If you're familiar with Stephin Merritt, then you know he's a master songwriter, capable of almost anything. His band The Magnetic Fields is one of many of his creative outputs.
Here's the video of Stephin writing a song in two days in front of the cameras. He wrote it based on a challenge given involving his choosing from six pictures and six words. You have to see the video to see the process. I thought it was interesting, because as I understand it, Stephin is generally a much more planned out songwriter, so this faster style of writing is quite a departure for him, but not a bad one.
3 comments:
Heck, two days. I could do that in twenty minutes. That's how Hank Williams got his publishing contract with Fred Rose, or so the legend goes. Yeah, Fred Rose said,
"You didn't write those songs!". And he locked Hank in a room and said in twenty minutes, come out with something new. And out he came with "Move it on Over"
Nothing like a deadline to sharpen your focus. I find lyrics flow just before the tape rolls or before the curtain goes up before a performance.
Okay, so I watched the video. You could write the song in twenty minutes. The recording depends on how much complexity you want to bring to it.
I once wrote a jingle in 19 seconds. It was a 19 second jingle.
My thesis (or feces) if you prefer is that songs are to be caught and not so much to be crafted.
But I'm a dirty liar. I do like making songs...crafting songs, building songs...it's just that I prefer to catch them whole.
The whole...let's go into the studio and play around...mindset is appealing -- in a way. I just don't think Hoagy Carmichael could have ever written 'Star Dust' that way.
It's interesting that this studio guy thing is the focus of a current perception of songwriting.
The ol' Nashville idea would be that the guy -- or sometimes gal -- would write the song and then play it for others with their guitar.
The song WAS the words and melody. That WAS the song. Now people are more focused on a representation of a song -- a recording to wit -- than the actual composition.
It's all mashed together in a gumbo these days.
I liked the tune. I thought he put a tiny Elvis Costelloism in the way he poignantly dangled the word from the previous line into the next.
Good stuff. But to say it took two days to write the song, when it actually does not require that much time....oh well.
Sometimes a song can be written in two minutes. In many ways, those are the best.
Tom St. Louis
http://www.gmsiamovie.wordpress.com
Thanks for posting, Tom! What brought you by the site? Are you a FAWMer? Just curious.
I agree. Two days can be an eternity in a song's life. During February I wrote 22 songs in 30 days. Several times I wrote two or three songs in one day. Usually they came pretty quickly. A few took longer.
I like the challenge they used to create the songs: look at 6 pictures and take 6 words. Interesting process that I may try later.
Hmmm, what's a FAWMer? I'l go ask Mr. Google and will be right back.
Okay, I had not heard of it.
I have other methods for forcing turbo productivity.
Like booking concert halls six weeks in a row and printing materials to the effect that there will be a program of new original string music the first week, original brass the second, woodwinds the third, choir the fourth...
That's how I did it.
As to how I found you... I'm just looking for songwriting blogs and yours ranked high.
Mr. Google likes you.
Tom St. Louis
http://www.gmsiamovie.wordpress.com
Post a Comment