A Nod to Bob

The music news is full of tributes to Bob Dylan as he turns 70 on this very day and with a current catalogue of over 500 songs, and 34 albums we have a lot of great songs to be thankful for over his 70 years.

You may not like his voice, or some of his live performances, but I am confident everyone will have a favourite Dylan song, if not sung by the man himself, a cover version by one of the thousands of artist who have interpreted his songs over the years.

One of my own favourite cover versions is by Eliza Gilkyson singing Love Minus Zero/No Limits and With God on Our Side, sung in French by Hart-Rouge both outstanding examples of the power of the Dylan cover song and both found on the Nod to Bob 60th Birthday tribute album. (A Nod to Bob 2 the 70th Tribute album is just out)

Whilst his songs are often attributed to a moment in time e.g 'Blowin in The Wind'  'The Times They Are a-Changing' they more often than not transcend time and can be equally poignant across the decades. This for me is what makes a great song.

I suspect it's every songwriter's dream to write a song that lasts forever (it is mine), and Bob Dylan certainly has given us fair number of those, now i just wonder what he wants for his birthday?

Still Wearing Jeans

I borrowed my dad's car recently and to break from the monotony of the road I chanced a listen to what ever was in the cd player. On this occasion it was a pleasant surprise - Don Williams, which has been a staple for in car journeys with my dad ever since I was a kid. As such i know all the the songs and the words.

His song Amanda was getting played and the line 'Im proud and 30 and still wearing jeans' sent a shiver down my spine. I was instantly transported back to a childhood memory of me looking at Don's lp covers with him wearing jeans, denim jacket and cowboy hat and thinking that 30 was a long way off and how old he was. needless to say im now over 30 and proudly wearing jeans.

Sideburns with Don

Born To Be Wide - Music Publishing

Last night I attended a Born to Be Wide event on Music Publishing in Edinburgh which offered to explain the black art of music publishing.

Whilst this event was geared towards music publishers, I still think it very useful to have an understanding of how they work so as a songwriter you can work with them.

A packed venue showed how important a stream of income this was becoming in the music business, especially in light of new modern technologies. With this enthusiasm for publishing came words of warning from all the panel. There are lots of horror stories where people have in their eagerness to publish, have signed away their rights, or signed deals that could even cost them money, so legal advice is invaluable when entering into publishing contracts.

In one sited example someone had signed away there next 15 years of publishing for £3000.

From a performing songwriters point of view the no.1 one thing to do to gain the attention of publishers etc was to build an audience for your music so that your music becomes a commercial product with a market place.

It was also clear that fast food pop music culture with little substance but consumed en by the publics such as shows like the x factor created a demand for this kind of music by music publishers etc. So one way in gaining an income from your songs would be to write commercial pop music for the types of wannabes on the x factor.

For those of us that don’t do this, the road is not completely blocked but it certainly seems to be long, narrow and hard going- but that in itself is songwriting material.

Guest Speakers included.

Murray Buchanan - Lawyer

David Mcginnis – Mute Songs

Paul Shedden – Shed Publishing

Paul Harris – A&R Reverb XL Publishing

And representatives from The Music Publishers Association.

 

Songwriting & The Number 38 Bus

I have been that busy with getting stuff together for the new album I had lost focus on writing new songs. I was aware that I hadn’t come up with anything constructive since 2008 which being last year was far to long.

So over the last week or so i made a concerted effort to open my songwriting book and to get creative. Initially this resulted in me staring at a blank page on my songwriting book for a while (See 21st January photo)

Songwriting is a black art. There is no guaranteed way in allowing it to happen. It’s not a case setting aside 15mins to write a song, although in some times that’s all it takes. I wrote ‘Sway’ in about 15mins at around 11.30pm but other songs such as ‘Skin’ come together over a number of months.

It is important for me not to force the process. I have to be ready with pen and paper and in my case guitar as well in order to catch the song as it happens. If anything is missing it could be gone for ever.

Reading about other writers techniques and struggles helps to reassure me that I am not the only one that finds the process very difficult. David Bowie famously cuts out words from newspapers and magazines and then mixes them all up in a bowl, which could be quite amusing depending which section of the paper you use. Obituaries? Lonely Hearts? Pets?

Recently, I have been using my phone for capturing song titles and even snippets of guitar ideas – the problem being I got absolutely soaked at the weekend and the pocket my phone was in filled up with water rendering my phone useless. Hopefully these ideas can be salvaged and all is not lost. That’ll teach me for abandoning my notebook.

My favourite place for writing songs at the moment is in my kitchen. This has several advantages –it has close access to the fridge and the kettle, and it also helps with enclosing the sound so as not to disturb the neighbours too much. So the other night I set myself up in the kitchen with coffee, guitar, pen and paper and stared at 1 verse I had scribbled down earlier in the week. After playing the riff and going over the same verse again and again for about an hour, all of a sudden a flood of lyrics came to me and I finished the song. I then turned the page and got a good way through another new song. Whether these songs will see the light of day is another issue but it felt like a great achievement and i set off on my 2009 songwriting journey.

Songwriting seems to be much like public transport - you can spend all day waiting on the number 38 Bus and then 2 come along at once.

If anyone has any interesting songwriting tips or thoughts on how the process can be improved please leave me a comments.

Some good ideas can be found on the bbc web site www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/guide/