so, is it easy to write a song?

[nowmedical]

So here we all are, in awe of BB and HD. I find new pleasure every time I put on a BB-HD CD - dig out Hasbrook Heights of you don't know what I mean.

But how easy is it to write songs? Has any one tried? How long does it take - an hour, a day, a week?

I can play the piano a bit, I'm not bad (I can do a mean One Less Bell To Answer), but I wouldn't know how to start writing a song!

[someonenameddavid]

John Updike, the author, has a quote about writing novels: "It's easy to write, you just stare at a blank sheet of paper and concentrate until you begin to sweat blood".

It may be easy to write a song, but to write a good song, not so and to write a good song that doesn't plagiarize, consciously or unconsciously, even harder. Then add meaningful and commercial... and then consistently over a period of forty years. You begin to focus in on why there are so few people who can do that.
I once, as a child was walking down the street and I began to whistle a tune, and thought it was a pretty good tune, and proud of myself that I had made it up. I later found out that I was whistling "Finlandia" by Jean Sibelius... I had probably heard it sometime before and it had arisen in my conscious self... music does that. That's what makes it vital.

Non-musicians (that's me) seldom have a good grasp of the depth of commitment that it takes to become a truly professional musician (seen it happen first hand).
When the desire and talent meet discipline and commitment, and it is leavened with genius, then something happens. It takes about as much commitment to become a first class orchestral player as it does to become, for arguments sake, a physician. To create de novo is a step further. Probably most musicians seek to do that. Burt's band manager and keyboard player, Rob Shrock is a case in point: he creates and nurtures new talent, writes and arranges- he is highly talented. Now is the difference between him and Burt just a series of lucky breaks and being in the right place at the right time? I wish him great success in his career, but for the moment I think the difference is in Burt's Genius in expressing the spirit of the culture... the Zeitgeist (if you were a German philosopher... literally the spirit of the day).( but props to Rob if you are reading this)

There are precious few Burts: but if we don't keep trying to write songs, to express ourselves beyond mere words we are at a loss in our humanity.
I heard a powerful new song by someone close to me recently, which left me speechless and thoughtful. I played it to one of my co-workers and she felt that it gave voice to her pain from a recently failed relationship. The singer was able to express herself, and at the same time resonate with a universal truth. It was a good song, had harmony, melody, rhythm (needs to be remastered...) I hope it gets published.

It served as a complete contrast to rap (probably preaching to the choir on this forum) Rap is the primal scream of anger (IMHO) and is the dominance of rhythm at the expense of all else. It lacks balance, beauty and musicality: it is the ultimate existential void: like the poet who writes in English and cannot express what he means and ends up in another language.

I'm rambling... anyway feel free to shoot me down in flames
regards, david

[steveo_1965]

most basic outlines for a song are written within a day
as little as 15 minutes to a few hours..then comes the refinement...which could take a week or more....

Steveo