I can wrap my head around most things. Jeenyis IQ, ya I got all that.
What I definitely do NOT have, is the SLIGHTEST idea how to go about creating a song. Lyrics? Yeah, I got that too… I can write lyrics all day. Lyrics are words, I can wheel and deal in words.
I honestly though, can’t even fathom how to go about beginning to make a new song.
How to start? I don’t think I’ve ever ONCE had a novel tune pop into my head. Just never happened.
Do musicians just have a tune stick in their head that they can’t get rid of – and they write it down or practice it until it all comes together?
I can’t relate to that on any level. I can’t string together 10 notes that would sound good to me or anyone else. Why is that? I’m musically challenged, obviously. But, WHY? I can do a hell of a lot of stuff. I can create businesses, poems, books, responses to arguments, create fiction out of thin air…
Why then can’t I create a simple song?
What brought all this on in the first place, was Placebo. You can look in the right side column there and find a Placebo song that is pure magic. It’s scary how fuckingood that song is.
Then today I remember the B-52s. They were great back in the day – 1985 in the Air Force dorms on Hickam AFB, Oahu, Hawaii. We had some wall shaking parties blasting that stuff… along with The Cars, English Beat, etc.
Just now as I found it, I almost didn’t watch the video for “Rock Lobster”.
That song was just off the fucking hook back then – and a favorite of all time. I don’t remember ever seeing a video for it – and was pretty sure I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to taint any good vibes in my head about that song… it’s like a diamond waiting there for when I want to remember some of the ultimate times of my youth.
I clicked the video anyway.
I’m still trying to come to grips with how in the HELL they made that song all go together like that.
A masterpiece, pure and simple… but, beyond me. Well beyond me.
Cheers to those that can make the songs that make me scream inside. Nothing really affects me like some music does… it makes my whole insides jump up and down in a raging madhouse inside, but on the outside I”m somehow containing it – for the most part I mean.
I’m just sitting here watching this video over and over… and wondering – how in the WORLD did they create a song like that?
Photo copyright Alterna2′s at Flickr.com
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Personally, I don’t do songs much anymore, but when I did, it was really just screwing around until something happened (which sums up quite a bit of my life).
Usually, I’d find a phrase or concept I liked. Some days I’d sit down and write down a bunch of titles I’d like to use, or just words that struck me (I still have a long list of those).
I made a point to never, ever use a “novel tune” that popped into my head, because those always turned out to be something I’d heard but hadn’t remembered hearing. My biggest problem with songwriting was that it was SO easy to plagiarise, and it would be genuinely accidental. I have so many melodies in my head it’s hard to come up with something original.
So what I usually did was write a couple lines, then sit there and honestly just start making sounds. (Of course, I’ve been pretty much totally immersed in music since I could register tones, so improvisation is something I’ve done for fun all my life.) I’d talk to myself a lot, criticising a certain note, trying to move it up or down and figure out which sounded better. My best melodies were total accidents, because my “creative process” was pretty much “try every note I can until one sounds right.”
Using the keyboard helped sometimes – it made it easier to figure out where I might want to go with the tune – but often I just had to make a lot of noise until something sounded right.
Which is why a lot of it is crap.
I or Mom sent you some of the stuff I did, right? I don’t remember. I had an email list of people I asked for critique or advice (or sometimes just begged for validation), but I don’t really remember who was on it.
Excellent! Thanks for writing out the process you go through. I couldn’t do it – but, seeing how you do it makes it more tangible and not as magical as I dreamed it up to be. One of you or both sent me about 3 songs. I loved them. Could always be happy to get MORE! Best of life MH.