This week’s post touches on a painful subject – cutting things that I really like from a song.  This is particularly important in songwriting because it’s such a compressed form.  Three or four minutes give you very little time to wander around and still be effective!  So the cold-blooded willingness to cut becomes a premium part of a songwriter’s skill set.

There are always bits of songs that I get particularly attached to while I’m writing.  Sometimes more so than I realize… I’m telling myself that I’m leaving something in because it’s a perfect melody, line, or even chord change… But then at some point I realize and admit to myself, sometimes very gradually, that this particular line, phrase, or verse is not serving the whole song anymore – even though it might be the thing that actually started the song.

I’ve realized that this letting go can be a good feeling too.  There really isn’t a grieving process necessary here!  As in life, once I finally admit the truth, it’s a relief to let go of something that’s not really working anymore.

The song usually has a main point; what I call a ‘central unifying idea’ – it’s usually the Title and/or the Chorus.  Making that work, really pay off, needs to take precedence over any cleverness, cuteness, ‘wisdom’, other points I want to make, etc.

This obviously works very differently for different writers.  There is, as always, no formula or rules.  Some writers can cast a very wide net around their central idea.  Some keep an extremely tight focus.  Most are  somewhere in between.  But I think every writer goes through the experience of feeling that something’s not working and being reluctant to let that thing go.

For me, ideally everything I write needs to be up for grabs – for revision, for improvement… for deletion.  Occasionally something that doesn’t seem to belong insists on staying – I just feel it’s important enough to stretch the main idea for.  But I wouldn’t make a habit of this.  I do believe that a big part of the writer’s ‘game’ is knowing when to hang on and when to let go.  And, since everyone’s approach to that quandary is going to be different, only experience teaches (what else is new?).

And, since every song is hand-made – not off-the-rack – I’ve got to figure it out anew each time.  But that’s the challenge; that’s the fun of it too.

“I start drawing, and eventually the characters involve themselves in a situation. Then in the end I go back and try to cut out most of the preachments.” – Dr. Seuss

“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.” – Yogi Berra