The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => The Bar => Topic started by: tone on September 17, 2019, 09:11:55 PM
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I know, I know. Settle down. For most of you this is like washing your hair, but I have not written a song for 3 years! 4 if you don't count the not-quite-finished song I wrote during the first year of drought.
Just had to tell someone! Thanks for listening :D
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congratulations mate. i know from first hand experience being in a drought can SUCK. Out of interest, have you been trying all this time or did you take a break from songwriting on purpose?
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I can relate, although my break did not last as long as yours. Still, I 100% expected I would never write another song or maybe even sing anymore. It's a good feeling to have the urge come back. Even kind of a rush. Congratulations!
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Thank you Jack! I most certainly did suck emphatically. I can't say I've been actively trying all this time, it's been intermittent. I never intended to take a break from songwriting - in fact, I'd hit my stride like never before right up until I stopped. Something sudden and 'orrible happened to me and it knocked the songs out of me I suppose. Maybe this is evidence I'm regaining my mojo. It ain't the best song in the world, but I don't even care right now, I'm just glad to have one :D
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Even kind of a rush. Congratulations!
Thanks Vicki! It really is a rush - like I said to Jack, even though it ain't the best song ever, I'm feeling so good right now. :D
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And to top it all, I just got my 6,000th play on SoundCloud! It's like the planets aligned or something :p
(and I just noticed I wrote it in the last blank page of my notebook. It's getting spooky now. More as it comes in...)
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Come on then Tone, can we hear it...? Is it one of the ones in your footer message?
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Brilliant @tone (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=1) So well deserved
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And another in Tone, ride the wave now the dam has been broken..
:-)
Neil
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Thanks for the enthusiastic words of support folks. No recording as yet - I'm old sçhool, still writing songs with a pen, paper and guitar. Definitely want to ride that wave though :)
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Good! I did kind of wonder. Anyhow, you can't really force these things so great that it's returned at last.
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@tone (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=1), you will write many more. Sometimes writer's hibernate, whilst they get on with the business of living. I often find after a break, long or short, ideas and new ways of thinking and expressing words and emotions arise.
Paul
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@tone (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=1) well as the writer of one of my very favourite songs ever (Straitjacket - a song that actually inspired one of my own :D :D), I am delighted to hear there's more on the way.. Look forward to hearing it!
K
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@tone (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=1)
Only 3 years Tone? Pah amateur! I didn't do a tap for 20years! Life had served me other fish to fry. :D
When I came back to writing, I doubted there was any inspiration left. I was asked to write half a dozen songs for a play,I said I'd try,but don't be holding breath!
Once the squeaky tap was opened,lo and behold the water flowed...some folk may not call it water! ;D
The music is in you Tone,we all know this and there is recorded proof. Belief is all it takes.
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Good on ya! Take it slow, breath and more of 'em will come @tone (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=1) !!! :D
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@adamfarr (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=20124) @Skub (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=20061) @Wicked Deeds (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=19231) @The S (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=20544) thanks for all your encouragement folks. The song doesn't feel quite so good in the cold light of the morning (afternoon/ whatever) after, but it's still a great feeling to have cleared the blockage. Hopefully it's freed me up to do something a little different too...
@MonnoDB (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=19820) - wow! So glad you like my song so much. I might blush! Would love to hear the song it inspired if you fancy sharing?
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Nice one Tone! I'm curious to know whether, now that you've unlocked the writers block after 3 years, if you've found the lull in songwriting productivity useful or constructive in any way? Have you changed your process, noticed any change in your musical style or tried any new techniques OR have you literally picked up where you left off three years ago in terms of style, technique, influences etc? Do you think the undoubtedly frustrating experience has, or could potentially, make you a 'better', if not 'different', songwriter, OR was it just a massive pain in the arse that you'd rather forget?
I encounter different degrees of writers block/lack of inspiration/ wear and tear of real life quite often so I'm trying to see what works for others and if there's any positives to be gained from the downtime. Any nuggets of wisdom you can offer greatly accepted!
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@Sing4me88 (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=18817) I wouldn't say I've found it productive or useful - at least not so far. The song is definitely in my usual 'style' but if anything I'm looking to move away from that, so maybe that's one of the lessons I've learned from being away. Lyrically I definitely found something new to say, but 4 years is a long time and I've changed a huge amount in that time, so it's not surprising that new themes are appearing. Having said that, some of the old ones were still there, and that's also something I'm looking to change.
I suppose what I experienced wasn't what I would call downtime. I wasn't consciously deciding to not write a song, I was just too busy, stressed, preoccupied to find headspace to give it.
Sorry if that's not very helpful. Ask me in 3 months from now and I may have something interesting to say about it!
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Ironic contrast with my own situation. I'm trying to quit writing . . . and failing miserably.
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@tone (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=1) - What an interesting thread...a Wizard of Oz type peep behind the curtain of a songwriter...I have never suffered from this as I don't consider myself a song writer, I'm more of an artist and ideas things come to me, I don't go looking for them, I never sit down and say Now I'm going to write a song, it just doesn't happen that way, it's always the idea comes and I ride that wave.
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@tone (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=1) - What an interesting thread...a Wizard of Oz type peep behind the curtain of a songwriter...I have never suffered from this as I don't consider myself a song writer, I'm more of an artist and ideas things come to me, I don't go looking for them, I never sit down and say Now I'm going to write a song, it just doesn't happen that way, it's always the idea comes and I ride that wave.
Hi CMP, interesting reply. It's funny because it doesn't really happen that way for me either. I mean, I do sometimes go looking for an idea, but in general, a song doesn't emerge unless it comes looking for me. What gets the song to a point of being finished is more a tightrope act between the two.
For example, the song that prompted this thread is in quite a fluid state now. I was going to consign it to the song graveyard, but there were a couple of bits I liked in it. So now I'm rewriting sections, rearranging it, re-evaluating it and generally giving it a thorough shakedown. The song that emerges (assuming one does) will likely be quite different from the original song I wrote - the one that 'came looking for me'. Of all my songs that I consider to be my best ones, this has been my process with perhaps only one exception.
Creative pursuits are pretty weird when you really stop to consider them, eh?
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I know, I know. Settle down. For most of you this is like washing your hair, but I have not written a song for 3 years! 4 if you don't count the not-quite-finished song I wrote during the first year of drought.
Just had to tell someone! Thanks for listening :D
well done
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Hi Tone, Hope all is well in your world ;D
Yeah, I agree with @Skub (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=20061) .......Oh dear, did I just say that ;D ;D ;D
You've got the music in you.....it has to come out. Don't worry my friend, you'll soon be obsessed ;D ;D
take care