If It Was Easy...Everyone Would Do It

Been one of those mornings where I sit down with my stack of partial songs and ideas and my mind just draws a "blank".  Writer's block...I guess that is what most people call it.  It is really frustrating but it is all part of the process I suppose.  Some people might think songwriting is easy and I hear about how 2-3 writers go into a room for 2 hours and come out with 3 new songs.  They live on a different planet than I do!!!  I LOVE the line in the movie A League of Their Own with Tom Hanks and Geena Davis.  (I'm a sucker for baseball movies anyway and always lose it at the end of "Field of Dreams" but I digress).  Tom Hanks talks about no crying in baseball and then says "It's the HARD that makes it GREAT!"  That's it for me!  I have used my rule of 80/20 for songwriting for years...that is I spend 20% of my time writing the first 80% of the song...and...I spend 80% of my time writing the last 20%.  For it is that final 20% which makes a song great!!  Always seems that we can get a killer first verse and then a killer chorus but then STOP THE TRAIN....we have to write another verse...and that verse needs to be stronger than the first verse...SECOND VERSE CURSE has reared it's ugly head.  But it is in the struggle and just plain hard work to get it exactly right....the right word for the exact meaning...the perfect melody to mirror the lyric...the story...the climax...this is what makes a GREAT SONG!!  I think one of the mistakes many songwriters make is to give in to the frustration and just do something to "finish" a song.  The song may be "good" but when you just "finish" a song to finish it, it very seldom turns out to be a "great" song. 

So for today I'll put my guitar away and come back tomorrow with an open mind, more ideas, and a better attitude and who knows...maybe that "magic" will happen where the words come and it all makes sense and comes together and hopefully a new "great" song is born.  Given that it is below zero outside maybe my brain is just froze up today LOLOL. 

Y'all have a great day and remember...Write more and whine less!! :)

Brink