Why do Singer-songwriters go dry?

[Old Trout]

First, let me say that I think everyone has a great song in them. Getting it out can be a problem, but it is there.

The question is why does it seem like there is a finite number of them? I grew up listening to a number of fine writers like Dylan, Browne, Simon, Mitchell, Mcartney, Griffeth, Taylor, Joel, as well as non-mainsteamers like Waits and Prine and countless others. Not exactly flash in the pan stuff.

It does seem to me that some of them have gone dry. Not a criticism, but why do you think that happens? Too old? Too comfortable with success? Ran out of things to say? Disgusted with the business?

Do you ever feel like the song you've just written, might be your last?

Greg Brown keeps it fresh after all these years. How does he do that? Maybe still hungry? So many people I know say Greg who?

Maybe it's mainstream burnout?

[alexspetty]

maybe people loose touch with their creativity after they get older. seems to be.

people get set in their ways and stop questioning certain aspects of their life. fewer questions about lifes mysteries yield less inner turmoil. perhaps such a ting makes for fairly infertile soil for the harvesting of good songs.

i just read this post over and it sounds like utter non sense.


-alex

[Strtj]

Hey Alex. You have a cool name by the way, but I would say that as my name is Alex too. There are great songwriters who remain great. Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg are two that spring to my mind. I never feel like the song I've just written will be my last. They've come before and they will come again! They always do and they always will. What about one hit wonders? Do they really only have one good song in them? Sorry, I'm drunk and rambling... I don't even have a point. Sometimes it seems as though I never have. Oh, my head hurts. Why is the room moving while I'm sitting still?

"Here we are in our summer years
Living on ice cream and chocolate kisses
Would the leaves fall from the trees
If I was your old man and you were my misses?"

[Peter D]

Alex, being 50 years old, I really hope your theory re aging is wrong. Since I'm a non-performing writer I may have a little twist in my perspective. One thing I've noticed about singer/songwriters in general is that some of them seem quite content to leave the writing behind them after they have a body of work to perform. I know a number of folk-oriented singer/songwriters who seem to follow that pattern and have made a successful career out of singing the same songs for 30 years.

For me, I pretty much lose interest in my songs once I've written them and got a basic worktape or demo done. I'm always writing new songs. While it's true I hit dry spells, I hopefully have never lost the edge that keeps me writing.

I heard Willie Nelson say that writing became much harder for him after he became successful. He said he needed a good reason to write a song, like being broke and that he felt he was a much more prolific writer before he became successful.

[limoguy]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Peter D
For me, I pretty much lose interest in my songs once I've written them and got a basic worktape or demo done. I'm always writing new songs. While it's true I hit dry spells, I hopefully have never lost the edge that keeps me writing.

Funny that Peter...I'm the same way. You put so much energy in getting the lyric and melody down tight that by the time you're done you don't even wanna hear the dam thing again for six months!





Limoguy

[bdbdbuck]

I think a number of things come into play here, and I'd like to say that everyone so far has a pretty good perspective. Age I think does have a lot to do with it, success sometimes comes with age, and the inner turmoil is generated by a whole new set of daily circumstances. Thats a very broad statement, but I think it covers a whole lot of ground. Being prolific as a writer has to be inspired by something, and with age comes a whole different set of somethings. The successful writers still have what it takes to write a decent song, but success takes some of that inner turmoil away.


bd

[Layla Nahar]

I used to be a software engineer (like, who didn't ... ) and I remember having this discussion with another engineer ---

If you work with your mind you can't be productive all the time. the mind is organic, not a machine. expect downtime - think of it rather as lying fallow, a time to recuperate.

[bdbdbuck]

Hey Layla,
Where's my Boston Whaler song?


bd

[Jagular]

From personal experience (not that I am a great songwriter or anything) I would say that as people get older they inevitably have more responsibility thrust on them. In my case, wife, daughter, job, house payments, car payments… I know for me that being creative means that I need to have alone time. That is a commodity that is very rare in my life. The car that is life is going at 90 miles per hour and it isn’t easy to jump out of it. I would venture to guess there is a similar phenomenon for successful singer/songwriters, what with tour dates, finances, albums, videos, groupies … I’m sure their life is no picnic. It’s probably hard for them to find that creative alone time as well.

On a bright note, I was just listening to the Grand Ole Opry pre show on good ole WSM 650 AM last weekend and Bill Anderson (an old timer & legend in country music for those of you who don’t know) is still churning out hit songs for young artists. I think that is way cool. Since I am now closer to his age than some of the young artists, I think that is what I would like to shoot for.

[jjtcorsair]

I agree with Jagular; unfortunately life gets in the way. Many songwriters flourish (sp?) during a time of introspection, others during a time of need or sadness or great joy. These times that the songwriter gained inspiration from inevitably end. Enduring artists find ways to be inspired regardless of the fact that their life situations have shifted. Some succeed, some don't. Some can't continue unless they can write songs equal to or greater than their best work and continue to fulfill the promise that they established. Some find success in the process itself, not creating for recognition but because the process is what is important to them. In other words, they do it for themselves. This forum and many like it prove that there are a lot of songwriters out there that do it because they have to. A record contract and fame and fortune would be nice but not necessary to continue their dream: the dream to create. For myself, it's complicated; I can write a song in an hour and then 6 months will go by before I can come up with anything. Inspiration is a fickle muse, sometimes she's nowhere to be found, other times, rarely, she won't leave me alone.

[bdbdbuck]

I'm going through a hyper-productive stage right now. I think it's because I was basically idle for so many years.....I dunno, is it possible my brain has been writing all along and I was just too stupid to get the guitar out of the case? I'll get a cd ready to go to the copyright office and then two more songs pop out of nowhere....decent songs. You know, the ones you don't even bother to copyright aren't coming out......that's a good thing.



bd

[zer0sig]

my short answer as to why singer-songwriters go dry?

they "grow up". their passions go from being focused in a direct creative way to something else.

some musicians get married and start raising a family, and simply don't have the same focus they did because of time constraints. this doesn't rule out musicians with families as good songwriters, i've just noticed that many stop writing moving music when they settle down.

some musicians cut down on vices, like, say, heroin habits, and suddenly, they don't have as much vitriol/sadness to draw from, or maybe they're just too focused on staying clean to focus on songwriting.

some musicians just fall into the idea that music-making was really more or less a pipe dream, even successful musicians. they decide that songwriting was something they don't mind compromising as a pastime.

some get burned out on the "scene"-many musicians get tired of the boozing/womanizing/general degeneracy, and manage to confuse the commitment to making good music with the commitment to onesself to live a healthier, happier life.


as for me, i have plenty of angst without having to get involved in the screwball antics of others who do what i do, and i intend to be making music for a long time. too bad inspiration is so unpredictable sometimes.

[bdbdbuck]

zerOsig,
That was a damn good post...couldn't have said it better.


bd

[WATYF]

I have a totally different outlook on it...


I think songs are imparted gifts... simply put,.. sometimes we get a breif glimpse into a realm of creativity that has nothing to do with our musical ability or superior talent or anything like that. Millions of people go through heart ache and use drugs and what not, but there aren't millions of great songs out there, so it's not like tragedy = great songs... I've been through plenty of painful experiences in my life where I would have loved to write a song aboot what I was going through... but nothing came out.

I think we just have moments where, for one reason or another (and yes, sometimes tragedy triggers it), we get a "revelation" of creativity... and sometimes... those moments just stop happening.


"Why" is anybody's guess... I just hope they never stop for me.


WATYF

[zer0sig]

WATYF makes an important point-that songwriting is not always in the capable sentient hands of its vessel. i think my points basically relate to being able to RECEIVE the creativity he refers to, just to put in my 2 bits.

[WATYF]

I would agree with that...

when our lives get too busy and distracted, it's a lot harder for us to "tune in" to true inspiration. I'm also a firm believer that drugs can serve as a potral to that creative realm... I just choose not to use them as a medium for my creativity.


WATYF