Hmmm

[filkerdave]

Something that's been going on in my mind today thinking of the song I've been trying and failing to complete for a couple of weeks now.

Actually, it comes back to when the group of us saw My Name is Asher Lev a few weeks back. There was a line in the play about having to be honest with your art

Comments

[filkerdave]

Oh, I'm definitely telling me something.

What's interesting is my favorite of all the songs I've written was about 15 minutes from idea to completion.

It just felt so "right"

[filkerdave]

Yeah, I have a few songs I don't sing anymore because of the emotion behind them (although I'm starting to reclaim them by practicing them, when I'm by myself).

[demoneyes]

There's an old idea that sculptors don't so much create statues as discover them hidden inside the stone. For me sometimes songs are a bit like that - the song knows what it wants to be and where it wants to go; I just have to figure it out, and sometimes that can take a while.

I wrote 98% of "Three Minutes" over 2 years ago. But the back half of the second verse just wouldn't gel - it had too many lyrics for the tune segment I had, not enough to use it twice (which in any case would then be too long) and yet I didn't want to discard any. Couple of years later I finally realised I could force myself to jettison one line, swap another two around and add an extra line to the melody. Sorted. And the song said "Well, about time".

They come when they're ready. And/or when you are.

[filkerdave]

I think this one will be when I am rather than when it is.

But it's true, you can't force them.