Songwriting Exercise: The “Random Song Generator”

I’m back! Yes, I’ve been off the radar for two weeks but I’m raring to go with a new songwriting exercise I learned at WinterSongs, a songwriting weekend retreat I attended two weekends ago in Ashokan, NY. The teacher was a great songwriter named Pete Nelson who passed a whole bunch of tips and exercises about writing narrative-type songs. I had so much fun with my assignment that I got a song out of it that I’m even willing to finish!

Our assignment was based on a “Random Song Generator” — basically three columns of words…the first is the person, the second is the place and the third is the action. Choose one word/phrase randomly from each column and go forth to write! Hint: My assignment was “siblings, ages 9 and 11,” “in a coffee shop”, “stealing something.”

This isn’t a full list but here’s some of what are in Pete Nelson’s three columns so you can get started if you like:

PERSON
Farmer
Janitor
Cab driver
Pregnant teenage girl
Newly widowed woman
Drunk man
Siblings age 9 and 11
Truck driver
Girl with a cat
College student
Map maker

PLACE
Motel room
Gas station
Laundromat
Nursing home
Movie theater
Book store
Tourist trap
Ferry
Swimming pool

ACTION
Handing out photographs
Talking to a Pez dispenser
Asking directions
Writing to an ex-lover
Stealing something
Carving a pumpkin
Looking through binoculars
Dancing alone
Building a fire
Eating a sandwich

Anything strike your fancy? Start a random song!

Cheers…and if you’re looking for more songwriting tips and exercises, check out these helpful posts:

  • http://www.melissa-bel.com Melissa Bel

    Love this idea! I will definitely give it a try. Thanks!

  • http://www.xewmusic.com Petra

    http://muse.fawm.org/lyricloud?q=friend

    another batch of cool songwriting tools…this one is called lyric cloud…and there are a few other goodies there…kind of in the same vein of random words but not divided into subjects as above…another nifty idea though!

    -p

  • http://www.xewmusic.com Petra

    update: passed the idea on to other songwriting friends…one in particular began writing songs like crazy using this method…

    so thanks for sharing! havent been able to try it myself but gonna do that soon…

  • Pingback: A new discovery – Songwritingscene.com « Songwright

  • http://twitter.com/angelatamayo Angela

    Great idea, thank you for sharing!

    ..gotta go make some lists :)

  • Pingback: Stanmore’s Top 5 Songwriting Tips (Pt1) « Singer/Songwriter, Busker/Blogwriter

  • http://stanmorephoenix.wordpress.com Stanmore Phoenix

    It is and EXCELLENT method. Thanks so much Sharon. I give an example of one song I wrote using this method along with an explanation… I took a more metaphorical approach with it rather than being literal. If anyone is interested you can catch it here – http://stanmorephoenix.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/stanmores-top-5-songwriting-tips-pt1/.

    I have written two songs with this method & I love both the songs.

    Thanks again!!!

    - Ryan

  • Aspen

    Haha, I came across this and I did it and I’m writing a very strange song. I got a pregnant teenage girl, in a laundromat, eating a sandwich. lol.

  • Caseyrox3456789

     yay this helped so much. not