This snippet of Ron Rash's short story Return, would be a good starting block for a song idea.

He wonders how many times he has made this walk in his head the last two years. Six hundred, maybe more? All those nights he’d lain awake in his tent, bare chest covered with sweat as sporadic sniper fire and mortar rounds broke through the whir and drone of insects. Because he knew oceans had currents the same way creeks and rivers did, he’d imagine one drop of water making its way from his home in North Carolina to the green waters of the South Pacific. He would follow that drop of water back to its source—first across the Pacific and on through the Panama Canal, then across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi to the Ohio River, then the New River, then the New River’s middle fork, and finally up Holder Branch. Sometimes he never made it all the way back. Somewhere between what his grandfather called the Boone toll road and his family’s farmhouse he would fall asleep. 

Man, there are oceans of incredible tunes out there. I fell into this yesterday afternoon and can't get it out of my head. I give thanks the world is packed full of creative people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=98AJUj-qxHI

Once In A Lifetime

David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, Jerry Harrison,

Brian Eno

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack

 And you may find yourself in another part of the world

 And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile

 And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife

 And you may ask yourself

 Well...How did I get here?

Letting the days go by

 Let the water hold me down

 Letting the days go by

 Water flowing underground

 Into the blue again

 After the money's gone

 Once in a lifetime

 Water flowing underground

And you may ask yourself

 How do I work this?

 And you may ask yourself

 Where is that large automobile?

 And you may tell yourself

 This is not my beautiful house

 And you may tell yourself

 This is not my beautiful wife

Letting the days go by

 Let the water hold me down

 Letting the days go by

 Water flowing underground

 Into the blue again

 After the money's gone

 Once in a lifetime

 Water flowing underground

Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

Water dissolving...and water removing

 There is water at the bottom of the ocean

 Under the water, carry the water at the bottom of the ocean

 Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean

Letting the days go by

 Let the water hold me down

 Letting the days go by

 Water flowing underground

 Into the blue again

 Into the silent water

 Under the rocks and stones

 There is water underground

Letting the days go by

 Let the water hold me down

 Letting the days go by

 Water flowing underground

 Into the blue again

 After the money's gone

 Once in a lifetime

 Water flowing underground

And you may ask yourself

 What is that beautiful house?

 And you may ask yourself

 Where does that highway go to?

 And you may ask yourself

 Am I right?...Am I wrong?

 And you may say to yourself

 My God!...What have I done?!

Letting the days go by

 Let the water hold me down

 Letting the days go by

 Water flowing underground

 Into the blue again

 Into the silent water

 Under the rocks and stones

 There is water underground

Letting the days go by

 Let the water hold me down

 Letting the days go by

 Water flowing underground

 Into the blue again

 After the money's gone

 Once in a lifetime

 Water flowing underground

Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Look where my hand was

 Time isn't holding up

 Time is an asterisk

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Same as it ever was...

 Yeah, the twister comes

 Here comes the twister

 Same as it ever was...

Simply wonderful tune from the master of laid back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdLyPsa2w78

Woke Up This Morning

JJ Cale

I woke up early this morning
There wasn't a cloud in the sky
I walked up to the window
If I had wings I could fly

Everything looked like a garden
The wonder of it all
Reflection of the sun on the water
Looked like a crystal ball

The blue sky covers dimensions
Beyond what my eyes could see
Stretch my imagination
Totally free

The time was only a moment
Spreadin' like a lightning rod
I know, I saw for a moment
The hand of God

As if he'd painted a picture
And put it on my window pane
What I saw this morning
I'll never ever see again

Day 8 of the flu has kept me inside on the couch watching way too much TV. Don't know which is worse; the actual symptoms or the side effects of the assortment of over the counter drugs you take to feel better. Anyway, songwriters love learning and talking about other writers processes. I watched The History Of The Eagles Part 1 yesterday. Glen Frey was talking about songwriting. He said he had no idea how to go about it. Then Jackson Browne moved in the tiny apartment below his. Glen said every morning he could hear the tea kettle whistle then there would be 15 minutes of silence. Then Jackson would play piano and sing fragments of verses for an hour or so. Then the tea kettle would whistle and silence. Then more piano and singing. This went on every day all day long. Then it hit him, elbow grease! Good stuff. Good movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtEErh-wFrc

Looking for a picture of Glen & Jackson I found a you clip of what I was trying to describe in my altered state of mind.

Day 1 of 2015 starts.

I am writing in my journal.

I love my daily journal because I am writing.

 It really has helped me because

I write something. 

There I said it. The Defcon 5 secret exposed. 

Later this month one of my song writing groups will have a workshop based on  a book about writing and the process of art. I read it and Amazon & Kindle (sounds like a 1-800-BAD-DRUG law firm) recommend some more so I read them. Thousands of yellow highlights. When I mine material for the journal I compile a ton of famous authors and songwriters quotes and post some of the best.

I will sum them all up.

Write.

Yes, that is all there is too it. 

I could write a massive book footnoting all my sources supporting my findings and boring you and me to death. No need for that. You know I am correct.

Write. 

Write some more. 

Then some more. 

No secret formulas. 

My goal for this year is to earn my 52 merit badge.

Practice all week and by every Sunday night have a fresh song to play.

Always been on of my favorite Ricky Nelson songs. Chorus seems fitting for the last day of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhNFm5Vce0Y

One X One

Dennis Larden

Have you ever been so down

Every time you looked around

Despair is like a silently cloud beside you

Well centuries fly and decades pass

Buildings fall and mountains last

Today is not to give you but to guide you

But you can't look back what is done is done

And the time that you spent on yesterday

Today is halfway gone

And we learn to live our days one by one

Have you ever loved so hard

You opened up and dropped your guard

And fell to earth your feelings burned and branded

Well love is like a lady's song takes you in and leads you on

And in the morning leaves you high and stranded

But you can't look back what is done is done

And the time that you spent on yesterday

Today is halfway gone

And we learn to live our days one by one

But you can't look back what is done is done

And the time that you spent on yesterday

Today is halfway gone

And we learn to live our days one by one

Karine Polwart writes some heady stuff. Take a walk down Resolution Road.

Resolution Road

Karine Polwart

Resolution road

 Who’s your friend and who’s your foe

 How do you tell the one from the other

 Who’s on the inside, who’s undercover

 Who looks like you do

 Resolution road

 Round and round and round we go

 Who makes the circle and who’s in the middle

 Who talks in reasons and who talks in riddles

 Who looks like you do 

 Don’t speak without thinking

 Don’t sleep with a stranger when you’re drinking

 And don’t jump in a ship when it’s sinking 

Resolution road

 Learn to speak your heart in code

 Try to embody the laws of encryption

 And try to defy all the laws of description

 Who looks like you do 

Resolution road

 Buy a ticket for the show

 Who talks in riddles who talks in reasons 

 What kind of endings do you believe in

 Who looks like you do 

Don’t speak without thinking

 Don’t sleep with a stranger when you’re drinking

 And don’t jump in a ship when it’s sinking 

Don’t speak without thinking

 Don’t sleep with a stranger when you’re drinking

 And don’t jump in a ship when it’s sinking 

Resolution road

 Who’s your friend and who’s your foe

 How do you tell the one from the other

 Who’s on the inside, who’s undercover

 Who’ll be your Lazarus Who’ll be your lover

 Who looks like you do 

 Who looks like you do

 Who looks like you do