Today I was reading a book called, Good Day!, The Paul Harvey Story. I always liked listening to Paul Harvey. He knew how to tell a great story. He would tell about somebodies humble beginnings and the struggles they had growing up. How they were about to give up and maybe somebody gave them a word of encouragement. How that encouragement allowed them to keep trying and presto. After thirty years of hard work, they achieved success out of nowhere. I love a great story. That explains why I'm a Paul Harvey fan and decided to read this book.
I am always on the lookout for a great song idea. I got one out of this book. The story was on page 223 and it was about Bob Collins. Bob was a popular morning man on WGN radio. He died in a plane crash when his plane collided with another plane that was flown by a student pilot. Paul Harvey was a good friend of Bob. Paul summed up missing his friend in this one line. Somebody will take his job but nobody will take his place.
Let me repeat that line. That line is songwriting gold. Somebody will take his job but nobody will take his place. I love it.
The next step in the process is to decide how to use the line. This is the part of the process where there is not wrong answer. You are just looking for the best idea. My first thought on how to use this had to do with my job. My boss and friend, Kelly retired last month. We started out working at the Dillons store on Huntoon street back in 1987. We have been friends ever since. I could use that line to describe this situation in my life. Somebody will take her job but nobody will take her place. This would work great if I was writing a personal song but probably isn't universal enough for country radio.
My next idea would be to write a song about a woman who left. I don't know why she left yet, maybe she died or found somebody else. I could be the voice of the song. (Internal dialogue) Maybe, somebody will take my ring, somebody will take my hand, somebody will take my heart, but nobody will take your place. I kinda like where this idea is going.
Out of these two ideas I like the second one the best. I believe there is something here that could work. It still needs more thought about how to make the song play out.
Maybe you're a songwriter and you have some thoughts that are better or more interesting. Let me know, this could be a co-write situation if you are interested. We might end up with a bunch of co-writers but it might be fun to see where it goes.