Writing Songs
Below is some notes I wrote earlier as a free-write. I haven’t edited at all so below is as they hit the paper. I didin’t give any thought to who I was going to write about but Bruce Springsteen, Noel Gallagher and Bob Dylan came straight to mind. This makes sense as these guys are who I aspire to when writing songs. More so than others I love like Tom Waits, Neil Young and even Sir Paul McCartney. With Bruce, Noel and Bob I feel the soul of the songs most. Waits to me, is on another plane on which I cannot stand. Young is awesome but his demeanour and substance don’t equate with mine as much as I like a lot of his songs. Sir Paul is the ultimate. I aspire to be like Paul McCartney in that he unifies people but he did so as a Beatle and they were a unit and without John, Ringo and George he doesn’t hold the same influence over me as my chosen three. Read on…
I WANT TO BE like Bruce and sing about being a guy, breaking free of chains, railing against the man, giving others a voice, speaking out against the evil that men do. I want to write songs with soul, heart and passion; love hurt and anger.
I WANT TO BE like Noel and write songs which deal with bigger pictures; spiritual and otherwise. Write songs about ordinary life conflicting with the surrounding world in a tone that is always optimistic yet melancholy and never condescending.
I WANT TO WRITE like Bob and be able to say the first thing that comes to mind even if it means nothing, but I’ll know it means everything. The joy will be in others trying to find out. And conjure songs of epic proportion, which are played solely on an acoustic guitar.
Most of all I want to be myself in the process of trying to be like others.
