Most Of It Is Crap

When I set out to write a new song, most of it is crap. It really is. I think most musicians will know what I'm talking about when I say that, by the time they stumble onto something they like and plan to keep, they've tried a bunch of shit that will never be heard.  (Unless drunk... in a room... with a friend or two -- that tends to be the setting for the resurfacing of the mediocre).  But when I'm writing something, I'll tend to have four or five co-existing, untitled, unfinished Word documents full of different ideas. These little half-assed brigades of the cliché and overcompensating.  Really though, how many different ways can someone write "I'll love you whether you like it or not"?  When that workable material finally finds its ways through your fingers, though, it's not about finding new ways to say the old. It's about finding the thread of thought strong enough and consistent enough to tell a simple story.  That's when you commit, dive in, and swim around in the deep end that feeling.  If you were body surfing, you're going to have a lot of "oh I've got this one, I've got this one!... Never mind, next one, next one."  It's a lot like finding that wave to carry you. A good one will crash you into the sand and make you want to do it again and again. You finish writing something you like and you should be mentally, emotionally, personally exhausted but want nothing more than to start back at the top and play it again. Lately, I've had waves in droves and it's been a particularly spaghetti-on-the-wall week of new songs, so we'll see how it goes and if I decide to keep any of them.

d.