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Why do we post our songs?

I think what most of us want from posting our songs is a "soft-critiquing experience" --not unlike what you get when you play a new song in public. Some people will like it..but if not enough people like it, then you look closer and then maybe change it. But note: we tend to "own" the changes we make and not allow the possibility that someone's idea might be good. This is especially true if the person with the idea presents it in a way that puts us on the defensive..which brings me to..

Rob..this is just my opinion..but I believe there are NO songwriting/story-telling rules that are iron clad like the rules of mathematics. Every songwriting rule, hell, every music theory rule, is created in HINDSITE by giving examples of how composers/lyricists deal with various musical/lyrical problems in their particular era..and how, if you travel through the time-line, the problems and problem solving changes over time..things against the rules in 1840 are fine in 1940, for example..

If we site a "rule" as to why something doesn't work in a song, we are doing things all backwards. The best we can do is say "this doesn't work for me" and then give reasons why. Then given enough feedback, the songwriter can decide for himself/herself. So consider that maybe it's your presentation that kindled defensiveness, and then "off topic talk" that was subconciously trying to diffuse things... Please don't treat songwriting or story-telling "rules" like fundamentalists of various creeds treat their particular texts..

I have been away, been busy..and I am not back except for this post..then I'm gone again for awhile as I'm still really busy..but I left with this koan haunting my brain..I wanted to know what was motivating me, because I can have "complicated" reactions to criticisms about my work, and that forced me to deal with this bit of self-knowledge that's been eluding me since I joined here.

I mean, I SAY I want honest feedback, and then when I get it, it can hurt, and I sometimes then watch as I get defensive and then react in an ugly way..I really REALLY don't like seeing myself get ugly, and try to avoid it at all costs..I'm neurotic like that, living a life of "avoidance" at times..but if I'm feeling ugly and then just letting it fester, out of avoidance, that's probably worse, lol..the secret, for me at least, is learning how to "let go" of these things, cuz as a friend recently reminded me, "in the bigger picture, how important is this stuff?"

Learning to communicate effectively is an ongoing process for most. I am still learning how to do this. I have a strong desire to get better at it, and I can go weeks feeling depressed after I say something inflammatory, and even longer if something like that is said to me..and so there's that Skinnerian desire to avoid that kind of pain that fuels the desire to communicate better as well..

Floyd, I think it's a bit disingenuous to say it would need to be an 8 minute song. You know that a word or two, properly placed might do the trick. And to have to say that "everything I did was thought out" doesn't rule out the possibility that some people still won't find your story lacking, thought out or not. Personally, I enjoyed the song but the reveal of it possibly being the son was not satisfying to me. It did seem to come out of nowhere. But change it and give foreshadowing, some folks, I'm sure, would say "I knew the son was gonna kill the dad early on"

But if you come to the conclusion that there's possibily a more satisfying ending to your song, I'm sure it could be a fun challenge for you, threading that needle so that motivation is given, but the conclusion not given away..and I bet it wouldn't take a lot of words to do it. Just maybe a properly placed adjective, or a line or two.

I am just starting a series on TV called "The Sinner" --starting with the first season, and in the first minutes of the first episode, Jessica Biel's character kills a total stranger, a man, on the beach..and then next 8 eposides work to create an understanding of her, psychological and otherwise, because that is what drives much story-telling, at least in today's world. Motivation. We crave it! We'll watch 8 episodes of mostly back story so we can understand why she did it!

But a good story-song is, to me, like "pitching a story in four minutes or less, in verse and rhyme" When screenwriters pitch their TV series', they use broad strokes delivered passionately and quickly, in the hopes the TV exec gets swept up in their vision before boredom sets in.

And in this day and age of rapid change and uncertainty over our futures, understanding a character's motivations can help us feel just a tad more grounded.....overstated? Yeah, probably, LOL..forgive me that..

but character motivation is important..

and how we talk to eachother is so damn important in regards being able to "hear" each other..

and (I bet) we are ALL more sensitive than we care to show in our public personas...

Mike