To me a song is like a good cup of coffee (even though I don't drink coffee!). It has to percolate for a good while and all of the sudden - bam!! - it pops out and hopefully warms you right up and leaves you feeling alert and happy! What I mean by that is that my style of sognwriting is that I get an idea for a song, and then it sort of percolates for a while, the melody seems to form all on its own and then the lyrics usually come to me all in a rush, and suddenly, I have the basis for a song. It's kind of strange to me, in that I've never co-written with anyone, but I have had other's input into instrumentation, etc. on a demo - I usually don't tell another musician what to play, but rather, the feeling I'm looking for a particular song. I'd love to know what other writers do and how they write.