How a Daily Ditty doesn’t come together (in six simple steps).
1) Start with an idea: a "Blind Spot." (inspired by some parenting or career shortcoming that was on my mind when I woke)
2) Explore the driving/car angle (the verse)
3) Write a chorus that awkwardly tries to bridge from the actual to the metaphoric
4) Start over. Go with things we don't see involving ourselves, awkward things (fly open)
5) Try to link the mundane/jokey and the meaningful/hokey with a bridge that does… nothing very well.
6) Hear the timer ding 30 minutes and give up
SO totally ripping the curtain away from the Wizard, here goes:
I started by exploring the driving metaphor. It went downhill from there.
VERSE:
Time to pass that slow poke in front of you
So you check the rearview
Glance to the left for a second or two
Start to slide over
When out of nowhere
A horn is blaring
There’s a Volvo bearing down that left lane
You jerk back
Disaster averted
But you are shaking
How could you not see him?
CHORUS:
That blind spot
How did I not see
What was right there next to me?
My blind spot
How do I not see
What is obvious about me
To other folks
This is no joke:
If you love me, shine a light on my blind spots.
STARTING OVER - SECOND ATTEMPT AT A VERSE:
The toilet paper stuck to your shoe,
Or your unzipped fly.
The skirt tucked into your pantyhose,
Or the ketchup on your tie.
The spinach that spent the day in your teeth
Mascara on only one eye
Things everyone sees
Except you
SECOND BAD CHORUS:
Why won’t anyone clue you in
On what you cannot see?
Why don’t they shine some light
On your blind spot
Do they think it’ll do you in
To see what you need to see?
Take pity on my plight
Shed some light
On that blind spot
USELESS BRIDGE:
What do I not see
That everyone else sees
Plain as the nose on my face?
What do I not get
That everyone else gets
Cause they’re making bets
On the horse that’s not gonna just place
But win
I want to win!
ONE LAST ATTEMPT TO FIND SOMETHING…
Your loved ones are your mirrors
They reveal you from every angle
They don’t let you crash
When there is danger
They don’t act like a stranger
ARGHGHGHGHGHGH