When it comes to songwriting and how songs are perceived by the general public, songs with universal themes are the front door. Everyone knows love, loss, and longing, so those songs let a listener walk straight in. But as we all know, a door is not the whole house.
I’ve always believed that songwriting ideas can come from anywhere and can be about anything I mean a song can be about a shipwreck. A cheeseburger. A robot. A murder…
The trick is not the subject matter. The trick is finding the one true human feeling underneath it all and writing from there. Pick the strangest idea in the room and commit to it. The odd ones generally make the songs that people never forget.
I’m sure there’s more but here are 36 song themes that live off the beaten track, each with a song where it works.
Real events, told like journalism Take something that actually happened and report it in verse. Example: “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” – Gordon Lightfoot
Historical figures and biography Pick a real person from the past and sing their life. Example: “Vincent” – Don McLean
True crime and the villain’s head Climb inside a criminal and stay there. No safe distance. Example: “Nebraska” – Bruce Springsteen
The unsolved mystery Tell a story and refuse to answer the question you raised. Example: “Ode to Billie Joe” – Bobbie Gentry
A single job or shift One occupation, one encounter, and the whole life it implies. Example: “Taxi” – Harry Chapin
Class and social observation Watch people closely and report what you see, sharply. Example: “Common People” – Pulp
An uncomfortable portrait Point the camera at someone we usually look away from. Example: “Aqualung” – Jethro Tull
A specific place as a character Not “home” in the abstract. This town, this street, this economy. Example: “Allentown” – Billy Joel
Small-town claustrophobia Not nostalgia for home. The trapped-here version of it. Example: “Subdivisions” – Rush
Fictional worlds and invented characters Build a person from nothing and let them walk. Example: “A Boy Named Sue” – Johnny Cash
Science fiction and the future Astronauts, dystopias, tech dread. Big canvas, human core. Example: “Space Oddity” – David Bowie
The supernatural and the spooky Ghosts, monsters, things that go bump. Fun to write, easy to picture. Example: “Thriller” – Michael Jackson
The non-human narrator Sing from the point of view of a machine, an animal, an object. Example: “Mr. Roboto” – Styx
The narrator you shouldn’t trust Build the song so the listener slowly realises the singer is lying or unwell. Example: “Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster the People
The song as a letter or a phone call Borrow a form from real life and let the structure tell the story. Example: “Stan” – Eminem
Meta songs about the music itself The bar, the road, the grind of being the singer. Example: “Turn the Page” – Bob Seger
The oddly specific object or thing Write about one physical item and let it carry the weight. Example: “Video Killed the Radio Star” – The Buggles
Keepsakes and what they hold The thing someone leaves behind, and everything it still carries. Example: “Photograph” – Ringo Starr
Food and appetite, played straight The most literal subject there is, and it works. Example: “Cheeseburger in Paradise” – Jimmy Buffett
A colour, a season, a single word as anchor One tiny concept, mined all the way down. Example: “Yellow” – Coldplay
Technology and modern alienation Screens, machines, the way the wiring changes us. Example: “Paranoid Android” – Radiohead
Consumerism and advertising The stuff we’re sold and the emptiness under the buying. Example: “Material Girl” – Madonna
Money trouble, told without self-pity The bills, the debt, the quiet maths of getting by. Example: “Mo Money Mo Problems” – The Notorious B.I.G.
The mundane made monumental Boredom, routine, the beige middle of a life. Find the ache under it. Example: “Once in a Lifetime” – Talking Heads
Paranoia and conspiracy The narrator who’s convinced, and the fun of not knowing if they’re right. Example: “Somebody’s Watching Me” – Rockwell
The anti-love song Not heartbreak. A flat refusal of the whole romance script. Example: “Love Stinks” – The J. Geils Band
The apology that isn’t sorry A confession delivered with a smirk. Tone doing the heavy lifting. Example: “You Oughta Know” – Alanis Morissette
Addiction to a person, not a substance Craving framed literally as a drug, but it’s someone. Example: “Addicted to Love” – Robert Palmer
Sleep, insomnia and the 3am brain The specific weirdness of the hours nobody else is awake for. Example: “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” – Frank Sinatra
Numbers, lists and counting Use a structure from maths, or a list, as the spine of the song. Example: “Seasons of Love” – from RENT
Instructions and how-to Write the song as a set of directions, straight-faced. Example: “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” – They Might Be Giants
Pure absurdism and wordplay No message, no moral. Just sound and image having a good time. Example: “Coconut” – Harry Nilsson
A dream, literally Drop logic and write the dream the way it actually felt. Example: “#9 Dream” – John Lennon
Cheerful darkness A grim subject with a bright melody. The gap does the work. Example: “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” – The Beatles
Taboo and the genuinely uncomfortable Go somewhere polite songs won’t. Handled well, it lands hard. Example: “Timothy” – The Buoys (a mining collapse, and what the survivors did to survive)
Sport and competition Rare, mostly novelty, but the arena is a decent stage. Example: “Centerfield” – John Fogerty
How to use this list
Pick the theme that scares you a little and find the one human feeling hiding inside the weird subject. That feeling will become your anchor.
Choose a single moment or image and write from the middle of it and trust the listener. You don’t have to explain the strangeness, you just have to make it feel true. Cut anything that’s clever for its own sake and adds nothing.
The universal song themes may get people in the door but its the unconventional song themes that will take the listener home.
With all that in mind, always remember… A songwriting idea can come from anywhere, and it can be anything you want it to be.
