Hello guys and gals,
Just got back from a pretty incredible weekend in Kalamazoo Michigan, meeting with the "CHILI PEPPERS" songwriting group, watching Dani Jamerson and Shelagh Brown tear up a bunch of audiences, including an outdoor festival show opening for Chris Cagle, and spending the weekend, Kayaking, staying with great friends and watching Tina fly around in a parachute guided plane, that almost went into the woods on landing. She was so light, the pilot didnt' compensate for the load and didn't stop in time betfore he ended up with his parachute in a pine tree. Luckily, Tommy martin, climed the tree (at 62 years old) and got the parachute down. Was very interesting, no one was hurt and was a great weekend.
I am pretty wiped but do want to address Phil's post here and then will fill in more tomorrow:
About "predictable' song forms, like you are talking about here Phil, yes, they hear a lot of these things all the time, and yes about everyone has them. When a song comes out like "House that Built Me", everyone will be having those same kinds of songs. And since those emotional based songs are so few and far between because they do hit so hard, they are the hardedst to get cut. It is why that particular song took nearly 13 years to get cut.
The entire subject of death in any way shape or form, or the feelings of loss, are a very tough sell, because that is not what the majority of music listeners are into. Think about where music is played. The big outdoor rock type festivals, the lakes, rivers, oceans, summer songs. Do you think these people, when there are 18,000 of them around each other drinking beer on a beach, want to hear any of those songs? Not a chance. Why do you have so many "bro country' songs? There you go.
Now on stories, and how these things get cut. You have to keep in mind a few things "behind the song" that is happening. I am not sure which song you are talking about, but basing your song on another song that is already out there is pretty much killing you dead in the water to begin with. You are far behind the curve and as a new writer, you would be turned off in the first intro, probably with a "been there, done that" kind of attitude.
I saw a biography the other night on Miranda Lambert. It showed about her childhood. Her parents had a very successful private investigative business in Texas. They were the ones who found out all the stuff on Paula jones and the Bill Clinton affair and the things that led to his impeachment in Congress. They were very good and very successful. Then the bottom dropped out in the Texas oil boom in the 90's and lost all their work, their homes their cars, everything. They had a very tough time, being homeless at times. Miranda went through a lot, including living in a very ramshackle house for most of her life.
Fast forward a few years, she is hugely successful. Her husband, Blake Shelton was playing songs he was considering for his next album and played The House that Built Me. It floored her because it was JUST LIKE HER LIFE GROWING UP! Every detail was something she had gone through. So it was as if it was written for her. It connected to her in a way that no song ever had. It became a huge hit and changed her life.
Now again, you have to look behind the song. It was written by two VERY SUCCESSFUL songwriter, Tom Douglas, and Allen Shamblin. Tom, has been a hit writer for many people for decades. Allen, has as well, but wrote one of the most performed songs in history, "I Can't Make You Love Me", by Bonnie Raitt. So that song got heard because of their other track record and their ability to stay relevant in Nashville over the past decades.
That could have just as easily been written by an unknown writer and never be heard by anyone. I cannot begin to tell you of the amount of songs like that with that kind of impact, emotional story, connection with audiences, even those that have had money and record business connections put behind them, and STILL NOT MAKE IT. That is the music business. Happens all the time.
All of that just worked. Sometimes it does, most of the time it doesn't. But even if it had not, it does not decrease the impact of that song. It is an amazingly written song.
That is what you have to strive for. Taking an existing formula, tied to something already out there, particularly a song that is in the public eye, is simply setting yourself up for failure as far as pitches. It is why this is so hard to do. It is very hard to find the ideas, the senarios. It is hard to connect with artists. To know what they want, what they need, what they don't have.
And that speaks to thatn song as well.Miranda was known for the kick butt, attitude, gunpowder and lead fired up woman song. No one thought to pitch her something like that at a time she was going through all the things she was going through. They would pitch her more of the same. She already had that.She need something different. Which is what that got. And it put her on the cover of every beauty magazine in the country. Totally changed her image.
Now, how are you going to know how to do that? In my opinion, until you sit around with young artists and find out what THEY want to say, you are not going to. I cannot stress the co-writing and the relationship factor enough. i just had to tell about fifty people at a workshop yesterday, if you are NOT writing these songs with artists, they are probably not going to get out of your living room. They are just not. I'm sorry, but that is reality.
So, you are going to have to do more leg work to find those artists and find out what they want to say. Writing on your own is fine for what it is. A building experience. But until you are translating that into reality, and that comes with working with others, it is going to be just that. An excercise.
MAB