Yesterday, I was driving around with my two year old daughter Emily, when we passed a man sitting beside an exit on the Interstate. It was raining and he was trying to hitch a ride to somewhere better than the wet side of the road. As I passed, our eyes locked and for some reason I felt a tremendous sadness for him. I would have stopped for him if Emily hadn’t been with me.
I wondered why a man would want to lead a life like that, passing from town to town, always on the hunt for food and shelter, never knowing if he is going to get either. What passions does he have? What keeps him going? Was his heart broken to the point that he just had to hit the road or is he just down on his luck? Or frankly, is he just one of those people that chooses to be alone without the constraints imposed by society. I will probably never know.
What I do know is that I connected for just a moment with another human being. The look in his face and the sadness in his eyes told me a story. Like I said, it may not be the real story, but life seldom gives you the truth from the start. You have to work and dig and prod and cultivate life before it reveals what it knows.
The same is true for songwriting. I have seen so many people write what they believe is a great song, and then try to convince themselves it couldn’t be better. “It doesn’t need more work,” they say. “It’s good enough on its own the way I wrote it. I think we all do this from time to time, but it’s the writers that do this constantly that I am addressing.
Like the man on the side of the road from my story above, every song has a story all its own and it only wants to tell you the quick version. It may be a good story, but even good stories can be better if you are willing to work.
I’m sure you have at one time or another, seen a film and thought to yourself, ” That could have been so much better if only they would have…(put improvement here)” You feel like the author let you down by not following through with just a little more work. Your song is the same way.
Let’s be truthful with ourselves for a moment. You instinctively know when your work is lacking something. And if you know it, everyone will know it. So with that in mind, just remember to work your songs until you are really satisfied, then take a break for a while and come back to it. You may find that there are even more good changes to be made.
And now for the favor. I need a songwriting partner. I have come to a place where I feel that another set of eyes and perspective can only make my work better. If you are interested, please email me at jim@jimbrowning.com. We’ll get together and give it a go.
Until we meet again..keep the pen to paper.