EGOCENTRIC songwriters.

[Taylor Davis]

this olde son is tryin' to get away from being such an egocentric songwriter.

I studied my own jams (50 plus tunes)and a hail of a lot of those songs are all about me and my feelings.

most folkes don't care about someone elses feelings.

they just cannot relate.

or can they?

 

have you all noticed that your songs are in the I, I, I, me, me, me, style?

[kurdy]

I

[Stackabones]

If you get famous enough, everyone will want to know if the songs are really about you. Don't you really want to know more details about the affair that John Lennon wrote about in Norwegian Wood?

 

If folks didn't care what other folks' inner lives & feelings, memoirs wouldn't be such a big deal. Confessional poetry etc. Dylan opened the door in pop/rock music and most followed him.

[Taylor Davis]

writing about yourself is all well and goode. I just wished to know if other folkes write purposely about other things or even if it's possible to write a non-egocentric tune.

[Stackabones]

writing about yourself is all well and goode. I just wished to know if other folkes write purposely about other things or even if it's possible to write a non-egocentric tune.

 

Yes, of course, it's possible and we've all written non-egocentric tunes.

[Chicken Monkey]

Most of my songs are personifications of the worst part of my personality--so the "I" is not me.

[Taylor Davis]

Yes, of course, it's possible and we've all written non-egocentric tunes.

 

I checked oot a few of your tunes and out of four i looked at two were egocentric.

i liked the cal tune. that was a cool one and what i was talking aboot. it's possible to write a story song and NOT make it about yourself.

thats what I'm working on now. less about myself and more about my fellow man, or woman.

[Stackabones]

I checked oot a few of your tunes and out of four i looked at two were egocentric. i liked the cal tune. that was a cool one and what i was talking aboot. it's possible to write a story song and NOT make it about yourself. thats what I'm working on now. less about myself and more about my fellow man, or woman.

 

Thanks for checking out my tunes!

 

I think I see what you're getting at, but don't you think it's possible to write a tune in first-person ("I") without it being about the songwriter -- and thereby making it non-egocentric?

 

In Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," the opening lines are "There must be some kind of way out of here / Said the joker to the thief / There's too much confusion / I can't get no relief." (Quoting from memory so sorry if I botched anything.) I don't think the "I" is Dylan, but the joker (unless the Joker is Dylan ).

 

Or even in a more direct fashion like the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" -- "I can't get no satisifaction". Is that Mick? Or some kind of character? Another interesting one is "Hotel California": "On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair" -- does the hair belong to Don Henley or the character in the song?

 

So I wonder if you're talking the use of perspective (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person) or if you're talking about intent?

 

Whatcha think?

 

*

 

btw, cool thread idea.

[LeonardScaper]

I need to write from real feelings.

 

I have written a great many songs since my first tune, 'Appletree Land' (circa 1973), where I wrote about where I wanted to be.

 

I wouldn't call my songwriting egocentric but I will admit that all of the good ones are about me, me, me.....or about how I am seeing the things around me.

 

My most recent is sung in the second person....but I'm singing it to myself.

 

I do think that a good song, written about yourself, will get folks thinking about their own personal perspective.

[Bodyguard2112]

Songs NEED to be "I" "me" etc.

 

The singer is a storyteller, and he or she has to draw the listener into the story. Singers, in addition to being musicians, to some degree are also actors, playing the part in the song.

 

I mean look at Katy Perry.

 

So you, the singer, have to tell us, the fans, a story, and make us believe it!

[rockinrobby]

I don't know how you can write a song without drawing on your own personal feelings? The key is for others to relate to your experience? For example, I've been in love and written songs about it? From my perspective? And others either are, or have been in love, so they can relate? To me this is a very basic and fundamental tenant of song writing. And yes I'm great, and people should all listen to and enjoy my music (egocentric).

[Wyzsard]

I don't have trouble breaking away from the "me" songs, but at times I intentionally write one with with some ego.

 

From my "I Love You All"

 

Well I'm not as good as Van the Man

but I practice real hard, and I got a plan

and one thing I've learned about these east side bars

they love us open stage part time stars

this one's for the ladies, next one's for the guys

gonna have to write one 'bout a certain hottie's eyes

'cause she's been starin me down all night long

eye's like that deserve their own little song

[Dingoist]

The focus of a sing is `me`whether or not it`s a fictional `me` that`s secondary.

 

I sometimes never have experienced directly what I write about, sometimes it`s an indirect experience, such as one of the wife`s ex`s who was an extreme compulsive alcoholic... Or a fellow that I met once that tried to hire me to hurt the fellow that abused his son (in a bar of course, and I`m not that tiny. It was a desperately sad story).

 

But the genius of song writing is that you can be anyone that you want as the `

[Thrustin]

Interesting. I don't generally write about myself, or any real feeling/emotions that I have. Here's one I wrote from the perspective of other people, about me. It's kind of weird singin it live. I always tell the crowd that somebody else wrote the song about me.

[YOUTUBE]a2fSJ0d5YUs[/YOUTUBE]