jamesg1213
craigb
Well music is only about notes and chords, right? 
Nah, you don't need notes and chords to make music, any more than you need to learn how to spell to write poetry, or learn the script when you're an actor.
The script has to be known at some point. Most actors have a really rough time with stuff that has no script and in open rehearsals, with experimentation, many of them simply repeat what they have done and know, instead of paying attention to the details around them, and using those to add/subtract to something that they already do and know.
The hardest theater/film to watch is the one that has no script and the actors are hurting for things to do and say ... Mike Leigh is well known for this, and some of the actors that work for him, are some of the best in experimental and free form exercises ... it's not an easy thing to do, but if you have a slight conceptual idea of what you are doing, it generally will help carry you a while before you can jump off on your own.
The main problem with popular music, is that it is composed almost to death ... and the moments where it could be free, are often not used or added, to create a 3rd dimension on the work itself, thus leaving the piece of music ... kind of like ... just a pop song, if you will. And of course, when you listen to many of the examples here, they all feature the exact same thing ... just a different sounding instrument.
But do not forget that some material is all free form from the start and does not feature a script per se ... try watching a Jean Luc Godard film ... you probably won't get past 15 minutes, most of the time, because he is so off his rocker and all over the place, that you can not figure out a rhyme, a reason, a film, a script, or anything else ... and then he gives you one of those 15 second philosophical comments over the scene itself, on a cup of coffee, and you go ... what?
So, when I say that music needs to be more than just music and chords, it means that not everything has to be in there in the right order so it fits a song format! Or as Godard used to say, everything has a beginning, middle and an end ... not necessarily in that order or shape!
Go ahead. Write another song, just like the last one!