Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Video Songwriting Tutorial

Larry Seyer, who has been writing songs for along time, decided to document his process of putting a song together by video recording himself in what he calls "Song Birth". Worth checking out...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Lyrics: Something Else

I've been working on three new songs in the last few days, one of which I just recorded a quick demo of and is of the poetic abstract sort. This second one is more of a character study / story about a girl returning home to her parent's house after many years when she left to the big city to pursue her dreams. Not exactly the most original story, I realize, but certainly one that is easy to relate to.

I've just been working with the lyrics somewhat and here is the current draft:

SOMETHING ELSE

Walking down that old dirt road
To the house in the woods
You remember from so long ago
Where you grew up fast and full of soul

Traveling home is a simpler thing
When your hands are empty, when all you bring are
Memories to the door
Though long forgotten everyone still adores you
In spite of what you put them through

You think you might say something
About a friend who lived near by
As you help them put their dishes on the shelf

Now fences are for mending
Not to keep the world outside
When you’ve left it all behind for something else

It’s nineteen years ago today
That you made your mind up and said OK
The city is the place to be
it’s everyone you want to be with
When you’re famous everyone will know why
You left, will they understand you best?

You think you might say something
About a friend who lived near by
As you help them put their dishes on the shelf

Now fences are for mending
Not to keep the world outside
When you’ve left it all behind for something else
For something else
When you’ve left it all behind for something else


July 16, 2008

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Best of the Rest: Andrea Stolpe

I find Andrea's Stolpe's Career Songwriter blog is one of the most useful songwriting blogs. In this blog she offers up some ideas on how to avoid getting into ruts by subtly challenging some of your normal habits.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Literature and Songwriting

During the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, singer-songwriter Joe Henry participated in a panel on the connection between music and the written word. In this piece for the LA times, Joe elaborates on this question and writes about how literature has helped shape his songs.

Interview with John Braheny



John Braheny's Comprehensive book The Craft and Business of Songwriting is one of the most useful business oriented songwriting books on my bookshelf. Check out this YouTube interview with John to hear more of what he has to say.