What is my songwriting like?

[Greg_L]

You could be right about me being wrong though I could be right in my wrongness.
I usually am.....

I didn't actually read what you wrote. It usually works out that no one writes that much to agree with someone, so I assumed you disagreed with me, in which case you are wrong.

 

[DM60]

I didn't actually read what you wrote. It usually works out that no one writes that much to agree with someone, so I assumed you disagreed with me, in which case you are wrong.

But if he was right in being wrong, then he was wrong for being right.

 

[PTravel]

Most songs do have I me or my in them. Not that it's good or bad. That's just how it is.

That's because most songs are what we in the theater call monologues -- it's the songwriter/singer saying something and that something is always personal, i.e. "This is how I see it." The only real exceptions are narrative songs -- those that tell stories, which, like any narrative, can be in first, second or third person, or novelty duets in which the performers sing to each other ("Hey, hey, Paula, I want to marry you . . ."). So you're absolutely right -- it's neither good nor bad, but just the way it is.

 

[PTravel]

But if he was right in being wrong, then he was wrong for being right.

Wait . . . that can't be right . . . uh . . . wrong . . . uh . . . never mind.

 

[RAMI]

Not only in songs, but the most used word in any conversation is "I". Of course most songs will be sung from that point of view, most conversations are conducted from that point of view. This isn't rocket surgery.

 

[fat_fleet]

For the record .... I don't agree with fat_fleet about the 'I' thing .... as DM60 has pointed out .. very many great songs are focused on 'I' and 'MY' thoughts on the issue etc

Sure, tons of great songs, hope I didn't say anything to the contrary!

Funny, it feels like I made that initial comment ages ago... the OP never came back, except to drop a few tunes in the clinic... and now, so many weeks later all this great conversation comes out of it. Definitely cool, but I sure hope y'all don't jump down my throat next time I drop the I-bomb!

 

[fat_fleet]

 

[fat_fleet]

Take James Taylor's "Sweet Baby Jane": "I woke up this morning, and I wrote down this song, I just can't remember who to send it to."

Um, that's Fire and Rain but I know...they all sound the same to me too.

 

[grimtraveller]

I didn't actually read what you wrote.

You missed a great modern fairy tale, up there with "Goldilocks and the 3 bears", "The 3 Billy goats gruff" and "The 3 little pigs".

 

[Greg_L]

I don't wanna walk around with you
I don't wanna walk around with you
I won't wanna walk around by you
So why you wanna walk around with me?
I don't wanna walk around with you
I don't wanna walk around with you

 

[DM60]

Um, that's Fire and Rain but I know...they all sound the same to me too.

Your right, I was looking at the album and Sweet Baby James is the next song on the album. I stand corrected.

 

[Wonderlick]

I think using the word "I" is an unselfish act of songwriting. True, the origin of the song's emotion and direction may be a self-reflection of the author, but when the song is constructed in the first person and sung by others that maybe "get the message", it becomes the listeners' song - the word "I" includes the individual - by definition.

If one switched it to the "unselfish" version, let's say second person, the listener is no longer able to relate as the reciting of the song would force them to impose their thoughts and emotions onto someone else - as if the original artist was telling "you" or "he" feels lonely.

"I" songs are more personal - 2nd or 3rd person can be as well, when it's a strategy to tell your story through another perspective. Otherwise, you're just writing fiction.

Daryl

 

[dived12]

Hi,
There's a definite rock 'n' roll thing to that world," Turner told NME. "There's this thing where Louis CK is talking about George Carlin, who's this famous American comedian who used to completely tear up his act at the end of every year and throw it out and write a whole new act.
"And in doing that you eventually run out of things to talk about. So you start looking inside to whatever darkness may lay there. And that's where you end up going."I think there's a weird symmetry with that and songwriting. Or at least there is for me."