New Years Resolution: Write more

[bilco]

I have made some resolutions for the year, which I almost never do anymore.

These Writer's Block threads and Brandon's thread on avoiding gear lust and concentrating on improving our skills have gotten me thinking. I have spent over 3 years obsessing with mics and preamps and not doing what I do best, which is songwriting.

I decided that 2008 is going to be the year I push through to another level. I had a modest level of commercial success, placed some songs with publishers, got a few local and overseas cuts. Somehow I have convinced myself that I can not top the songs I wrote in the early 90's. I don't know where that comes from, but it keeps me from trying; why write anything at all if it isn't going to be as good as XYZ?

I have to get past that belief set. I know more now than I did then; I have more experiences to draw from than I did back then.

SO:

*I will write the best songs I have ever written this year

*I will reestablish connections with Nashville publishers and get a cut this year

I've done it before, I can do it again.....

Today was the first step - First song of 2008!! Well, a first draft of the lyrics anyway......

I took my own advice and wrote something today. It feels pretty good to have a song partially written on January 7th. I have a first draft of some lyrics of what will end up being a country ballad with a twist in the last verse. The hook came to me at work this morning and I kind of turned it over in my mind during breaks and lunch and hit it hard when I got home. I need a break from it right now; I have been working on the lyrics for about 3 hours now.

Here's what I did to get the juices flowing again:

1. I got the hook out of the blue. The hook is almost always a gift whether it's a lyrical phrase or a melodic phrase; the hooks I have built that were plays on words are crafty and cute, but they don't make for very memorable or powerful songs.
2. The story line. I decided to make a fictional character based on my wife, her grandmother and my grandmother and the best traits of all of them. I outlined how I wanted the song to move chronologically and the message I wanted it to deliver in a really general way. Nothing specific during this stage.
3. Verses and Bridge. I wrote them each out quickly, forcing myself to NOT have them rhyme or have rhythmic constraints. Just like writing a letter telling a story about someone.
4. Rhyme that rascal. Now for the pain in the butt part. I went back and moved words around until I got the rhyme scheme I decided on and the rhythmic structure I wanted. I am big on alliteration and assonance and internal rhyme, mostly because I was an English major in school. This makes me a pretty good country and folk writer at my best, but a really lame ass rock writer........ Still not a done deal with the rhyming yet though.

Still left to do:

5. Imagery - I'm not here yet. Imagery is powerful, makes the lyrics 3-dimensional, but it does not come that easily to me.
6. Melody - I have a rough idea, it's a straight 8 ballad and I know the basic contour I want it to take.
7. Chords - Pretty stock country chords probably, but sometimes a diminished chord or 2 or a chord outside of the key can emphasize the melody in a different way, bring urgency to the song.
8. The rewrite - It ain't over till it's over. Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop and this is where the work gets the hardest and most tedious, but it's really important to tweak it till it's right.

One down........ almost.....

Thanks for letting me post this; it's kind of cathartic. I need to write about the writing process. I'm not done yet. I've still got some good songs in me, just need to get them out.

Keep writin'
bilco

[DT Chris]

You put too many rules on yourself.
I can't breathe just reading the boundaries you have set for yourself. And now I'm getting a little bit angry at you... (Not really )

Just write the f'ing stuff. Write anything. Throw it up on the wall, play it for people, and see what sticks.

No offense, but I never want to catch myself saying "Ok, I have to sit here and write a hit song".

I just write a song and play it. So far, I don't seem to have a problem having people like what I do - it's just getting it to the masses that's the problem.

The most unlikely song will be the hit, and the one you so masterfully crafted will not be.

There is an audience for everything. Write for yourself first, then see what you can do to make it commercially viable.

Originally Posted by bilco

Somehow I have convinced myself that I can not top the songs I wrote in the early 90's. I don't know where that comes from, but it keeps me from trying; why write anything at all if it isn't going to be as good as XYZ?

No such thing as being as good as "XYZ". Be yourself. You'll rock. Someone said to me once, (since they thought I had an ego or something), after hearing me sing and perform - "You're not Steven Tyler, Chris"... Uhh... First off I don't want to be Steven Tyler. Next, Steven Tyler has 30 years of stage experience on me. As far as vocals go, I can only go so far technically and the rest has to come from experience, singing and writing.. that's it. I don't need to be better than XYZ. I'll make my own XYZ.

Originally Posted by bilco

1. I got the hook out of the blue. The hook is almost always a gift whether it's a lyrical phrase or a melodic phrase; the hooks I have built that were plays on words are crafty and cute, but they don't make for very memorable or powerful songs.

Bullshit. A hook is not a gift, but a product of your improvisation based on your technical prowess and knowledge. How would you know the hook isn't memorable? Have you played it for someone yet? Did they tell you later "Aghhh! I've been humming your song all day!"

Originally Posted by bilco

3. Verses and Bridge. I wrote them each out quickly, forcing myself to NOT have them rhyme or have rhythmic constraints. Just like writing a letter telling a story about someone.

There you go again. Forcing yourself. Censoring yourself. Limiting yourself... Who are you trying to impress? The wife? The friends? The record company? Us?

If the song wants to rhyme, rhyme it. If the song wants to free-form, free-form it.

You will kill your creativity setting boundaries, rules and censorship. You see your problem now?

Originally Posted by bilco

4. Rhyme that rascal. Now for the pain in the butt part. I went back and moved words around until I got the rhyme scheme I decided on and the rhythmic structure I wanted. I am big on alliteration and assonance and internal rhyme, mostly because I was an English major in school. This makes me a pretty good country and folk writer at my best, but a really lame ass rock writer........ Still not a done deal with the rhyming yet though.

Nonsense. I was an English major in school, and I can write rock songs fine. It also doesn't mean that a genre of music cannot be literate or make heavy use of 'wordcraft' to express things. IMO, country and folk are no more literate than rock or any other genre.

I'm not giving you shit about this, nor am I offended. I just want to show you how you have been limiting yourself until now by the rules you have made in your own head as to how music and songwriting works.

Dump that attitude, and your hits may come back.

Originally Posted by bilco

5. Imagery - I'm not here yet. Imagery is powerful, makes the lyrics 3-dimensional, but it does not come that easily to me.

Huh? What makes lyrics 3-D vs not? Just write.

Originally Posted by bilco

6. Melody - I have a rough idea, it's a straight 8 ballad and I know the basic contour I want it to take.

How do you know where the song will head? Planning a course for creativity does not work. What if the song wants to go off road and go 4X4'ing? Just write.

Originally Posted by bilco

7. Chords - Pretty stock country chords probably, but sometimes a diminished chord or 2 or a chord outside of the key can emphasize the melody in a different way, bring urgency to the song.

See this is what I have hated about the 'technical' people, the 'trained' people I have worked with in the past... "Chris! You can't follow up a Gmajor 4th Augmented 6th, with a C Minor 7 add 9 diminished 3rd!"

Bullshit. I just did, and it sounds cool.

I also didn't realize a chord could put 'urgency' in a song. Quit trying to create a song in a lab beaker, and just write what comes to you.

Originally Posted by bilco

8. The rewrite - It ain't over till it's over. Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop and this is where the work gets the hardest and most tedious, but it's really important to tweak it till it's right.

Ever notice you have used words like 'tedious' and 'forcing' to describe songwriting?

My friend, as soon as you put one sound behind another, and add another, you are creating a composition of sound - a song.

Ever listened to Bjork? Here is a chick who is absolutely nuts in her songwriting - completely bizarre. I love her because she is 100% creatively free, and vocalizes, composes any way and anything she damn well pleases. She is a lesson-learned for us all.

You should listen to a few of her songs or albums to get a feel as to what is possible with expression. Then go do it yourself.

Originally Posted by bilco

I've still got some good songs in me, just need to get them out.

The only way you will do that, is to remove yourself from your self-imposed creative prison you've put yourself into, and start writing anything and everything, no matter how stupid, how shocking, how bizarre, how scary, how whatever and just write.

Keep writin'

[bilco]

DT Chris, thanks for the reply. My choice of words like "tedious" and "force" are pretty revealing......

but it is the very rules that I had drilled into me as an English Major and Music Minor that I am trying to unlearn. Things like, "you should never end a song with the 3rd in the bass." I think those rules are good for learning the context of music historically, but I agree with you; we don't have to obey those rules.

When I say "force myself to not rhyme" it is because I am working on writing exactly the way you are recommending, just doing it without forcing it into meter and rhyme. But I have a lot of bad dogmatic habits to unlearn. I used to ALWAYS work a song one line at a time, getting the meter and rhyme for every line before moving to the next line. It made for really slow going and it was hard to keep the big picture of the song in mind and seeing the whole forest when I was so busy painfully chopping down 1 tree at a time. I wanted EVERY line to be perfect before moving on and that perfectionism is really crippling. There was a time when every lyric I wrote was in Iambic Pentameter or something else and I was in total bondage to it.

Then I had my "it has to be a hit" phase. That really shut down the creativity.

Now, I pretty much just write whatever comes to mind. I had an idea for a country ballad yesterday, which I am not particularly trying to write anymore. But the basic idea, melody and some of the lyrics just popped into my head while I was in the shower, so I went with it just to see where it would go. I think it turned out okay, although I'll probably rewrite some of the lyrics.

I am pretty happy with any song I come up with anymore........

I have come to a realization that I have been caught up in the gear lust syndrome and that it gets in the way of my first love, which is writing. I don't have any desire to be an audio engineer and I do want to be a better writer.

It sure felt great to write that song yesterday, whatever happens to it!

bilco