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| | *[[sara johnsen (san francisco)]] | | *[[sara johnsen (san francisco)]] |
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| | + | [[an email about writing lyrics]] |
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| − | these things are what i do when i feel like i've run out of things to
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| − | say lyrically. the main thing is, if i feel like i'll never write a
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| − | song again, i immediately make myself write a song, to prove that i'm
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| − | wrong.<br>
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| − | i almost always write lyrics first, and always on paper and revise
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| − | until they are nearly illegible before typing them into notepad for
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| − | more revisions. the slowness of writing and ability to read cross-outs
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| − | is helpful i think.<br>
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| − | <br>
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| − | i write down little overheard words, turns of phrases, or things that
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| − | pop into my head that sound lyrical, all the time when i'm not working
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| − | on music. most of it is garbage, but sometimes there's a good seed of
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| − | something. the beginning of circles is adapted from a poem i wrote
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| − | when i was in college. i've been waiting to use that line for like,
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| − | for-ev-er.:)<br>
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| − | <br>
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| − | i've been trying to write things emily-style, by choosing a theme
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| − | (like light for fireflies) and telling the story around that.<br>
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| − | another thing is to take a song you love and listen to it while
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| − | writing words in the same cadence. i think this helps more with music
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| − | than lyrics but it's another trick to try and get things going.<br>
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| − | loren gave me good advice once, too, which is to imagine yourself
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| − | singing the words in front of people whose respect you crave, and see
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| − | whether it makes you feel stupid.:) i do that as i go, and that's been
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| − | very helpful advice for me.<br>
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| − | i've been trying to care less about the words, lately. i mean, be less
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| − | attached to them. sort of like coolly manipulating the song the way
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| − | you'd chisel a statue, rather than being gentle the way you would
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| − | touch a real person. in a way i think i've written the most honest
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| − | song i ever wrote, by being sort of detached from sentiments i can
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| − | barely stand owning, let alone fess up to (sigh&goodbye).<br>
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| − | <br>
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| − | the last thing is that for every song i think is pretty ok, there are
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| − | usually 5 terrible songs from the same "batch." those songs are never
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| − | going to make it and i never try to force them to be better, just
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| − | occasionally mine them for parts for new songs. i feel like i do
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| − | better with the first edge of energy and the followthrough of that,
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| − | rather than going back to unfinished/lame songs and trying to get
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| − | reinspired about them.<br>
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| − | that's about it. i don't know if any of that is useful. also i don't
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| − | profess to be a good songwriter. but these things work for me.<br>
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| − | i think you write excellent lyrics, also. just keep doing it.:) get on
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| − | the northbound 6 or lock yourself in the laundry room with a notebook
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| − | on the washing machine and stay there til you've got something.<br>
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