Do you re-write?

[powderfinger]

Okay, let me clarify. Of course songwriting is a process that often involves re-writing until a song gets to be just right. My question involves after you've gotten to this point.

Say you've got a song that's been around awhile. Something arises and you no longer feel the same way than when you wrote song. A slight lyrical change could easily help reinterpret the song to how you feel now. Do you stay true to how you feel now and change it? or stay true to the song and keep it despite the fact that you might no longer be true to yourself? What do you guys do here.......

 

[Peter D]

I can't think of any song I've ever written where the main idea or principle of the song has changed to a point where I wanted to rewrite it. But, I have songs that are 30 years old which have not been published, which continue to be edited at times. I may be wrong (again), but I think this is a pretty common occurrence among writers in general.

I also have some songs published which I'd love the chance to do some editing to.

 

[Gidge]

No, i dont re-write songs to evolve with me...i just write new songs.....

 

[Layla Nahar]

nope. though I do have a bunch of parts and half written songs & if I finish them later then I guess that would be a re-write.

But once a song is finsished, I feel its pretty much finished.

 

[Cyrokk]

Usually I consider the song "locked" once it has been recorded.

However, I am in the process of re-recording a bunch of songs. All of them remain unchanged with the exception of one that had some of the stupidest lyrics ever written, so this is the exception to the rule for me.

Why don't you keep both versions and come back to it later? You may decide you want to keep the older one because it maintains the spirit of the time in which it was written.

Cy

 

[Tucci]

Sometimes

Lyrics are the hardest part for me, and I often edit them over quite a while. But once I feel I have a song finished and I'm performing it....I usually don't make huge changes. I often make little edits though. When I'm first writing lyrics to a new tune I often go through several sets before I end up with something I like.

Tucci
www.locuststreettaxi.com
Horns, Harmony, & Humor

 

[Jagular]

It depends on what you consider “done” and “done for whom”. For example, I may finish writing a song and consider it “done” but someone may approach me with a co-writing opportunity and some good ideas. Then the song will become “undone” . Or if a publisher came to me and wanted me to change it so it was more pitchable for him, I would also change the song. I figure I can save the artistic arguments for if I ever get established as a writer later down the line .

On just a personal level…I will always consider changing a song if I think I can make it a better song. Lord knows there are plenty of those early attempts lying around that are decent ideas, but not really well written songs. I may resurrect one from time to time if I figure out a good fix for any of them. If I don’t, they will lay on the bottom of the barrel with “Learning Experience” stamped all over them

That’s my $.02

 

[dafduc]

Yup, if needed. A phrase will start bugging me as being too clumsy or formal or trite, I'll rework it. Sometimes years later. But once it's out there in the real world, I'll usually leave it alone.

I've also had the distinct non-privilege of having my publisher re-write a line for me - screwed up the whole bridge. Wasn't on the proofs, either, just showed up on the final sheet music - nothing I could do then. Jerks.

 

[Strtj]

It takes me a while to write songs, so once I'm in the process it gets re-written and jigged about a lot. I generally have several songs on the go at the one time. They kind of tend to have the same feel and style so I often swap bits between them, sometimes I even stick them all together to make one big song (in a Radiohead Paranoid Android stylee). I'm not sure exactly when I consider a song finished. I guess when it feels right. Sometimes I don't really finish songs until I start recording them. I demo all my songs first and that's when I really flesh them out into something complete. I always try to improvise a lot when recording as I find the things I do spontaneously are better than the things I stress over. Then I can listen back to the tape and learn what I made up.

Recently I went back and rewrote an old song just as an exercise to see if I could improve it. I did. In fact, I improved it so much that I ended up dumping the old song and just using the new parts. My old songs suck anyway.

 

[Jagular]

I've also had the distinct non-privilege of having my publisher re-write a line for me - screwed up the whole bridge. Wasn't on the proofs, either, just showed up on the final sheet music - nothing I could do then. Jerks.

hehe...at least you've had that experience. Some of us can only dream about being pissed off about that

 

[esull1985]

this is my first post after a while of observing

anyways, what i do is write verses that mirror my current feelings, and after a while i have a bunch of verses, and i then put the ones that fit well into a song. i don't really rewrite, i do make corrections to misspellings though

i don't think it would be a bad thing to rewrite, but it might take away from the original idea or emotion, some might consider it "fake" as well.

 

[nicity]

i never touch any of my written sons the only time i would change the lyrics would be to change the way that i am saying what i want to say not to change the topic of my song


Viva La Me

 

[bdbdbuck]

Frankly, if you listen to a lot of groups, you'll hear similarities in some of their songs. I think that is re-writing to a large extent.
I wrote a song a long time ago that went over pretty good, now that I have started playing again, I've re-written it. Different lyrics, a little different musically...but you can tell it's the same tune. Fact is, I like the new version better. Best part is I still have the copyright on the old tune.

bd

 

[Layla Nahar]

It takes me a while to write songs, so once I'm in the process it gets re-written and jigged about a lot. I generally have several songs on the go at the one time. They kind of tend to have the same feel and style so I often swap bits between them, sometimes I even stick them all together to make one big song (

I *wish* I could write more like you. I write in bursts. Either I get a complete song in one sitting, or ... nothing. I wish I could have songwriting be an ongoing process, rather than something I have to wait to be lucky with.

 

[glynb]

Layla, I think it could be a mixed blessing having several songs on the go at the same time. For one thing it can be frustrating, if you have gone so far with a song and then become 'blocked' and can't seem to make any further progress with it. Also you can find that perfectly good, but unfinished, song ideas get left on the shelf as new ones come along which get finished and recorded quickly in a burst of enthusiasm. And also the 'new' song ideas can often seem better than the ones have have been around for a while these new ones demand and get the attention because they are NEW and get completed. Then later you listen back and realise the neglected idea was actualy better than the new one - but it took time and distance to realise this.

I'm speaking as someone who has a pproximately 10 songs in various demo forms that I really want to finish, but keep getting side-tracked by new ideas. I have taken a decision to finish each new idea from now on before I move on, otherwise the rough demos just build up and don't get completed.

IMO better to have a less than perfect demo of a song that people can hear, rather than never recording the song ever.

At the moment my motto is 'So many songs, so little time" !!

 

[Tucci]

GLynb makes a good point. I too have a lot of half-finished songs lying around...it's sometimes hard to concentrate on one and just finish it.

I starting to think that it's almost possible to create your own inspiration. A lot of songwriters say they have to wait for inspiration, that they can't force it. I agree with this to some degree, but I've found that sometimes it's just a matter of making yourself sit-down and start trying stuff...then the inspiration may come.

Tucci
www.locuststreettaxi.com
Horns, Harmony, & Humor

 

[VOXVENDOR]

Yup!!.. All the time...


Sometimes I go back to a song and realize the chorus rocks but the verses suck...

My song "IN MY HEAD" is a re-write....Same chorus, but totally different verses.. It used to feature an acoustic and have a female singing, and was a totally different verse progression....

Maybe some day I will dig up and post, Just to show how much it evolved.

Joe

 

[Aaron Cheney]

I think there is a line between re-writing because the song doesn't work as well as it could, and re-writing just to make it different. The latter is more a "re-interpretation" of the song.

Once I've re-written a song to the point where all the elements that I think make up a good song are there, I put it to bed and that's the end of it. Sometimes I can get there in just 1 or 2 re-writes, sometimes I have to abandon it for a year and then come back to it with fresh ideas.

Once it's done, I'll still get ideas for changing certain parts, or how something could be different. I try to ignore that, or put it in a new song. Otherwise I'd spend my whole life just morphing the same 3 songs over and over and over....

Sort of like ACDC.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com

 

[zer0sig]

generally, i don't touch a song i write at all once it's written. that said, if i feel seriously inspired by a certain concept that i think fits, i may shoehorn it in, or if i think the whole song blows, but a few lines are exceptional, i may write a DIFFERENT song using the same few lines somewhere within it.

 

[limoguy]

Yes! I re-write all the time. But I've always been glad I did. Sometimes the problem is simple i.e. try making this a major chord instead of a minor to better suit the melody, elaborate on some detail in the story to give the song stronger imagery, etc.

Other times it requires re-writing whole verses to take the theme a different direction.

This last song I wrote is going to demo in May and should be shopped sometime in June. It took 3 months for me to work away at it to get it tight. It gets tedious but stick with it!

At the same time I also think there is a fine line between re-writing and over-doing it. Like the icing on a cake, sometimes if you spread it around on the cake too much you can wreck the whole thing!

IMHO

Limoguy