Do you write songs........

[Mark L]

......for yourself?

 

For the wider public?

 

Or to impress fellow musos?

 

 

 

I write songs for myself. If people like them - great!

 

If they don't - I don't care!

 

 

 

You?

[kurfu]

......for yourself? For the wider public? Or to impress fellow musos? I write songs for myself. If people like them - great! If they don't - I don't care! You?

 

 

Probably a little bit of each... I generally write songs to please myself, but try to make them such that they would (hopefully) appeal to others as well.

[Jeff da Weasel]

Pretty much for me. Not for big audiences, in any case.

[Super 8]

I used to, but I don't anymore. I just can't see really see the point. Anything anyone has to say has pretty much been said better by someone else. My natural skills have always been in arranging anyway. So, I'm more interested in taking other people's ideas and giving them my own treatment.

[rasputin1963]

Saul, your song about "my life is so much better now since I started taking the pills" has become my personal anthem.

 

Bravo!

[Mark L]

Saul, your song about "my life is so much better now since I started taking the pills" has become my personal anthem. Bravo!

 

Just for you, it's now track 1 on my MySpace embedded Soundclick player

 

Enjoy!!

 

Life it is so much better........

[Ani]

I am sitting here laughing my ever-living arse off because of you Saul. Just out of curiosity, I visited your site and listened to the "tablets" song after Ras's comment; nothing compared to some of your other works, but hey... it works. When I came across the title "Danocoustic", I had to play the track (having ventured over into the old timers forum for a while when the SSS first migrated over here from MusicPlayer)

 

I remember some of Dano's discussions surrounding events with you. :D:D Your song almost had me in tears I was laughing so hard. Have you sent Dan an autographed copy of the CD? You've got a lot of good stuff on your Soundclick. :thu:

 

Back on topic, my songs usually write ME; I don't write my songs. As a coworker of mine once told me, "I don't know if your gift of songwriting is a blessing or a curse." I'd get a song pounding in my head and it would DRIVE ME until it forced it's way out. I usually come up against writer's block when all is going well and I'm content; that's when I do my photography, web design, and other creative arts. My songs are usually driven by a heartache, a fury, or a frustration. Although I've written many love songs and happy songs; they were almost always written surrounding a LOT of turmoil in my life.

[Mark L]

I am sitting here laughing my ever-living arse off because of you Saul. Just out of curiosity, I visited your site and listened to the "tablets" song after Ras's comment; nothing compared to some of your other works, but hey... it works. When I came across the title "Danocoustic", I had to play the track (having ventured over into the old timers forum for a while when the SSS first migrated over here from MusicPlayer) I remember some of Dano's discussions surrounding events with you. :D:D Your song almost had me in tears I was laughing so hard. Have you sent Dan an autographed copy of the CD? You've got a lot of good stuff on your Soundclick. :thu: Back on topic, my songs usually write ME; I don't write my songs. As a coworker of mine once told me, "I don't know if your gift of songwriting is a blessing or a curse." I'd get a song pounding in my head and it would DRIVE ME until it forced it's way out. I usually come up against writer's block when all is going well and I'm content; that's when I do my photography, web design, and other creative arts. My songs are usually driven by a heartache, a fury, or a frustration. Although I've written many love songs and happy songs; they were almost always written surrounding a LOT of turmoil in my life.

 

 

Hey thanks!

 

Regarding your third paragraph, I couldn't have put it better myself - 'My songs write me'. A perfect description! I usually write stuff when my wife is pissing me off

 

As for Dano. Well, he's just a mother{censored}ing pain in the arse!!

 

(He knows I love him really)

[Ani]

I'm still listening to your Soundclick in the background.... that says a LOT... You've got some really nice stuff on there. I usually listen to a few songs and move on to something else. I haven't heard anything that I "don't" like. Well, with the exception of the one song that drew me to the site, the "tablets" song.

 

I have visited a ton of sites posted by members of the SSS, both at HC and at MP, and .... well, yours has kept my undivided attention. KUDOS!!!

 

And well, Dano, he's fun... a bit temperamental, but fun.

[Tedster]

Probably for me first. It's nice if other folks like my songs, but I think the main thing is to get something out.

 

I tried to explain it to someone sorta close to me once, someone who doesn't understand the need to write and record:

 

"What do you do when there's a song you REALLY want to hear?"

 

"I dunno. Put on the CD I guess?"

 

"What if you don't have the CD?"

 

"Wait for it to come on the radio, I guess"

 

"What if they don't play it on the radio"

 

(Puzzled look as though 'How would I have heard it, then?') "I dunno, download it on iTunes, I guess"

 

"What if it's not on iTunes?"

 

(Getting impatient and annoyed) "Order it off Amazon, I guess"

 

(Me, finally getting to the point) "What if it hasn't been recorded yet?"

 

"Then how would you know about it?"

 

"IT'S IN MY FREAKIN' HEAD AND IT WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE"

[UstadKhanAli]

For myself, but with the hope that other people like it as well. I write fairly strange stuff quite often, so it's definitely not for a wide audience.

[Jeff da Weasel]

"IT'S IN MY FREAKIN' HEAD AND IT WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE"

 

People who don't write (or sculpt or compose poetry or make movies or oil paint or so on and so forth) have trouble understanding that, as we've all experienced at one time or another when we try and explain why it is we do what we do.

[the stranger]

......for yourself? I write songs for myself. If people like them - great!

 

That's what I do. Sure, when I was chronologically less I had dreams of superstardom. Now I'm a star, so now I live my dreams.

 

[YOUTUBE]wLfVPBgGXqI[/YOUTUBE]

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

I friend of mine, a farmer, once said to me:

 

"Angelo, all your work is nonrelevant, completly unimportant! Do you know what's really important?"

 

I shrugged my shoulders, then he grabbed one potato out of his crate, holded it in front of my face and said:

 

"That's important!"

 

.

[Magpel]

I write to be heard, but I learned early on that, for me, writing to my own standards and my own satisfaction--and pretty much resolutely tuning out "external voices" that creep into the process--gives me the best chance of pleasing others.

 

But that's kind of simplistic too. As linguists and cognitivists have observed, even interior monologue is usually addressed to an audience of some kind--an imagined audience, who's need for understanding is the impetus to organize--so of course "audience awareness" is part of the process, even for songs that will never be heard by anyone else.

 

"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader." --Robert Frost

[blstbeatdrumr19]

I write music primarily for myself, and because I want to create music that I want to listen to. I've got a very clear and dead set vision of what I want to hear, and to put forth a lot of time and effort to achieve this will hopefully give me some very satisfactory results.

[Kendrix]

For myself.

Sometimes i think Im in love with the process of writing and self-producitng more so than I am in love with the result/the end product.

Sometimes it's about the journey not the destination.

 

Its the best natural high there is. In my case it satisfies multiple decades of accumulated jonesing.

[MrKnobs]

Years ago, I entered a national songwriting contest. I put a couple of what I considered my very best, most heartfelt songs into it. I lost.

 

Nevertheless, I attended the final round of judging which was public. I was aghast at the songs that won. I thought, "I can write crap like that!"

 

In fact I said that phrase above so many times that my wife finally said, "Then why don't you just do that and shut up about it already!"

 

So I did. I studied the songs that won (I bought the CD) and I sat down and meticulously wrote a song that I thought included all the elements that it seemed to me the judges must have liked. I recorded it, and next year I entered it into the same contest.

 

It won first place. I got a check, and a bunch of free crap (including 100hrs of free studio time which I need like another hole in the head). I got a certificate. My song was included on that year's winner CD and God knows how many of them were stamped out. A company in Arizona even offered me a job as a staff songwriter for $20k/yr, which would have been a 50% reduction in pay from my (non-music related) job at the time.

 

And in the end, do you know what I had?

 

I had a song I don't like, that I spent probably 50 - 100 hours carefully writing, arranging, and creating. It's trite, it's predictable, and frankly, it sucks. But it's a "winner."

 

What I really won was the realization that I have no desire to bash out songs that mean nothing to me as a means of making a meager living. To be blunt, it felt exactly like when I used to write ad jingles, and the jingles paid better.

 

I wouldn't say that I write exclusively "for myself," because I much prefer cowriting with others as it brings out ideas from me I wouldn't otherwise have, and the end result is far more complex and less predictable than I'd have created working by myself. I tend to subconsciously recycle my same, stale ideas when I work alone.

 

Of course I'd like to be paid for songwriting, but short of writing a timeless piece that will live forever in the collective mind of humanity (somewhat unlikely, I think you'd agree), I'm satisfied creating a tune that pleases and surprises me.

 

Terry D.

[Ides of March]

To be honest I write for myself mostly. I don't expect any song I write to be anything more than a cool tune I came up with. Or something my wife or my kids dig. And I think it is silly to think I have fans to write for, cause I don't they are just friends that like my style of music.

[EnemyofSilence]

I have big gaps in my record collection - stuff that no one has gotten around to recording, but should be there. Gotta fill em them gaps.

[stopthebus]

Years ago, I entered a national songwriting contest. I put a couple of what I considered my very best, most heartfelt songs into it. I lost. Nevertheless, I attended the final round of judging which was public. I was aghast at the songs that won. I thought, "I can write crap like that!" In fact I said that phrase above so many times that my wife finally said, "Then why don't you just do that and shut up about it already!" So I did. I studied the songs that won (I bought the CD) and I sat down and meticulously wrote a song that I thought included all the elements that it seemed to me the judges must have liked. I recorded it, and next year I entered it into the same contest. It won first place. I got a check, and a bunch of free crap (including 100hrs of free studio time which I need like another hole in the head). I got a certificate. My song was included on that year's winner CD and God knows how many of them were stamped out. A company in Arizona even offered me a job as a staff songwriter for $20k/yr, which would have been a 50% reduction in pay from my (non-music related) job at the time. And in the end, do you know what I had? I had a song I don't like, that I spent probably 50 - 100 hours carefully writing, arranging, and creating. It's trite, it's predictable, and frankly, it sucks. But it's a "winner." What I really won was the realization that I have no desire to bash out songs that mean nothing to me as a means of making a meager living. To be blunt, it felt exactly like when I used to write ad jingles, and the jingles paid better. I wouldn't say that I write exclusively "for myself," because I much prefer cowriting with others as it brings out ideas from me I wouldn't otherwise have, and the end result is far more complex and less predictable than I'd have created working by myself. I tend to subconsciously recycle my same, stale ideas when I work alone. Of course I'd like to be paid for songwriting, but short of writing a timeless piece that will live forever in the collective mind of humanity (somewhat unlikely, I think you'd agree), I'm satisfied creating a tune that pleases and surprises me. Terry D.

 

Great story Terry -- I started reading it, and I was afraid you were going to go the "Once I figured out how to write popular songs, I made it!" route, but it's awesome that you realized that it only matters if the song means something to you.

 

Me, I think I write songs for myself, but ever since I've put together a band up at school, I've been having problems of rejecting song ideas early on because they "wouldn't work with the band" or they "wouldn't be good for a party." I usually recognize what I'm rejecting though, and have saved some good ideas, for a solo project or something.

 

I just realized, writing this, that every song I write, I immediately analyze it to see how it would be "received" and whether it would be a solo project, or with my band, or if I should write this type of song. I think way too much about my songs, I know I have a problem with this, I'm just trying to figure out how to fix it.

[MrKnobs]

Great story Terry -- I started reading it, and I was afraid you were going to go the "Once I figured out how to write popular songs, I made it!" route, but it's awesome that you realized that it only matters if the song means something to you.

 

Oh, don't get me wrong! If I could write a song that wasn't my cup of tea that would make me a million bucks I'd probably give it a shot - because then I could stop working my day job and write the songs I *do* want to write without worrying about making a living.

 

Not sure if it's possible, at least not for me, to write a really successful song I'm not into personally. I suspect that some people can do that, but I'm pretty sure I can't.

 

Mostly my realization from the contest came when the guy from AZ called me and offered me the job. He clearly expected me to be swept off my feet by his offer. However, I wasn't 20 years old or depending on music income for my bread and butter. The thought of songwriting who knows how many hours per day five days a week is incomprehensible to me. I have no idea what exactly he expected of me as we didn't get past the salary and moving to AZ part.

 

Can anyone write songs like a regular job? Some folks in Nashville, maybe. I don't think I could.

 

Me, I think I write songs for myself, but ever since I've put together a band up at school, I've been having problems of rejecting song ideas early on because they "wouldn't work with the band" or they "wouldn't be good for a party." I usually recognize what I'm rejecting though, and have saved some good ideas, for a solo project or something. I just realized, writing this, that every song I write, I immediately analyze it to see how it would be "received" and whether it would be a solo project, or with my band, or if I should write this type of song. I think way too much about my songs, I know I have a problem with this, I'm just trying to figure out how to fix it.

 

I think it's OK that you switch to "editor" mode and analyze where your songs would fit and who would like them, so long as you do this AFTER your creative process has completed or nearly completed.

 

I have a big back catalog of songs I've written by myself and with others, that I've never found a niche for. I'm "recycling" the songs slowly in my current band by letting Julie pick one for each album, with the melody reinterpreted by her and the beat/parts/arrangement reinterpreted by the band.

 

With me, as someone else mentioned, the songs do kind of write themselves. Which is to say I have an idea where the song is going to go, but once I start writing it it takes on a mind of its own and then the song writes itself. Then I bring that demo to the band and things really change.

 

Terry D.

[Ernest Buckley]

I write because I have to. Its therapy. Music has always been part of me. It literally called to my heart as a child. I know that sounds corny but there is nothing else I would rather do more than it. If I didn`t make music, I would probably die within a short period of time. Thats why I say I have to. Its like breathing.

[Raymar]

I don't write in songform anymore, now I'm into ambient excursions that have a very loose structure sort of like a long flowing river. Sometimes I do the looping thing but its more of an augmentation than a main ingredient. I like some of what I do and its very different from most ambient artists so if I want to hear it I have to get around to either playing or recording it. Its never in my freakin' mind, it tends to reside in my finger tips and sort of unfolds on its own. I put it up on the web for that small portion of the populace that may wish to listen to it.

 

Steve

[germs]

I try to write songs that challenge me. If the progressions are challenging to me, then they sure as heck are challenging to the rest of my band.

 

I usually write alone. I don't have lyrics in mind simply because I can't sing. I'll just find a few progressions that go together in the right combinations. I figure I have a good song written when I go, "Yeah, that sounds cool."

 

Then I bring it to the band and they go, "Okay...but what if we do this instead of that..."

 

Voila! Instant song.