One of the things that I’ve heard the legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb say is that, in at least one way, Songwriting is like football: The last few yards can be the hardest.

In football, once you’re in the red zone, every inch to the goal line is a dogfight. It’s easy to let up and take a field goal. Sometimes the only thing that gets a player or a team into the end zone is the desire and the will, a refusal to be stopped.

Similarly (if I may continue to paraphrase and extend JW’s remarks), in Songwriting it’s very hard to take a song ALL THE WAY to completion. If you don’t, unlike in football, most people won’t notice.

When you’re writing, no one cares – or knows – but you! It often comes down to pride in craftsmanship and your commitment to make it as good as you can make it.

But when you listen to songwriters who do take it all the way, who don’t just say, ‘that’s good/close enough”… the difference is noticeable. And from this commitment, a writer’s ability and craftsmanship builds up, song by song.

That’s noticeable too; both for the writer – in the control he or she has over their tools, and for the listener – in the clarity and overall quality of the work that’s produced.

A Jimmy Webb classic, performed by the great Glen Campbell (and check out the baritone guitar solo!) –