Fritzy1959
TDPRI Member
I’ve been contemplating contributing to this subject for a couple of weeks, but rather than jump straight in I thought I’d take a more considered approach. Buckle up…this could be a long one.
A little background…
Back in the 80’s I was the lead singer in a band which only played original songs (except for a particular rocked up version of My Wife The Dancer by Englebert Humperdinck…don’t ask…crazy times!). The song writing was primarily left to myself and the lead guitarist, I focused on the lyrics and the guitarist the music…the melody lines we usually worked out together. We played lots of gigs in and around Manchester England, and financed our own three track EP which we sold at gigs. (If anyone is interested it can be found on YouTube on a site called I Don’t Wanna Dance the band… Akela and the Cubs. I have nothing to do with that site I just found it when cruising the internet one day!)
Anyway I digress…after the band split (musical differences etc) I joined a covers band, when that ended I started playing acoustic covers which eventually fizzled out. For the next 25 years I did absolutely nothing….no playing no writing nothing.
Just before Christmas this year I was contacted (via Facebook) by the old drummer. His daughter had bought a record player, had played the old EP and thought it was great ! This set some wheels in motion and after much searching, what remains of the band (sadly we lost the bass player) and close friends now have regular Zoom meetings…40 years after the EP was recorded.
I was asked in one of the early meetings if I still wrote songs, the answer was a definite no…not for 40 years. The guitarist and my song writing partner was no longer interested in writing anything new so I’ve started writing on my own. I’m not a great musician, but I can get by just enough to ‘back’ myself and get my ideas down.
The writing of lyrics I find relatively easy, the musical aspects not so easy, but that hasn’t stopped me from writing 30+ songs since Christmas. Now…to quote one of my own songs here…’You gotta open up a lot of oysters, to find one beautiful Pearl’…meaning not everything you write is going to be great, but the act of writing can be both mentally stimulating and cathartic. I personally don’t believe in writers block as such…we can all write something.
I try to write every day, even if it’s just a title a line or a phrase. Some days I’ll write a whole song, other days I’ll piece together fragments I’ve previously put aside. Some days the words will just pour out of me, and I will end up going off on different tangents and I end up with verses or choruses that don’t quite fit, those will form the basis of other songs.
What I’m trying to say in all of this is…just write something, no matter how poor you think it may be, write it down and keep it, don’t discard anything. Write from your own experiences or observations…or writing something totally fictional it doesn’t matter, just write in your own voice, and don’t try to imitate anyone else.
After a 40 year hiatus I’m really enjoying the process…I’m even taking guitar lessons to try and improve my musicianship to help with chord progressions and melodies etc.
I turned 63 at the start of the year and I‘m loving it.
I’m not sure what will happen going forward, if any of these songs will ever get recorded to a decent standard, or played in a live environment, hopefully so, but if they don’t, who cares the enjoyment I’ve gained through doing this has been priceless.
Take care and good luck in your song writing exploits
A little background…
Back in the 80’s I was the lead singer in a band which only played original songs (except for a particular rocked up version of My Wife The Dancer by Englebert Humperdinck…don’t ask…crazy times!). The song writing was primarily left to myself and the lead guitarist, I focused on the lyrics and the guitarist the music…the melody lines we usually worked out together. We played lots of gigs in and around Manchester England, and financed our own three track EP which we sold at gigs. (If anyone is interested it can be found on YouTube on a site called I Don’t Wanna Dance the band… Akela and the Cubs. I have nothing to do with that site I just found it when cruising the internet one day!)
Anyway I digress…after the band split (musical differences etc) I joined a covers band, when that ended I started playing acoustic covers which eventually fizzled out. For the next 25 years I did absolutely nothing….no playing no writing nothing.
Just before Christmas this year I was contacted (via Facebook) by the old drummer. His daughter had bought a record player, had played the old EP and thought it was great ! This set some wheels in motion and after much searching, what remains of the band (sadly we lost the bass player) and close friends now have regular Zoom meetings…40 years after the EP was recorded.
I was asked in one of the early meetings if I still wrote songs, the answer was a definite no…not for 40 years. The guitarist and my song writing partner was no longer interested in writing anything new so I’ve started writing on my own. I’m not a great musician, but I can get by just enough to ‘back’ myself and get my ideas down.
The writing of lyrics I find relatively easy, the musical aspects not so easy, but that hasn’t stopped me from writing 30+ songs since Christmas. Now…to quote one of my own songs here…’You gotta open up a lot of oysters, to find one beautiful Pearl’…meaning not everything you write is going to be great, but the act of writing can be both mentally stimulating and cathartic. I personally don’t believe in writers block as such…we can all write something.
I try to write every day, even if it’s just a title a line or a phrase. Some days I’ll write a whole song, other days I’ll piece together fragments I’ve previously put aside. Some days the words will just pour out of me, and I will end up going off on different tangents and I end up with verses or choruses that don’t quite fit, those will form the basis of other songs.
What I’m trying to say in all of this is…just write something, no matter how poor you think it may be, write it down and keep it, don’t discard anything. Write from your own experiences or observations…or writing something totally fictional it doesn’t matter, just write in your own voice, and don’t try to imitate anyone else.
After a 40 year hiatus I’m really enjoying the process…I’m even taking guitar lessons to try and improve my musicianship to help with chord progressions and melodies etc.
I turned 63 at the start of the year and I‘m loving it.
I’m not sure what will happen going forward, if any of these songs will ever get recorded to a decent standard, or played in a live environment, hopefully so, but if they don’t, who cares the enjoyment I’ve gained through doing this has been priceless.
Take care and good luck in your song writing exploits
