Writing With Sue

I've been writing songs for 35 years, but co-writing for around six months. It is a new experience for me, and I'm loving it!! Last Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to write with Sue Smith, a very established and successful song writer. Friday we worked on a song that I had completely written, but felt needed a new chorus and some touch-ups. We struggled and came up with some new stuff, but I'm not sure either of us think it is where it needs to be yet. Work in progress.

We were scheduled to write again on Saturday morning before Sue taught a conference here in town. The pressure was on. All during my morning bible study I kept praying, "God, give me an idea we can work on today." I felt I needed to bring something especially good to the table (we songwriters are an insecure lot.) The fact that Sue had won a Dove award a few days before, didn't add to the pressure. Oh, no. I did come up with a couple of concepts, probably too big for a 3 minute song, but worth a try someday. Then, while driving I had a catchy title pop in my head. When we got back to my writing/piano room, I shared all my ideas, saving that one for last. When I mentioned the title, she nodded her head and said, "we can write that!" About 90 minutes later we had a complete lyric. Now I need to go back and work on the music.

Did we write a hit? Who knows, but I think it will be cuttable. Whatever the final destination, I enjoyed the journey.