And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near, as it were your own?
It's a hand-me-down. The thoughts are broken.
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air.
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
"Ripple" - Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia - The Grateful Dead
I’ve been thinking about the experience of writing songs--which I have only done a few times in my life a long time ago. One friend I know launched passionately into a major period of songwriting recenty, inspired to go actually arrange and make a recording in Nashville. I’ve seen M launch into lengthy, intricate guitar riffs that are completely improvisational. I’ve known many friends through the years who have written music. The other night my brother-in-law played a Beatlesque tune on my back porch that was so good I was trying to dredge up the memory that would tell me which 60’s band recorded it when, only to learn that it was an original.
I myself wrote three songs (that I remember) earlier in my life. They came to me out of the blue and almost fully formed with only some lyric tweaking needed, and it was like a small miracle each time. Writing songs is magical.
I just finished reading an autobiography called “Life” by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. The book was aptly named since it is remarkable that Keith is still among the living after his colorful career immersed in blues, rock and roll, and every drug you can name. The book is surprisingly detailed and insightful and has some special treats for guitarists since he talks about his discovery of open G tuning as well as his early and electrifying (literally) experiences with amps and sound systems.
Keith has this to say about song writing: “What is it that makes you want to write songs. In a way you want to stretch yourself into other people’s hearts. You want to plant yourself there, or at least get a resonance, where other people become a bigger instrument than the one you’re playing. It becomes almost an obsession to touch other people. To write a song that is remembered and taken to heart is a connection, a touching of bases. A thread that runs through all of us. A stab to the heart. Sometimes I think songwriting is about tightening the heartstrings as much as possible without bringing on a heart attack.”
Keith talks at one point in the book about the search for the holy grail of the lost chord--many songs have been sung about that one. Especially interesting to me are the great songs about songwriting, like The Grateful Dead’s “Ripple” quoted above, and of course, Leonard Cohen’s oft-covered “Hallelujah” which also speaks of that elusive chord:
I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift,
The baffled King composing Hallelujah.
Hallelujah indeed to all the great songwriters of the world, known and unknown but all appreciated.
