creation
songs
where do they come from?
why do we write them?
for therapy?
hits?
girls?
boys?
love?
personal gain?
art?
commerce?
kicks?
strokes?
fame?
rebellion?
because we have to?
because we need them to have a band?
all kinds of different motivations floating around
for every band or songwriter a different set
and at every point in their career too
maybe the reason why i don't like a lot of what i hear
comes from what i figure the writer's intent is
does it put me on some sort of musical high horse?
maybe…
i'm very lucky
that i can still keep writing because i feel like it
not to pay the mortgage
or the manager
or to put food on the table
there's no pressure on me to do it
if i don't feel the need someday
then i'll stop
if the songs stop coming
then i'll stop
one of the perks of obscurity
for the ones who've "made it"
there's an undeniable pressure to keep cranking the records out
caught up in the rock'n'roll washing machine
record - tour for income - record - tour - tour - tour - record
tour - record - tour - who can keep up that pace for too long?
the quality of the records begins to sag
no time for the writer to write
eventually it all ends in bad reviews
dropping sales
suspect records
(see the discographies of some of my favorite bands for details
the kinks and radiohead immediately come to mind)
who wrote "i'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round"?
a guy referring to bowing out of the game
exiting the rock'n'roll machine
to raise a kid
be domestic
live life without the pressure of cranking it out
and he was crucified by the press at the time
would they had rather he kept making sucky LPs like
“mind games”?
i’ve often fantasized about all the washed up horrible megastars
retiring
not dying
just bowing out
free up some space on the rock’n’roll dogpile
what if crapton
elton john
cher
ozzy
rod stewart
the who
phil collins
etc.
etc.
insert the ones you love to hate here____________
what if they just stopped churning out the bad records
over-priced tours
and stopped?
maybe opened a b and b in arkansas?
or spent all their time giving away their millions
to charity
it would be more noble than riding the ego carousel
ad nauseum
until death weeds them out
i thought this year was going to be my lowest song output
since '92
when i wrote just 8
i was wrong
i've had a song explosion since i got back from europe
maybe i just needed to do some more living?
where do they come from?
why do we write them?
for therapy?
hits?
girls?
boys?
love?
personal gain?
art?
commerce?
kicks?
strokes?
fame?
rebellion?
because we have to?
because we need them to have a band?
all kinds of different motivations floating around
for every band or songwriter a different set
and at every point in their career too
maybe the reason why i don't like a lot of what i hear
comes from what i figure the writer's intent is
does it put me on some sort of musical high horse?
maybe…
i'm very lucky
that i can still keep writing because i feel like it
not to pay the mortgage
or the manager
or to put food on the table
there's no pressure on me to do it
if i don't feel the need someday
then i'll stop
if the songs stop coming
then i'll stop
one of the perks of obscurity
for the ones who've "made it"
there's an undeniable pressure to keep cranking the records out
caught up in the rock'n'roll washing machine
record - tour for income - record - tour - tour - tour - record
tour - record - tour - who can keep up that pace for too long?
the quality of the records begins to sag
no time for the writer to write
eventually it all ends in bad reviews
dropping sales
suspect records
(see the discographies of some of my favorite bands for details
the kinks and radiohead immediately come to mind)
who wrote "i'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round"?
a guy referring to bowing out of the game
exiting the rock'n'roll machine
to raise a kid
be domestic
live life without the pressure of cranking it out
and he was crucified by the press at the time
would they had rather he kept making sucky LPs like
“mind games”?
i’ve often fantasized about all the washed up horrible megastars
retiring
not dying
just bowing out
free up some space on the rock’n’roll dogpile
what if crapton
elton john
cher
ozzy
rod stewart
the who
phil collins
etc.
etc.
insert the ones you love to hate here____________
what if they just stopped churning out the bad records
over-priced tours
and stopped?
maybe opened a b and b in arkansas?
or spent all their time giving away their millions
to charity
it would be more noble than riding the ego carousel
ad nauseum
until death weeds them out
i thought this year was going to be my lowest song output
since '92
when i wrote just 8
i was wrong
i've had a song explosion since i got back from europe
maybe i just needed to do some more living?
posted by salim nourallah at 3:35 PM
1 Comments:
Good bit of writing. I agree and have thought the same things myself.
It seems that obscurity definately clarifies and exposes a person's motives in doing what they do musicially.
Some people drop out and quit their music altogether when they don't hit some sort of 'success' or recognition - they just go on to something else in life like music was never anything to them. It's like it just wasn't really "in" them if there's not some payoff.
Some alter the entire soul and character of what they are doing in order to fit someone else's desires or whatever they think will get them somewhere, and they keep desperately grabbing at anything they think will help them "make it". No integrity or true character to it.
Others keep doing what they are internally driven to do, or what comes naturally to them - even if few (or none) notice or appreciate it. Maybe no one notices because it's just horribly flawed work, or maybe it's great stuff but no one's caught it yet - either way, they keep doing it. If it's being done with heart and love then I respect it.
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