For me living in beautiful surroundings, like Colorado, is a motivation to write but not necessarily about the place I live, although I've done that. It sneaks into songs like "Not Every Day Was Sad"or "Don't Call Me When You're Lonely" because it just happens to be incidental to the story. Mostly, I write in solitude, safely ensconced inside the womb of the studio, or in a comfortable chair as the day is just beginning.

With the exception of PG Music contests like Xtra Styles PAK 3 that happened last summer, for which I wrote four songs, I usually have a lyrical idea first. In the case of the competition I let the song styles suggest something to me. But it's not normally how I write.

I usually start with a lyrical hook that moves me in some way and then I make up a story that surrounds it by writing a short paragraph which is a complete synopsis of the story. Often I'm "seeing" the story and visualizing it's progression as I'm writing. The song "One More Thing" came from something a former girlfriend said to me which stuck in my head until I finally wrote it down and fleshed it out. The title or hook, if you will, was something very powerful to me because it was personal. I find it difficult to write good songs by "forcing the muse" as folks in the "album a month" or "song a day" do. I need an emotional connection and substance, not an exercise in lyric writing, to justify all the time and effort that goes into producing a song.

I recently published a romance novel, "The Songsmith" which follows the life of a professional songwriter, his motivations, his love for a special woman, etc. The book is filled with references to my own songs and lyrics intertwined with the story. In one of the first few chapters we watch as he is motivated to write "One More Thing" from influences in his life. This is not actually how I wrote the song, but it was a great exercise in making up a story about how someone else could have created it. I think if you're going to write songs, you need a vivid imagination. You can then fill in the often boring truth with more interesting events. Fun stuff, boy.

Thanks for reading this far...and listening to the music.

Bob Buford

BIAB 2018 ULTRA
https://soundcloud.com/bob-buford
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