back, ones that ended long ago, ones challenged by time and distance—are rich and rugged terrain to explore in songwriting. Friendships can stretch for decades with so much unspoken. Friendships pull apart for years only to come back together as though no time has passed, and nothing has changed. Other old friendships need to be rebuilt. Old friendships are treasures, and they can serve to remind us of all the other treasures in our life. There’s so much to play with here from a musical perspective. 

This week, I want you to explore old friends and friendship in your songwriting. 

Keep going, 

Lucy 

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SONG PROVOCATIONS

Write about an old friendship that ended in a slow fade. 

What do you want to say to this friend that you never got to say? Try kicking off this provocation by writing an honest letter, laying it all out. Highlight the things that would be hardest to say in person. Start your lyrics from this place.