Songs come from all sorts of places, the common thread being stories of people, memory, family and the influence of moving around, an early career in nursing, old records, travelling and other human stories.
I have found listening and paying attention are the tools that serve me best for inspiration.
For example, in John Prine's song, ‘Summers End’, ‘swimming suits are on the line just drying’ gave me a memory of teaching our younger brothers to swim in Irelands Owenmore River, scorching days of the summer holidays in the early eighties.
I can see it now, using an old football as a float, wearing bathing suits not identified with an age range, coaxing our younger brothers to the other side over slippery stones, water the colour of tea and a sheep's carcass upstream and far enough away to convince us that it didn't matter.
These memories inspired many songs.
When we recorded the song at Orphan Studios, producer, we captured some audio of Producers kids playing outside, which was magical. It can be heard at the end of the song in this link below.
Photo: O'Briens Bridge, By Willie Duffin.