Song topic ideas: 45 prompts to start your next song

“Love” gives you a subject. Returning a spare key after a breakup gives you a person, an action and something they might not want to say. You can start writing that scene before deciding what the whole song means.

Your own life and interests are useful places to look for song ideas. So are overheard conversations, objects you can’t throw away and situations you have to invent. And zombies, but more on those below.

These 45 original songwriting prompts cover familiar subjects and a few less obvious ones. Pick a situation that makes you curious. Change the details, choose who is speaking and write something before looking for another idea.

Download the prompts and writing worksheet. The CSV opens in a spreadsheet app and includes space for the narrator, what they want, a specific detail, what changes and a working title. No signup required.

Turn a broad topic into a song idea

Give the topic a person and a particular moment. Then decide what is unresolved.

You can tell a story, hold one feeling in place or address someone directly. A song doesn’t need a plot twist. A small change in what the narrator understands can be enough to give the writing direction.

If you struggle to find details, describe what the person can hear, see, touch or smell. Andrea Stolpe’s destination-writing lesson at Berklee uses a place, person or time as the starting point for sensory writing. Try a few minutes of plain description before worrying about rhyme.

Love and relationships

Love and relationships are classic themes. Some people find them, some lose them, and some end up with cats. There is plenty of material without writing another vague declaration that someone means everything to you.

Think about something one person does and the other notices. A meal cooked badly, a changed contact name or a conversation postponed for the third time can tell you where to start. Friendship, family and learning to enjoy your own company belong here too.

1. Return a spare key after a breakup. Decide why the person giving it back keeps finding reasons to stay.
2. Two people miss the same last train. Only one of them is glad about it.
3. Write about a friendship that becomes awkward when one person’s music starts getting attention.
4. A couple disagree about what happened on their first date. Let the small disagreement reveal something larger.
5. Someone starts enjoying their own company, then feels guilty when an old partner calls.
6. A parent tries to help an adult child while pretending they don’t need help themselves.

Living forever

Living forever could be terrifying. The useful question for a song is what it changes for the person who gets the extra time. Their work, memory and relationships won’t all stay still just because they do.

Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever” is one of my favourite sad songs. You can take the question somewhere smaller, too. Give an immortal narrator one ordinary thing they can no longer bear doing.

7. An immortal person stops saving phone numbers because they keep outliving the people attached to them.
8. Someone who has lived for centuries wants to experience an ordinary day without remembering another one like it.
9. A couple can live forever, but only one accepts the offer.
10. An immortal narrator keeps taking the same photograph as the town around them changes.

Cars and journeys

A car can be a place to talk, somewhere to hide or a way out. It can also be an expensive thing that refuses to work at the worst possible moment.

Choose what the vehicle means to the person driving it. The make and model may matter, but the decision being made in the front seat gives you more to write about than a list of engine parts.

11. A car won’t start on the morning of an interview that could change someone’s life.
12. A person sells their late father’s car but can’t bring themselves to change the seat position.
13. Two friends drive all night. One plans to confess something before they reach the next town.
14. An old car is worth less than the repairs. The owner refuses to say why they keep paying.

Guitars and other objects

An instrument can hold the history of the person who plays it. A worn case, a repair someone made badly or a receipt left in a pocket can get you past “my guitar is my best friend.”

You can also write from the object’s point of view. Keep the details that belong to that particular object. A borrowed saxophone and a childhood piano won’t have the same story.

15. Someone walks into a shop to sell their first guitar, then stays to play one last song.
16. A borrowed instrument comes back damaged. The owner cares about a different loss.
17. A musician opens a case they haven’t touched since deciding to quit.
18. An instrument changes hands through three generations. Tell the story from the instrument’s point of view.

Nature and changing seasons

Try putting a person in the landscape rather than describing how beautiful it is. Give them a reason to care about the weather, a tree or a patch of ground. They might be working there, leaving it or watching it change.

Bon Iver’s “Woods” is simply magical. The official EP notes describe its layered a cappella approach. Listen to what repeated vocal material can carry before assuming a nature song needs an elaborate description of every leaf.

19. A family marks flood levels on a doorframe. Each line belongs to a different year.
20. A town opens its winter festival without any snow. Follow someone whose job depends on the weather.
21. A familiar bird disappears from the morning walk. The narrator notices what else has gone quiet.
22. Neighbours argue over the last old tree on a street. Give each side something worth protecting.
23. A fox appears outside the same kitchen every night. The narrator starts waiting for it.

Zombies, aliens and impossible situations

Strange subjects can give an ordinary feeling somewhere new to live. An alien can be lonely. A ghost can be unable to let go. A zombie can have a terrible job. You can play the premise straight or let it become funny.

Decide how literal the song is. A monster story and a metaphor for feeling numb can use similar language while doing different jobs.

24. A zombie returns to their old job and discovers the paperwork is the same.
25. An alien arrives expecting a welcome ceremony and has to ask for directions instead.
26. A ghost can’t leave a flat because the person they are waiting for has moved away.
27. A monster takes the night shift because it is the only time nobody stares.
28. The last message broadcast before the end of the world turns out to be an advertisement.

Social issues

A large subject can become easier to write about through one person’s experience. Show the journey home, the room being emptied or the conversation that keeps returning. You can make your position clear without trying to explain an entire policy in the first verse.

The Cranberries’ “Zombie” belongs in this discussion. The band’s official biography identifies it as a protest song. Its title doesn’t make it a literal zombie-apocalypse example.

If you name a real event, check what happened. Keep invented characters and details separate from claims about actual people.

29. A librarian packs away the cards on the library’s final day. One borrower keeps arriving late.
30. A worker finishes after the last bus has left. Describe the route home rather than explaining the whole transport system.
31. A neighbour recognizes someone in a news story and remembers an ordinary conversation with them.
32. A council meeting has one empty chair that matters more to the narrator than the speeches.
33. During a power cut, strangers share one working phone charger. Let their priorities clash.
34. A person cleaning a beach finds something that came from their own childhood home.

Work, money and ambition

Bills and work can sound unpromising until you get specific. The badge someone keeps after their last shift, or an expensive dinner they can’t comfortably afford, can carry embarrassment, pride, resentment or relief.

Choose what the person wants and what accepting it would cost them. You don’t have to decide that success is either wonderful or corrupt before writing the song.

35. A promotion requires moving away. The narrator has to tell someone who thought they were staying.
36. Someone works two jobs and gives each employer a different explanation for being tired.
37. On a final shift, a worker pockets their name badge instead of handing it back.
38. A first pay packet buys one ordinary thing the narrator has wanted for years.
39. A person inherits the family business and doesn’t want to continue it.
40. An old friend pays for everyone’s dinner. The narrator can’t decide whether to feel grateful or embarrassed.

Home, memory and belonging

Places change while people are away. People change while staying in the same place. Start with something that lets the narrator notice the difference.

You can use a room, a street, an accent or a journey that used to be familiar. Memories also leave room for disagreement. Two people don’t have to remember the same afternoon in the same way.

41. A corner shop becomes something else. Write about the person who still uses its old name.
42. Two school friends meet after years apart and discover they remember a third friend differently.
43. Someone never fully unpacks a suitcase, even after living in the same place for years.
44. A child hears a parent speaking differently when calling home to another country.
45. A person clears an empty house and keeps one object nobody else wants.

Work one prompt into a rough song

Take the spare-key idea from the relationship list. Start with decisions you can actually write from:

Those are fictional writing choices. Your version could be from the other person’s point of view, or from someone who finds the key years later.

Give the verse and chorus different jobs

For this version, let the first verse stay at the door. Put the hesitation into the actions: taking the key out, putting it away, finding another reason to talk.

The chorus can return to what keeping the key has meant to the narrator. It doesn’t need to explain every event in the relationship. Try one short thought you can repeat and sing naturally.

In the second verse, change the information. The lock has been changed, or the person answering the door doesn’t recognize the key. Now the same chorus can carry a different meaning.

This is one possible verse-and-chorus structure. A short repeated phrase, a story without a chorus or a more abstract lyric can work too.

Write the plain version before the rhyming version

Write what the person means in ordinary speech. Then speak it aloud over a pulse or sing it over a simple loop. Notice which words you naturally stress and where you need to breathe.

Don’t choose an awkward word just because it rhymes. A rough sentence that says something is easier to work on than a tidy rhyme you don’t believe.

If harmony is getting in the way of writing, start with a small progression you can repeat. Our music theory guide for producers includes a simple chord-and-melody exercise you can adapt. A phone recording is enough to save a melody before it disappears.

When every idea still feels wrong

Make the task smaller. Write one verse, a possible chorus or a page of observations. You don’t have to decide whether the idea deserves a finished production before you have written anything.

Try one change if you have stalled:

• Give the story to the person you initially disagreed with.
• Move it from the day something happens to the morning after.
• Remove the explanation and describe the actions.
• Keep the words and change the rhythm or the note you land on.
• Write a second ending in which the narrator doesn’t get what they want.

Save the unfinished versions. A line that doesn’t fit this song may belong in another one. If you need a place to record and organize rough ideas, our apps for musicians guide covers a few practical options.

Songwriting topic questions

What are good topics to write songs about?

Relationships, work, home, change, nature and imagined situations all give you material. Choose a person or point of view and a specific moment within the subject. The 45 prompts above are starting points you can change to suit your own music.

Can I write a song about something that didn’t happen to me?

Yes. You can invent a narrator, use a fictional situation or combine details. You don’t need to present a character’s experience as your own. Think about what the person would notice, want and avoid saying.

How do I find a topic that hasn’t been done before?

You may not need one. Two songs about leaving home can differ in narrator, setting, rhythm, melody and what leaving costs. Work on the particular version you can write rather than trying to find a subject no songwriter has touched.

Should I write lyrics or music first?

Try the part that is already available to you. If you have a phrase, speak or sing it until a rhythm suggests itself. If you have a loop or melody, try different words and listen to how the stresses fit. Keep a rough recording of each version.

Can I use these songwriting prompts?

Yes. They are original prompts written for this guide. Adapt them, change the details and write your own lyrics and music. The published songs mentioned in the article are listening references.

About the author

Keith has been a musician for over 30 years and writes about music software, recording and the practical work of making music.