Fi’s blog – Andy West ñ Live Songwriting

Andy is introduced by Joe as the bravest man at SWF as he is about to write a song live with no preparation at all in front of a crowd of songwriters.

He hands round pieces of paper and asks everyone to write down prospective song titles.
The purpose of this demonstration is to share one method of songwriting with the group. Drawing from his experiences in Nashville he explains how he formulated a method drawing from what worked for others he had met.
One songwriter he worked with would write notes of whatever they thought could go on in the song at the bottom of the page to have them there when they began writing the song. Andy has found this very useful and this is the method he is employing today. He goes on to say that the first thing they would agree on was the title.
He describes how he would look at the titles and see if there was something that he could relate to in order to take some ownership of the song and put something of himself into.
He discards some titles explaining why he is doing so as he wouldnít use those words himself. He isolates some titles that he thinks would sing well whilst also thinking about potential subjects for the song. There are some titles that he likes but he feels would take more than an hour to write and some that he would really like someone else to write.

He does a vote within the group and which coincides with his own choice. The title offered is Barry Shearman Brings the House Down.
Andy says the first thing to do is ask yourself whatís behind the title. He advises being the detective arriving at the scene of the title and asks for suggestions about what the title could be about. Blain notes down all the options on the screen and the background story chosen is that of a man who comes from a long line of entertainers but has ended up as a builder who is not very good at his new job.
Andy makes the point that because of the descriptive nature of the song he would have quite undemanding music. He references ëAll Along The Watchtowerí as a song that has very rich lyrics with an undemanding backdrop.
He likes the suggestion of having a chronological story and soon has the first four lines being about the entertainer’s background.
Andy says itís important to get as many points down as possible and something that feels like a good first draft without being overly critical.

He makes the point that it saves a lot of time if you write a song with a title that you feel you can say a lot about to begin with.
More suggestions are thrown out and Andy is careful to keep it in the same voice and make sure the references are not too obscure. He uses the storyline that theyíve decided on to keep things on track.
The question is asked around whether he is deliberately not playing the guitar. Andy says he prefers to get the lyrics right in the story, and as itís a story song he wants to concentrate on the lyrics primarily.
Once heís happy with the verse Andy plays it with the melody he has had in his head and more ideas come out which Blain notes down.
Ideas are coming thick and fast and one songwriter comes up with a killer line that finishes the song off.
Itís a great experience, really good fun and a real eye opener for everyone to a different approach to songwriting.