“Look, it’s very simple,” John Lennon said, according to David Bowie. “Say what you mean, make it rhyme, put a beat to it.”

I didn’t realize until a few days ago that he meant to do those things in that order.

I’m working on lyrics now every morning, and I’ve discovered that it’s a lot easier if you say what you mean first, then make it rhyme, then put a beat to it. It’s not easy to start out by rhyming your ideas. As I discovered when I wrote my books, the dirty little secret about writing is that it goes a lot faster and better when you know what you’re trying to say. Why shouldn’t that apply to lyrics too?

Stay tuned for the lyrics to some of my new pieces. And stay tuned also for more news on the upcoming record sessions, now set for mid-September 2016.