Zen

[Henri Devill]

Songwriteing..How much do you just let go?Do you ever forget about the nuts and bolts?Do you have moments where you transend the mundane?Maybe a song that..I don't know..just feels right.I guess something thats has a "hook" but the more you peel back the layers{for you at least} the deeper the meaning gets?Even just a section of a tune where maybe the first verse does it..Simple yet deep..Art and commerce can they coexsist?

I'm looking for my moment of Zen..anyone find theirs?



Don

[joro]

Good post Don....


It is difficult for me to say..................


I mean.....I have songs that are deeply personal and chuck full of meaning and message....
at least I think so...........
but that's the problem...............
who am I to say that they are commercial....it's sort of up to the audience....



Joe

[Peter D]

I've got two songs like that. Both were written almost 25 years ago and for a long time one of them never struck me as one of my better efforts. The other song was one where I loved the lyrics, but I thought the music and arrangement was to bare bones, but everyone else loved the song as it was.

Now, in the past 7, or so, years I'm constantly amazed at the strong reaction I get to these two deeply personal songs. My "songwriting as a business" side tells me these songs aren't that good, but when I play them and see peoples' reactions I wondering what other people hear that I don't.

[Chrisjob]

The Daily Show offers a moment of Zen everynight around 11:25...


Honestly, the three or four times "they've" appeared, I've been totally away from a guitar, piano, or any of my gear. The best songs I;ve written have been entirely in my head

Peace
Chris

[mikeh]

An interesting question indeed!!!

In recent years I find my song writing to be much "better" in terms of the end recorded result - but perhaps lacking in the raw emotion that my songs from younger days could project.

It seems that as my skills as a musician, producer, arranger and engineer improve (not to mention the ever increasing array of procudtion equipment) I become more of a "technician" and less of an "artist".

I recently re-recorded a couple of songs I wrote 20 plus years ago. While the new recordings were by far superior in every technical aspect, they could not capture the emotion and energy of the original recordings.

Even my wife of 26 years (who has heard all my songs in every phase) commented that I spend more time on the science than the art (recording vs. writing).

Perhaps as we all gain access to more and more technically superior equipment - we lose a part of the real magic.

Maybe a Zen process which deflects the pre-thought of "how will this song sound with a string line in the bridge" and simply focuses on - "does this truly reflect my soul" is indeed the secret.