The stork brings them. Obviously :)
Seriously, it is the most asked question that I get about songwriting.
Mostly people assume that songs are a direct expression of some personal experience, and that is sometimes true, but it is generally not the case for me.
Many of my songs come from conversations. Which means they come from you. If you have ever been talking to a songwriter (or writer of any kind) and seen their eyes glaze over and them lose track of the conversation, then you have experienced this...
For example, at last years Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference, I had a conversation with someone about some nuisance thing that we were both experiencing and I mentioned that my son called those types of things "First world problems".
We talked a little bit more...and I walked away humming the start of a tune...(still to be finished)
Here is the chorus:
"I've got first world problems
man, you know my life is tough
the boss he doesn't get me
my friends they just upset me
my lover doesn't love me quite enough
I've got first world problems
it's hard to get my body out of bed
my face is growing old and my latte's way too cold!
I think I need some cheering up my friends"
That little chorus took me about 3 hours of driving in my car from New York State to Cape Cod to work out :) Point being that inspiration is just the starting point. Once that little light bulb goes off, songs become like puzzles that need to be solved. Sometimes you can solve that puzzle in a few hours or days...but sometimes it is years before you can put all the pieces together in just the right way and this particular song is a good example. I have two verses and a chorus that I really like and, someday, I think this song will be out in the world. Just not quite yet...
In the meantime, the guy that rang up my groceries yesterday said something really cool...and he didn't even know it!!! :)