 |
| Read Between The Lines (Out Now) |
I
always had quite a mixed view of Sting. I mean I loved some of the early Police
stuff, but later in his career I just found myself losing interest. So when I
got my weekly Ted Talk Email telling me of a Talk by Sting about songwriting, I
was not as excited about it as I perhaps should have been. But still
reluctantly I pressed play. For the next 24 minutes I was mesmerized. He put
into words so many things I have gone through in my songwriting.
As
a songwriter it is so easy just write kind of self-absorbed songs about your
own emotional turmoil, things you struggle in your life. It takes some maturity
to remove yourself from the songs, to become an outside observer of life and
how it treats us all. And amazingly when you start writing stories about
others, you suddenly find yourself in the songs again. But somehow you manage
to do it in a much more honest way. You don’t vent your own misery; you inject
true life experience into a character in your song.
As
I write this, it is the day before my second solo album comes out and I am in a
middle of working on the third one. I have definitely moved more and more
towards story songs’ and even when I listen to other artists songs, I lose
interest as soon as I get that “self-centered’ emotion flow not really saying
anything but wallowing in self-pity” monologue.
So
I challenge you my fellow songwriters, to tell more stories in your songs. Oh
yeah, and hit that play button on the Stings Ted Talk, it is fantastic!
The author J.P. Kallio is a singer / songwriter / coffee
Follow Global Texan Chronicles
No comments:
Post a Comment