‘Suspended in the liminal state between wakefulness and sleep, the sliver of time after waking seems to be the only part of the day when we’ve been soaked in our interior lives for hours on end without external influences.’ - Charmaine Li
Welcome to the fifth episode of Write Me A Song: A Songwriting Podcast with Edward Randell and Olivia Rafferty! Thanks for joining us on this journey so far. Take a listen to this week’s songwriting challenge and don’t forget we’d love you to get involved too! Scroll down to read this week’s homework and the submission link.
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🎵 Episode 5: Write Me A Dream
This week Olivia challenges Edward to consider his subconscious as a source of inspiration.
Listen to the episode to see how he gets on.
🎹 Songwriting Homework #5
This week, we want you to keep a dream diary, and use the material you collect to write a song!
Here’s your homework:
This week, write down or even voice memo what happens in your dreams. This is best done as soon as you wake up — before you check social media or emails! It will be difficult the first couple of days if you’re not used to recalling dreams. But the more you do it, the more information you’ll remember.
When a week has passed, go over your dream diary and take note of interesting images. Use these images to start coming up with lyrics.
Keep your songwriting free of external influence by making the process just you and a voice recording app or a microphone. Sometimes we fall into the same choices when we write with an instrument.
When you feel like you have your initial idea, you can take it to the piano/guitar/DAW and finish your song.
Record a demo and send it in!
Upload your song to be featured on the podcast or newsletter below.
📚 Episode References
Mentions from today’s episode:
📕 The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
💿 Stream/buy Olivia’s new album
🎟️ Tickets for Edward’s String Quartet Show on 3rd April
✒️ Lyrics
There is glitter from the chimney
There is silver in the smoke
And the frogs are all a-twitter
And the sparrows all a-croak
And the bitterness within me
Burst its bubble when I woke
There is glitter from the chimney
There is silver in the smoke
This is not a normal day
There is alchemy afoot
I heard goldfish in the plumbing
I saw diamonds in the soot
All this to say
This is not a normal day
There’s a shimmer in the air today
And nobody knows why
Astronomical anomalies
Are lighting up the sky
Is it mercury in retrograde
Or something in my eye?
There’s a shimmer in the air today
And nobody knows why
This is not a normal day
There is alchemy afoot
I heard goldfish in the plumbing
I saw diamonds in the soot
All this to say
This is not a normal day
Not a normal day…
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