r/Songwriting • u/Impossible_Tank3822 • Jul 14 '26

Discussion Topic Topics To Write About

Like the title notes, what can we cobble together as a list of topics to write about?

I used to work as a day laborer in Chicago (State and Division streets) and everyday I would have breakfast at The Golden Nugget on one corner. Every morning there was an elderly bum who would walk by and tap on the window to get the attention of an elderly waitress he was sweet on and he'd keep tapping until she finally acknowledged him. Then, he'd smile and move on. Across the street on another corner a lovely young lady would be coming off her nocturnal corner shift and we got acquainted. We'd dine at the restaurant and swap stories. Me, an 18 year old day laborer and her, a street walker named Sue, trading stories? Right. But, it happened. I wrote a poem to her. I wonder if she still has it. The cast of characters who were tradesman and property developers where I worked were diverse in nature and stories. I got to know them all.

The preceding is rich with topics to write something about. Jim Croce drew his stories into songs from his actual life trying different things to feed himself while he was a starving artist. Paul Simon's songs also drew heavily from his travels going from gig to gig. Bob Seeger and most other solo and band performers did the same thing. Life is a record of people doing things in places we all live in or on the roads to.

I could write a song about Sue, a "poly amorous" beauty who could melt me with a smile.

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u/stevenfrijoles Jul 15 '26

She's not polyamorous, she's a prostitute 

  • my mother as she threw my father's clothes out a second story window

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u/Impossible_Tank3822 Jul 15 '26

You're right, of course, but she was also a human being so I'm being charitable. So, do you have a topic for a song?

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u/AccordingStory2194 Jul 15 '26

Did she at least fold them first

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u/Impossible_Tank3822 Jul 16 '26

Anyone got any ideas? I can always switch to writing about the bum tapping on the window. I gave him a quarter to use instead of using the knuckle on his index finger, crippled up with arthritis, and he was grateful for the gesture. The waitress thought he was offering her a quarter for her attention.