[Homeless Recluse]

What brought you to the weird world of song writing? Why do you write? What or who motivated you to start? What was your first song?!

I've always been into music. I used to fall asleep listening to my dads Elvis tapes when I was 6 and sing along....I still remember my brother saying that I sounded exactly like him hahaha Kids?!!

When I was 8ish I got into heavy metal and my friends thought I was weird for liking Elvis, so I started to hide my Elvis LP's, the abuse I would have got cause I liked some classical too, would have been sooo bad

But it wasn't till I heard Pink Floyds 'The Wall' at 12ish, particularly, 'Another brick in the wall' parts 1 and 2, that I wanted to start writing. That song was the weirdest and most different thing I'd heard up to that point and the dynamics of the song gave me butterflies every time I listened to it.

I was writing lyrics for 2 years before I got my first guitar at the age of 14 and the first song I wrote (which I still have on cassette ) was called 'a vision of you' about my dads death.


What about you?

[Jess]

When I was eight years old I started writing songs because I wanted to write the next Barbie soundtrack...   between 8 and 11 my visions kind of changed I started writing poems and short stories, but then when I was 12, when I bought my first CD, I started writing songs again (granted they were all TOTAL cons of spice girls songs but still...). Last October I got my first guitar and now we are here still writing lyrics but now starting to compose my own melodies...it's all very fun

I love how different our inspirations were- you: Elvis, pink Floyd, heavy metal, me: Barbie, spice girls, the sugababes and Sara bareillis...childhood memories

[The Corsair]

I can't think of why exactly I started, I just sort of did. I had an idea for a song and I wrote it down, that's really the story of it.

[Homeless Recluse]

I love how different our inspirations were- you: Elvis, pink Floyd, heavy metal, me: Barbie, spice girls, the sugababes and Sara bareillis...childhood memories

You know what I find amazing? There are ONLY 12 notes! (well in western music at least) All those differen't kinds of music from only 12 notes!

[BooBoo]

I just remember being confused and dint quite know how to express but then I thought about how some people turn their emotions into songs so I thought 'why can't i?' And here in am today.

[montydog]

I wrote my first song aged 49 which has to be some sort of record on here.

Couldn't play a single chord on the guitar until 2 and a half years ago. I was playing dobro in a bluegrass band and one of the guys was writing some pretty lame stuff so I thought "I can do better than that" but I had to learn guitar first and then start writing.

Here I am some 35 songs later. I do it because it's a wonderful form of artistic expression - you can paint pictures in the listener's head and move people which is pretty special.

I wouldn't have come this far without this wonderful forum and all the encouragement and advice I've received. When you start, you're crap and people just assume that writing songs is easy - just look at the crap in the top 40 so it's easy to be discouraged by indifference and derision. Just keep at it - the more you do it, the better you get (unless you're Paul McCartney)

[Jess]

Just keep at it - the more you do it, the better you get (unless you're Paul McCartney)

Haha! Yes I agree! I swear they just wheel him out for any occasion involving Gary Barlow/the royal familly, get him to sing Let it Be and then wheel him off again?

[tone]

Ahhhhhh! Not having a pop at Macca?!

Love or hate his more recent work, he's still one of the greatest songwriters of the last century - he's influenced us all, whether we're aware of it or not. Choose any one of his songs from the Beatles period, and there's not a bad one in there. Not many artists you can say that about!

Ok, rant over!

On topic:
Why do I write songs? It all started in 1993 when my sister's boyfriend came over with a new CD - 'Woodface' by Crowded House. I'd grown up listening to my dad's records (Beatles, the Who, Kinks, Queen, Abba etc) and could already play a few songs from those chaps, but this record really effected me. I was so taken by the way the melodies and harmonies sounded that I decided: I wanna do that!

Fast-forward 20 years and I'm still writing. The reasons aren't all that different now to what they were then. I still want to write a song like 'still crazy after all these years' or as good as it. Maybe when I'm 90... But also, songwriting is my therapy.

See, the truth is, I'm a pretty typical son of a man of my father's generation - emotions are kept bottled for freshness So writing songs is my therapy. I feel wrong if I don't do it.

Nice thread this, thanks Homeless

[Sing4me88]

I kinda concur in a way with somethings everyone has said but not 100% with anyone. On one level yes it is a great way t express ones own feelings and relate past experiences -and that is truly great and an amazing thing - but I think the flip side of that coin is probably more interesting and powerful.To me songwriting is essentially all about escapism, the beauty being that pick up a pen and you can be anywhere/anyone in the world. You can adopt an alter ego and differing personaes and tell the world what you think f them through those many lenses. I mean a lot of lyrics I write do not reflect my personal preferences, feelings or opinions just how I think someone in a said situation may view things. Writing allows you to be a person you'll never be - in fact probably don't ever want to be - and it nurtures the imagination. You can be the high school beauty queen, the loser in love, the millionaire playboy with everything at his fingertips, a grieving mother etc and IMO that breadth and lack of limitation is really empowering

[Jess]

Kevin that's actually so deep. It's like 10 to 9 I can't take that kind of emotion at this time of the morning!

Ahhhhhh! Not having a pop at Macca?!

I'm sorry tone, honestly us youth of today are so uncultured! I just find him irritating and think you know...maybe he should just consider retirement...?

[tone]

I'm sorry tone, honestly us youth of today are so uncultured! I just find him irritating and think you know...maybe he should just consider retirement...?

It's ok that you find him irritating. But what I was trying to say is that without macca, popular music and songwriting wouldn't be what it is today. Same as it wouldn't be the same without Cole Porter or Irving Berlin. You can find them annoying, but you shouldn't ignore the role they've had in shaping the music we all make.

/End of lecture :p

[Sing4me88]

Kevin that's actually so deep. It's like 10 to 9 I can't take that kind of emotion at this time of the morning!


Ha Jess - I'm glad it struck a chord! And yes it's too late/early/never right for such an awful pun

[Jess]

Ha Jess - I'm glad it struck a chord! And yes it's too late/early/never right for such an awful pun

I need to PM you at some stage by the way...

[Alan Starkie]

Macca is a true pop song writer.

Paul Simon once said of Paul McCartney, when questioned about their songwriting talent, that the difference between him and Paul McCartney was :

He sweated blood and tears for hours writing his best work. Paul McCartney never had to even try when writing a mega catchy song. It was completely natural.

Love him or hate him, Macca has influenced nearly all modern songwriters.

You may not like him but you can bet someone you respect as a writer likes him!

[montydog]

Wierd how people have picked up on my flipant, thow away line and run with it while ignoring the subject of the thread. Just for the record, I am big McCartney fan. I think he is a  brilliant multinstrumentalist, singer, songwriter and performer. My point is that although he is still a great artist, he doesn't produce songs of the lasting genius of his Beatles period.