Members Lane1777 Posted July 22, 2015 Members Share Posted July 22, 2015 just a question about this subject, is it considered proper to write about an event tragic, and not have peoplethink your feeding off that very thing? I mean if the lyric is simple and not dragging up, and reliving the thing.but writing the lyric most all would understand the source. you all have to forgive me I`m way to country"...lol working on a lyric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Delmont Posted July 22, 2015 Members Share Posted July 22, 2015 Well - ARE you feeding off a tragedy? Are you profiting (materially or spiritually) at someone else's expense? How? Let your conscience be your guide. I've written lots of songs about tragic events: the Ludlow, Colorado, mining camp massacre (Woody Guthrie's is better), the death of Eric Clapton's son Conor, the hanging of the Molly Maguires, the death of Hank Williams, the deaths of a couple of friends, the murder of Billy Lyons by Stagger Lee (every songwriter should write one of those!), the death of Jerry Garcia, and probably a few more if I thought about it. I've written hundreds of tunes. Some were bound to be about grim topics. So - was I feeding off tragedies? Really, who knows? Life's too short to worry about things like that. I write whatever I want whenever I want to write it. Why be my own judge and jury? There are plenty of other people ready to take care of that for me! Bottom line: "proper" has no place in the creative vocabulary. If it were, the world would never have had Bessie Smith, Pablo Picasso, Lady Gaga, John Steinbeck, Judy Chicago, James Joyce, David Bowie, Jello Biafra, Bob Marley, the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Zeppelin, B.B. King, J.D. Salinger, Nina Simone, Thomas Pynchon, Banksy, Kurt Vonnegut, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Frank Zappa, or Mark Twain. Even Norman Rockwell occasionally shocked his audience. Art doesn't have to shock. And shocking people just to get attention is childish. But self-censoring will stunt your art's growth and deny your listeners the opportunity to decide for themselves what's valuable and what isn't. Delwww.thefullertons.net( •)—::: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rickidoo Posted July 22, 2015 Members Share Posted July 22, 2015 If you are talking about writing a tragedy song while the tragedy is very fresh in the public's mind, my response is if you can write a song to make people feel, or think, while respecting those people hurt and those who love them, then I say you are *obligated* to write it. It's not an if, it's a must. Today, and this is a social/political statement, there is so much news, so much tragedy, so much horror, that we have been numbed. If you can write a truly great tragedy song, you are not taking advantage, you are infact helping people understand - both logically, and emotionally, some important aspect of the tragedy. At the risk of being accused of self-promotion, I wrote a song about a particular baseless murder in Norfolk, VA. It was more to help me feel, but here it is for what it's worth. And here are two great tragedy songs. [video=youtube;HaRacIzZSPo] or this [video=youtube;9vST6hVRj2A] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lane1777 Posted July 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2015 ok, got it! thank you for the quick response..I just caught a little 'flack over a write. no big thing wanted a second opinion..Lane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lane1777 Posted July 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2015 thanks Rick for the links.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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