JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum CO Writing or Alone...?

An interesting thread.

Ramble Alert:

Without co-writes, I'd have no songs at all. I write my lyrics in isolation, but for music & vocals, I need other people.

I'm lucky to have co-written a number of songs with several fine musicians/vocalists over the past 6 years or so, including here on JPF.

Meanwhile, I've whittled my collaborators down to mainly two: one in England, the other in Scotland. One doesn't have a knack for words, but is an amazingly skilled musician/composer/arranger, and has an uncanny gift for creating music that's invariably a perfect match for the lyric. (Not just mine, but lyrics of others as well.)

The other collaborator is likewise gifted, but also writes lyrics, so has a good sense of linguistic nuance.
I'm always open to suggestions from him, especially the way in which the words/lines need to roll off the tongue. (In fact, whenever I write a lyric, I sing it to myself several times. Certain lines/words are invariably changed and rearranged so that the lyric is as tight as possible, to make things easy for my co-writer.)

(I occasionally contribute a melody as well.)

Of course, there've been a handful of co-write failures (not with the two mentioned above) for diverse reasons, but that's part of the learning process.

I once had unrealistic hopes of my songs being 'heard'. For me now, it's all about the joy of creating. The fun (and the therapeutic benefits ). I'd like to think that anyone who does hear a song of mine and my co-writers will be a little the richer for it, in terms of enjoyment A few songs are on CDs (online bands I've worked with) and on sites like Reverbnation, and some of them are played live. Heck, I even had my 15 minutes of fame a few years ago when a song featured in an episode of a TV show. But that's it. And I'm neither hoping for nor expecting more.

I simply love playing with words, meeting the challenge of writing in various genres, overcoming barriers, expressing things in a way that might resonate with others, that might touch them. One human being to another.

Maybe after I topple from my perch, my grandkids will 'discover' lyrics and songs of mine scattered all around the ether, and will set about trying to find a home for them. Well, good luck with that.

Donna