passing thoughts.
recently, in some quarters some of my songs have drawn attention and as I pondered the various reactions I was getting I got to thinking.
Why do we write songs in the first place? Or do they write us. And that's when the penny dropped. We don't write them. They DO write us but only if we are listening instead of talking. But I digress.
I thought what is one credo I could adopt that would protect me like a warm blanket on a chilly day whenever the cold winds of songwriting rejection and or approval blew into my life. The old standby of you can't please all the people all the time came to me but that is too outward thinking.
then it came
"if you serve the song then the song will serve you."
once I adopted that as my new credo everything fell into place.
now when I work on my songs, refine them, rewrite them, present them, sing them or record them my overriding thought at all times is "am I doing my absolute best to serve this song as it exists now to the very best of my ability."
I figure if I do that then the song will serve me and in the end what else is there.
thoughts
"Nothing happens until something moves."
Albert Einstein
Good attitude, Gram! You're absolutely right in that you can't please all the people all the time, and I don't believe that you should have to. The questions I ask myself are:
Do the lyrics say what I wanted to say in the manner I wanted to say it?
Is the melody something that I want to play over and over again?
Does it lift my spirit (or the spirit of someone else)?
If I can answer yes to those questions, in my mind, it's a good song, no matter what my detractors might say.
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-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-
"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Some great passing thoughts Gram. I have thought about that myself. Do I write my songs or am I merely reacting to the story that is being acted out in my head. Usually when I write I can almost visually see a scene, or a music video, and the times that I have felt my writing was at its best is when I clearly write that down. I dont think I am really using my logical brain until I am actually trying to put it into a structure to make it more understandable.
does that makes sense?
Jim
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
Usually when I write I can almost visually see a scene, or a music video, and the times that I have felt my writing was at its best is when I clearly write that down. I dont think I am really using my logical brain until I am actually trying to put it into a structure to make it more understandable.
Exactly the same here, Jim. The times that I have written something and actally been happy enough with it to play it again have been the times that I almost felt like I wasn't writing "my" song - rather that it just flowed into my head, and I wrote it down quick as it passed on it's merry way through my brain :D
Pete
ETD - Formerly "10141748 - Reincarnate"
