I’ve studied the art of songwriting for many years. Along with studying serious songwriting, I’ve also looked at the humorous side of things. About 15 or 20 years into my songwriting journey, I did some intentional lighter-fare songwriting projects.
John Prine, Randy Newman, Steve Goodman, and Shel Silverstein are a few of my favorite songwriters. They also all practiced writing songs on the lighter side. I started writing some humor and satirical songs while I was finishing up grad school in 2000/2001. Ever since, I’ve found myself returning to the form on occasion.
World events, politics, news, and awkward social situations can all lend themselves to great novelty songs. I’ve even written a couple of parodies.
In today’s heated political climate, every day brings another surprise. That’s lent itself to some great opportunities for writing tongue-in-cheek lyrics and songs.
The downside of those songs is they often have a timestamp. I write them quickly. I grow tired of them just as fast. In other words, many of these songs are a flash-in-the-pan. But it’s still fun. Here are a few of my latest:
First, a parody based on Steve Martin’s “King Tut.” This is “King Musk.”
Second, a tongue-in-cheek story about a man who retires to Mexico only to wind up living on “The Gulf of America.”
The next one is a satirical look at how the “Greenlanders” might feel about Trump’s discussions of America taking over their country.
Finally, as announced yesterday, all K-12 and higher education institutions must remove DEI language and programs or possibly lose federal funding. It looks like “DEI Is Going to Die.”
I’ll continue to write some less-serious songs as I see the opportunity. However, my primary goal as a songwriter has always been to continually improve my skillset of writing great songs with universal and timeless themes and elements.
By the way, if you haven’t yet seen that I now have YouTube channel, I do. I encourage you to subscribe. I’ll be posting new work there on a regular basis. – dse
It was a last minute decision. But I’m glad I went.
Tonight, I went to see Sam Baker with special guest Rodney Crowell at Riverside Revival in East Nashville. What a great show!
I went alone but wound up sharing a table with another Rodney Crowell camper and musical artist, Lucia Comnes.
First, I was not very familiar with Sam Baker. But I’m glad to have seen him now. His style is unique. He reminds me a bit of Tom Waits. He doesn’t sound like Tom Waits but he’s created a style that’s one of a kind. It’s more on the country side of the spectrum than Waits. His writing is both heartfelt and quirky. His performance is sparse and emotional. I’ll be looking into more of his work.
Sam and Rodney traded songs and stories for about two and a half hours.
Rodney, as usual, put on a great show. He played some of his classics. He played a couple of songs he wrote with Guy Clark. And he played a classic Townes Van Zandt song, No Place to Fall.
I’ve been to two Rodney Crowell song camps, in 2022 and 2023. And there’s something that Rodney does that I’ve never seen anyone else do. He watches other songwriters with complete intention and respect. When Sam played, Rodney turned and watched him through each and every song entirely. And that reminded me that Rodney does the same thing at his song camps. He listens to each song fully and intentionally, even if the writer is a beginner who can’t play an instrument or sing in key. There’s something gracious about that.
In an earlier article about my experience at Rodney’s song camps, I said that Rodney surrounds himself with people that are as or more talented than himself. That remains true. Baker is on par with Rodney. I love that the show was billed as Sam Baker (with special guest Rodney Crowell). Again, it shows a kind of graciousness as Rodney is clearly the better-known name.
In the end, the entire audience sang the Beatles, Get By With a Little Help from My Friends. Then Lucia and I went and said hi to Sam and Rodney and some of the other musicians, including Tim Lorsch, who did some great fiddle work throughout the show. And I finally broke down and got my photo with Rodney. I’ve avoided that in the past, because I didn’t want to be one of “those people.” I guess now I am one. – dse
Dan Steven Erickson with Rodney Crowell, Photo by Lucia Comnes
If you haven’t noticed yet, I’ve recently started a YouTube Channel: Dan Steven Erickson. The channel is a place to simply catalog the hundreds of songs I’ve written over the years. I’m also posting little stories and lessons about songwriting.
I’m not sure where the channel is heading. It’s a journey. But since its start a few weeks ago, I’ve posted about 20 songs that I’ve written in the past couple of months. Nothing special, just me and an instrument. The performances are a little rough. My voice isn’t perfect. But that’s not the point. It’s a catalog, not a competition.
Coming up starting on Sunday, February 16, I’ll be posting 12 songs written on the mandolin. It’s basically an album. I’ll post a song a day without much talk. I’m still playing with the delivery of the tunes and will start recording them next week.
Once I post the mandolin songs, I’ll be slowing down at how often I post. I’ll take a deep dive back into my own back catalog, going clear back into the late-1980s. I’ll focus a bit more on organizing the posts and bettering the performances of the songs.
The studio is coming along. I’ve received a new tripod and have started using a higher-quality microphone. I’ve also been adding a little flavor. Take a look. – de
Steve Graham loved boats and anything nautical – Photo by Dan Steven Erickson: Pine Point, Maine
This is the second of two posts of recordings from the Erickson & Graham Songbook. I met Steve Graham around 1990 after he heard a song I had written and recorded on a local radio station in Wenatchee, Washington. That was the start of a long relationship as co-songwriters.
Steve passed away a few years ago. In 2022, another Wenatchee friend, Mike Schenck, recorded me playing all of the songs that Steve and I had written together.
These recordings are the result. A couple of songs are missing. Some were changed because I no longer had chord progressions on file, or I had lost the melody. I changed a few lyrics that I felt could be improved. But the majority of the songs are as they were originally written.
I’m not excited about quality of these recordings. The guitar I used had too much treble and my performances could have been improved, but I’ve decided to post them for the record. – dse
All Words & Music Copyright by Dan Steven Erickson & Steve Graham 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2025
Steve Graham loved boats and anything nautical – Photo by Dan Steven Erickson: Pine Point, Maine
This is the first of two posts of recordings from the Erickson & Graham Songbook. I met Steve Graham around 1990 after he heard a song I had written and recorded on a local radio station in Wenatchee, Washington. That was the start of a long relationship as co-songwriters.
Steve passed away a few years ago. In 2022, another Wenatchee friend, Mike Schenck, recorded me playing all of the songs that Steve and I had written together.
These recordings are the result. A couple of songs are missing. Some were changed because I no longer had chord progressions on file, or I had lost the melody. I changed a few lyrics that I felt could be improved. But the majority of the songs are as they were originally written.
I’m not excited about quality of these recordings. The guitar I used had too much treble and my performances could have been improved, but I’ve decided to post them for the record. – dse
All Words & Music Copyright by Dan Steven Erickson & Steve Graham 1991, 1992, 2025
As a songwriter this has got to be the question I get asked the most. Which comes first, the words or the music? The answer is not so simple. First, there is no right answer. The process is different for everyone. Second, your process may change over time.
Here’s a little insight into my process.
There is no easy answer here because I’ve written music first, words first, and words and music together. But I’ll tell you about my journey and what I do now, which I think may be the best method (for me).
I started out writing lyrics. I didn’t play an instrument. I was eight years old and I played the radio, nonstop. I loved the early 1970’s Top-40 radio. So, I started emulating the lyrics and rhymes I heard.
My older brother, and later my younger brother, played guitar. From eight years old to about the age of 25, most of my songs were written words first because I didn’t write the music. I did write a few songs on the piano in my late teens and early 20s.
And then came the guitar…
After years of playing drums and depending on other people to write chord progressions for my lyrics, I bought myself an acoustic guitar. This really was the beginning of my journey as a serious songwriter. For the next 25 years I would primarily write the words and music together.
I’d simply sit down with my guitar and an idea and start working at creating lyrics and a melody to a chord progression in real time. This is a great way to write songs. I’d guess that about 75% of my work has been completed in this mode.
But in my mid-to-late 40s I started playing with other methods. I started writing poetry that I would later put to music. And I started creating electronic music that I would later write words to. My goal was simply to shake things up and try different methods in an attempt to create new sounds, new art.
Poetry and technology led me back to words first.
After taking a few years off from songwriting and focusing more on ambient and experimental electronic music composition, a new trend began to develop.
Along with writing ambient music, I was also writing a lot of free-verse poetry. I started playing with taking poems and rewriting them to fit to music. I also started moving from writing with pen and paper to writing on computers and iPhones. At first, I was trying to create unique electronic music with words, but the process led me back to traditional songwriting.
Here’s how I write 90% of my songs now. I write the words first.
I do this anywhere and anytime I get an idea: I simply pull out my iPhone, use the notes app, and write down potential verses and choruses to songs. I’ll do this for anywhere from 2-6 months. I’ll wind up with a file of 50-100 ideas. Then I’ll start trying to put words to music. Sometimes it takes weeks or more for something to click. But often, once I get that first song, it’s like someone turns on a water spigot and I’ll write a few dozen songs in a matter of a month or two. I just completed a batch.
Why I think words first might be the best method.
At the start of this essay I said there is no right way to write songs. I stick by that. But I do see an advantage to writing words first.
When I write the words and music together, once I complete a song, I rarely look back. I don’t do a whole lot of lyrical editing. So there are some lyrics that might still be improved. But in my current method of writing, I’m constantly editing.
Because my phone is always with me, once I write a lyric, I’ll go back and work on it several times, even after I think it’s done. Often, a lyric has been edited two or three times before I put it to music. When I put it to music, I edit again. I might have to change meter, tempo, phrasing, or rhyme scheme for it to fit to the music.
Already having the lyric completed also allows me time to focus on the music, choosing more interesting chord progressions to build unique melodies around.
In the end, more time and care goes into the songs that I write the words first for. Therefore, I believe it may be the better of the three methods (for me). That said, I still write a few songs per batch the old way of words and music together. Sometimes I think the spontaneity of that method gives those songs a special kind of energy.
In the end, there is no answer to the age-old question: what comes first, the words or the music? You decide. – dse
