Young Songwriters Biggest Mistake?
What do you think is the biggest misconception or mistake of young songwriters? A question asked of Tom Russell, veteran songwriter:
(Laughs.) I could go on and on. At South By Southwest, I wasn't there, but Little Steven got up and made this speech. People asked me if I wrote it for him. He said: You people come from all over the world, and you're all trying to network your way to fame. None of you young songwriters are doing your homework. You're not learning other people's songs, staying home and learning the craft. You're not playing bars for 10 or 15 years, paying your dues. And that's true. When Dylan came to New York, and he's the supreme example, none of these people will top that catalogue, he knew a thousand songs. He could steal from Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie, and he could play blues. He came through that scene very fast because of the homework he'd done. You could say genius, but he did a lot of hard work. We've made it very hard for young songwriters, with these stupid bullshit conferences, South By Southwest, Folk Alliance, Songwriter Magazine. There's this idea
that there are gimmicks, tools, networking that can help you. But they haven't helped anybody. They've limited people. The Beatles had four tracks and a guitar. All this science, this introspective look at songwriting, it's put hobbles on songwriters. It was a heavy scene that Dylan and Cohen went through. Fred Neil, Tim Hardin, those guys, were in the Navy and Marines, and had been exposed to hard drugs. By the time they hit the scene they were adults, they had character. You don't run into that type of kid anymore.
just received this in an email and I thought it would make a really good topic. Little Steven from Springsteen’s band evidently made these comments and Tom Russell quoted them. The full article is on that website.
He does have a point, tho the dissing of the conferences could only be made by someone who is already famous. No matter how good a songwriter you are, people have to hear your songs to know that. Dylan, et al, came up through that NYC scene, because there was a real scene there. A scene that was supported by the media and by the public. That scene does not exist anymore, so networking and getting your music around has to be done differently, and I suggest to you that going to these conferences and playing for your peers as well as the hundreds of venue people that show up will give you a chance to expose your music, be exposed to other music, compare your work to others to see how you are doing, and get some work, if you are good enough.
Some people take exception to the idea of comparing your self to others, but comparing yourself to how you were doing two years ago will only give you a gauge of you now verses you then. A good thing to know, but when you hear a truly great singer, guitar player, songwriter, etc, you are impacted and you learn from it and you have to compare yourself and your work to that level. And it is a competition…not a fair one, I’ll grant you. There are far too many mediocre talents in our industry that are celebrated for me to pretend that if you do the work and have the talent you are guaranteed a first class seat. Not always the case in terms of popular acceptance, but in terms of artistic satisfaction, absolutely.
After a certain level, you are only getting better for yourself. Only other devoted players are going to appreciate what you had to do to get there. Unless you get SO there that you are Chet Atkins and everyone can hear it, no matter who they are. And that being said, there are many people for whom Chet’ s unbelievable playing just doesn’t do it for them.
Though it is wonderful to get the support, you cannot trust the majority in this regard.
What Little Steven said about getting some life experience I have to agree with totally. You get some scars, some knocks, some pain, you end up creating stuff with more depth and hopefully more resonance.
james lee stanley
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Reader Comments (5)
Great post, James….your last paragraph encapsulates the whole idea. You can certainly hear the scars, knocks and pains—the good, the badly, and the ugly in the likes of Dylan, Cohen, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce and other seasoned writer’s lyrics, certainly including yourself.
Max
i don't get this "You aint one of us unless you have put in the same hard graft as us"- i think it is entirely possible for someone to craft songs, reflecting their own situation, without having to copy someone elses patterns, and also it probably avoids the situation of having loads and loads of songs that sound like other songs! Come on! Stop being grumpy old farts!
Judge a song by its impact on you, not on whether its writer has followed what you guys seem to think is an appropriate apprenticeship!
rich.
rich, thanks for the post. yes it is entirely possible for someone to, on their own, invent the wheel. but if history has gone to all the trouble to invent it, it makes no sense to not take advantage of it. i think what little steven was talking about was the fact that before dylan wrote any of his songs, he learned all the great songs he could find. learning songs gives you a window into their shape, form, perhaps how they are so compelling.
then if you have any talent, you go from there. it's like climbing the mountain (learning from the greats) and then when you are at the top, leaping off and finding your own way of flying.
and i must admit, that while i certainly experience flatulence and eructation, i don't feel too grumpy.
all the best,
Young songwriters should definitely take time to LEARN THE CRAFT. Once you learn the craft of songwriting, then the ART of songwriting can kick in. Rules can be broken. For instance, "If You Could Read My Mind" (Lightfoot) doesn't even have a chorus, and yet it has been successfully covered hundreds of times. But that is the exception, even for that particular writer. I do take issue with some of these writer conferences because I have seen budding writers have their confidence totally smashed to smithereens by some arrogant, ham-handed "expert" who happened to be a cowriter on a hit song way back when and never got over it. Ideas are fragile little things and should not be exposed to the light of day before they are somewhat developed. Choose your critics carefully!
I also agree with the above statement (I think I saw it there somewhere!)that young writers would do well to learn some cover tunes. Learn what has worked for others. You don't have to copy them, but the good stuff you learn will leak out into your own creations.
Finally, write what you know. One of the reasons that country music just doesn't do it for me these days is that there are so many 18 and 20 year olds singing about stuff that they could not possibly have experienced or know anything about. If all you know about is your high school sweetheart, write about it. There have been lots of great songs dug out of that goldmine! As you mature, so will your songwriting.
good solid advice kevin. thanks for the post. and yes, at songwriting conferences you can get a person who doesn't understand the difference between nurturing advice and lethal advice. the fact is that the process is still mysterious and unpredictable, otherwise we'd all write fantastic songs every time. NOBODY does.