Comments on: It’s Usually Good To Know What Your Song’s About

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 05:00:34 +0000

In reply to Joyce Rogers.

Yes… then there’s that!
Thanks,
Tony

By: Joyce Rogers

Joyce Rogers — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 16:24:05 +0000

Often I know what I want to say but no one seems to understand…..

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 03:38:49 +0000

In reply to Jon Gordon.

I once was in a group of 5 people who had to write 156 songs in something like 6 weeks… so I feel your pain. Remind me to tell you about it sometime…
Thanks,
TC

By: Jon Gordon

Jon Gordon — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 03:23:44 +0000

In reply to Tony Conniff.

Oh, nothing to defend, and you did say ‘usually”! Doing these production albums where I have to write 12 songs at a clip in specific genres has forced me to try all kinds of different ways to get something written. I thought borrowing some random person’s tattoo was pretty good – but also a sign of the desperation that tends to occur towards the end of these projects!
Cheers,
Jon

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 07:08:55 +0000

In reply to Aidan laird.

Thank you, Aldan!
Best wishes,
Tony

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 07:07:52 +0000

In reply to Jon Gordon.

Great ideas, Jon. In my own defense, I did say ‘Usually’ in the title, and there are many qualifiers throughout the post. There’s no one type of good song, or one way (or any proven way, for that matter!) to write one.
This definitely applies: http://tonyconniff.com/songs-like-art-can-range-from-realism-to-abstraction/
Best wishes,
Tony

By: Aidan laird

Aidan laird — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 12:45:43 +0000

Somtimes the tune comes first, but you always have to have a theme for the song for it to make sense even if its only for your self to make sense of it, brilliant article by the way tony

By: Jon Gordon

Jon Gordon — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 04:02:10 +0000

Hi Tony:
Definitely a thought-provoking article. But I keep trying to reconcile it with my feeling that some of the most evocative songs have enough ambiguity in them to give the listener a canvas onto which he/she can project their own personal meanings.
Maybe it’s important to know what you are writing about, but also to control exactly what, and how much of that is revealed in the lyric.
Another possible technique is to be in a peak emotional state, write whatever, and later come back and think about how what you wrote relates to what you were experiencing. It usually does but sometimes in abstract and interesting ways.
I just finished writing and recording a set of 12 songs from scratch – a harrowing, but ultimately rewarding experience. Some of the techniques I used:
Take a song that you like and write a response to it: I used a very popular song where the protagonist is valiantly trying to contact and make peace with an ex-lover, but is getting no response. So I wrote from the perspective of the ex-lover, and imagined that the peacemaking attempts were perceived as stalking, or at best too little, too late.
Find an interesting quotation and build on it: I happened to notice someone’s tattoo on a train. The tattoo was an interesting slogan. So I just started there – paraphrased it and built out into a gently inspirational song.
Free associate while in an emotional state and re-examine later: I noticed that two songs on the album ended up using similar images of floating away into the sky. I knew initially that floating away symbolized the end of a relationship. But when I circled back, it was clear that it had a double meaning and also symbolized death.
I guess I’m saying that songs with a clear story and meaning are great, but that’s not the only way for songs to be, and that the meaning may be clear to the writer, but there can be an art to how much is revealed.