Now, I know I’m an unrepentant fanboy but JoCo just won SongFu. His final song in the comp was another tune designed to reduce JG to tears (Hey, Laika deserved better and Bowie’s worth a quote anytime!). The thing is, after years discarding literally hundreds of tunes or riffs I’ve written because they vaguely remind me of something, Coulton is teaching me that song writing is a craft as much as an art. Yes inspiration is part of it, but so is hard work, technique, and an acceptance that there are only so many chords and notes and occasionally a good idea might sound a wee bit like something that’s gone before. Look forward to my rock opera based on the work of Max Bygraves!
Songwriting is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, as someone once said. As far as trying not to sound like anyone else goes, I don’t think that sounding like our influences can really be avoided. If you spend hours listening to and absorbing music that you love, it becomes part of who you are. And, in turn, who you are always comes out in the music you create.
Lyrics are what I find hard to write. To come up with something meaningful without sounding trite or clichéd really is difficult! To listen someone like JC, it sounds like it all comes very easy to him, but I guess we’ll never know if that’s really the case or whether he is just disciplined enough to work at an idea for long enough for it to be moulded into a song. Looking forward to seeing him in October!