As songwriters we write about anything and everything and that's cool. We often write about what we are thinking about that is pertinent to our age/situation at the time of writing.
I was wondering if any of you have written or tried to write a song about a simple, universal theme or truth that everyone can identify with? A song that grows or maybe alters it meaning for you or the listener as they grow and get older throughout their life?
The reason I ask is because I witnessed this happen last night to one of my favourite singers and it was one of the most amazing experiences. The singer was Natalie Merchant, you may not know her but she's been around a while and is a pro. She was playing at the Royal Albert Hall in London for the first time. She was nervous, fluffed her first song, even being a seasoned pro, but she was enjoying the immense feeling from playing on that stage. Later in the set she then came to sing a song she released around 18 years a go. It's called "Life is Sweet" (spot the universal theme). It's a good song, I like it, but listening to her sing it last night made me realize that writing and recording this song as a single woman in your 20s is very different, and you have a different response to singing it in your 40s when your a mother, which she is now. Also, I then wondered how it would be for her to sing it in another 40 years to her grand children. She was in tears at the end of the song as she repeated the phrase "Life is sweet, Life is short but Life is sweet!" Is was very powerful and uplifting to witness and made me want to write a song I could carry with me through life.
Here's a version of her singing it when she was younger...
This is my next challenge to myself, to write a song that when I stand on a stage in 20 years time will move me to tears. A big challenge I know. Do you fancy taking the challenge or do you already have that song?
