[rossanne]

Sorry for the glut of posts, just feeling person starved recently and have a head full of stuff.

On  to the question - is there anything you stop yourself from writing about because of how it might make other people feel?

Couple of personal cases - my grandad listens to all my stuff, and i worry about writing about anything he might not approve of or i don't want him to know. So i leave stuff out. Not ready to stop being his little girl!

Also had difficulties with writing about relationships when i don't want to upset someone.

And a friend of mine is always trying to get out of me if i've written anything about him. I haven't. He doesn't believe me, but won't tell which song he's thinking of. That's unsettling!

How about you? Do you think it's good/polite/necessary to censor yourself or do you think it is your greatest enemy? And whilst we're at it, do you have a don't ask don't tell policy when it comes to talking about what your songs mean or who they are about?

[Dutchbeat]

Great topic,

makes me think...
my policy would be to do that as little as possible...but indeed, I did censor myself sometimes in the past

but in many cases other people wrote the lyrics and i just make the music
so that is easy

but even that can be difficult...years ago I made a song with someone elses lyrics
and then the writer of the lyrics, hearing the song, asked to change some lines (the words) afterwards, for sort of his censor reasons

I did that, but the original lines still stick out in my head, as being more powerful and meaning, and it is very hard to delete (parts of) a song once it is has been written and played

[tone]

Oooh this is a good topic!

Do I censor my songs? Yes and no. I think it's fair to say that if I want to say something about someone else in a song, I usually dress it up in a fairly ambiguous costume, so that if said person is likely to be offended, I have a get-out-of-jail card. 

Which then begs the question: does this effect the quality and integrity of my songs?

Personally, I've always liked the indirect approach when it comes to writing songs. On the one hand it's fairly obvious what a lot of my songs are about, but on the other it would be hard to pin them down to an exact person or meaning. The only songs that don't hold back are about those who've passed away...

[mihkay]

Oh boy did I censor my ideas! 
The constant fear of what people would think....Would they be unhappy...would they think that an idea expressed in a song was my manifesto .... BUT MOSTLY....would I be MISUNDERSTOOD! I'm an engineer by trade and training an being unambiguous is a requirement. It normally takes four sides of A4 to explain an idea which does not make for good use of metaphor or simile or the 3 minute song.
Also, I'm a bloke.. and of course we blokes have no emotions, and no feelings!....Football and war is all we're good for talking about! Emotion is an alien language! 
I took me so many years to get out of that rut!
It took the trick of using "Method Acting" In other words, becoming a character and letting that character speak the words for me to get past the problem.... I've blossomed as a writer and as a human being since. Letting the song speak for itself.
DO NOT CENSOR YOURSELF!
LET YOUR IMAGINE RUN FREE AND JUST BE A STORY TELLER.
So many of us are inhibited and bound by what those close to us might think.....but in the real world, you're parents have gone through most of the same things as you.. and their parents also........and so on. You can't teach your mother how to get pregnant!!!!
We've all experienced the same for the most part.... It's only society that restrict us from talking about it and an artist does not care about society's restrictions! 

Mihkay

[spacedogg]

I'm pretty much with you on this one Tone, but for an extra reason: public appeal. In order for as many people as possible to get a meaning out of your song that they can/will identify with and then claim is special for them alone, make it ambiguous. I mean, i don't write too many lyrics these days - I leave that up to Liam when we do Neverwas stuff - but any time i have done in the past, ambiguity rocks my tunes. It hasn't done any of the world's major religions any harm, now has it? And Rossanne, I don't mean to be so forward, but to use a quaint Northern Irish expression, your friend that is convinced that you've written about him needs to 'wind his neck in'. Sounds like he's either Percy Paranoid or Ernie the Egotist. Don't stop from censoring yourself... just be sure that what you do or don't put in is for the right reasons. I don't think I'm ever likely to be massively controversial in any way but I'm sure as hell not ever gonna let anyone dictate to me what I can put in one of MY songs.

[stargirl]

I have a similar problem in that my parents have recently really gotten into listening to my music. Any songs where I would swear or say anything inappropriate I change when I record it.

But I still write the swear words in and write what I feel at the time. I write for me, but I play for others.

I also have a few songs with old boyfriends names in them but I never take them out. People are the biggest impact on my life and they know that I write. If they hear a song about them they don't like, I usually am quick to point out I never lie in the songs anything they don't like is their fault.

So I do censor, but only certain things.

[Ramshackles]

I dont censor my writing, but I dont put any swearwords in, simply because I think there are infinite more poetic/emotional/whatever ways to get your point across, and simply putting a swearword is a lazy cop-out

[massa]

"simply putting a swearword is a lazy cop-out"

I don't agree with that at all.

If you are talking about fucking someone for example, it's not an lazy cop-out and I find is very effective, as it has connotations of raw, primal lust, and not much emotional interaction.

[Ramshackles]

Yeah perhaps, but then I wouldnt write about fucking someone - I dont see the point. Thats something Id rather just do.

[massa]

Hahahaha!

Just do, and smoke a cigarette after, or just do, and write an ode?

[misterwillguitar]

Sorry for the glut of posts, just feeling person starved recently and have a head full of stuff.

On  to the question - is there anything you stop yourself from writing about because of how it might make other people feel?

Couple of personal cases - my grandad listens to all my stuff, and i worry about writing about anything he might not approve of or i don't want him to know. So i leave stuff out. Not ready to stop being his little girl!

Also had difficulties with writing about relationships when i don't want to upset someone.

And a friend of mine is always trying to get out of me if i've written anything about him. I haven't. He doesn't believe me, but won't tell which song he's thinking of. That's unsettling!

How about you? Do you think it's good/polite/necessary to censor yourself or do you think it is your greatest enemy? And whilst we're at it, do you have a don't ask don't tell policy when it comes to talking about what your songs mean or who they are about?

Thats an awesome question, and my first response was to say "no way I dont censor anything", but then if I'm honest, I will only keep certain ideas and creations which really is a form of censorship right? While alot of it is really only when I get fired up that I'll keep a tune - a song is really doing it for me, lots fall by the wayside for many reasons. Censorship kind of, but I do think we all have an audience in mind when we write tunes, I will love something, and also I can see if my audience (who are all like me by the way) will love it too. If not......then it goes.

For the question - I don't ever stop myself writing anything because of how people might feel. I dont put swearing or "killin ho's" or anti police stuff into my tunes, but thats because I dont write stuff like that. I guess true censorship would be wanting to sing about those things but not doing so........

I see your point about the grandad - but then maybe he is important as your audience? I dont think theres anything wrong with tayloring to an audience. Like I say mine are all in my head when I write, and they need to like it too!

As for the "dont ask dont tell" policy - I only wish people were interested enough to ask! Actually I think my songs are all incredibly obvious and almost child-like so I dont think there are too many hidden meanings.

Great question though - not sure Ive been any help at all!

Mr.Will

[murfman04]

I noticed I used to swear alot more in my old songs.
I don't know if it was more for the shock value or to get a point across but I don't do it as much any more.
I have an old book full of lyrics and some of them are angry and bitter and they are a bit embarrassing really for me to read.
But I try to get my point accross in a more clever way when I write now, so I don't think I censor!!
Maybe I need more time to think about it, tis a good question!

[freakingidol]

I try to make sure that the lyrics is appropriate for the style of the song. If it's a summer song, it wouldn't be offensive in any way, if I go for Eminem style, I'd keep it radio friendly, but it would definitely have an edge; I'm not affraid going there.

[Mr.Chainsaw]

I censor myself about 100%. It's called being shy 

Peter

[misswhiterabbit]

Rossanne I can completely relate to your post, I'm always a little conscious of the fact I know my parents listen to my music a lot, play it to their friends and stuff so I'd feel a little bit weird writing about anything that might make them feel uncomfortable or worry them.

 The way I get around it is fairly easy for me because I write in quite a metaphorical way so its hard to make sense of what I write anyway. This post has made me reconsider that though. Maybe it would be good to have a go at writing a song without thinking about who might listen to it. See what happens..