Songwriters’ Tricks: Writing Holiday Songs
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to write a Christmas/holiday song, here’s one of the biggest tips: START IN JULY.
It can be difficult to think about snowballs and peppermint coffee and fuzzy scarves while you’re on a summer bike ride, but the only way to get a holiday song written and recorded in time for early December is to write it in the heat of summer. In my few years being part of Robot Holiday, I’ve learned to embrace thoughts of winter on a hot and sunny afternoon. Sometimes writing about something that seems so distant gives me a clarity I might not have when I’m in the thick of that something. Images of big fat fluffy feather flakes, or boy scouts trimming boughs off of a tree, or pretty green boxes with pretty red ribbons, become so vivid while I’m dipping my bare feet in a stream and swatting away mosquitoes. A thousand memories of laughter around the dinner table with bellies full of some delicious, extravagant meal, while playing whatever new game we opened earlier that morning, come flooding through, and it’s easy to reconnect with that joy and peace. It also reminds me that as much as I love summer in Buffalo, my very favorite time of the year is just a few months away. It gives me something more to look forward to. I love the change of seasons in Western New York, and do things to embrace what spring, summer, and fall offer us here, but I LOVE Christmas time. It’s my favorite.
So, if you’re an aspiring songwriter hoping to write a holiday classic this year, time’s a-wastin’, set pen to paper and get that song done!