This idiom seems to translate well between different languages and cultures. It’s a simple metaphor with a logic you’d be foolish to argue against. There’s opportunity, and then it’s gone. There’s an urgency. I find that it’s a good analogy for songwriting as well. When the tune comes to you it’s blazingly hot, if not why bother. It’s overwhelming, it fills your mind. It’s the earworm of your creation.

Yet, it can also cool ever so quickly. If I don’t hurry and finish it while I’m in love with it – within days – it will end up in the pile as another cold lump of iron ore. Melodies without lyrics. I have forgotten hundreds by now.

Which is why I’m in a hurry to finish a particular lyric right now.