More Words, Less Talk by Gregory Page

 

Where do songs come from? Songs come from the ice cream truck; they also come from a mockingbird singing on a telephone line. Songs appear in the clouds, in the sound of the wind blowing in through a screen door. Songs are created on the wings of a cricket, and in the throat of a tree frog, songs come from your mind not your brain. Songs come from John Lennon. As a kid I would worry that when I was old enough to become a "Songwriter", John Lennon would have written all the good ones (I was almost write). 

 

How do you write a song? It is important to keep an eye open for greener grass; you must become a full-time daydreamer who never lives the same day twice. I have always loved to sing, so I sing the best way I know how, as I feel it. Write as many songs as you can; don't rely on one song; don't become satisfied with your new song too fast. Listen to Bruce Springsteen's “Nebraska,” James Taylor's “Mud Slide Slim & The Blue Horizon,” and also to the perfect acoustic album “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake, whose beautiful sadness took him from us at an early age, and today his moon has risen out of obscurity into a Volkswagen television commercial.

 

The great "Lounge Metal" singer José Sinatra once told me "being a celebrity was no different than being an average person except celebrities don't go to the bathroom". Fame will come and go, but good songs remain. Most important, have a good time all the time with your songs, and remember "a writer writes." Spend a few minutes each day capturing your thoughts in a journal..

Here is a random entry from my gig diary...

 

Last night I played a show inside of a furniture store. The employees and the shoppers were very friendly. Scheduled to open the show was a guy named Stan. He brought a sound man with a gaint P.A. system with him. Stan sang through one of those headphone mics, you see motivational speakers use. He told me since buying this headphone mic, it's opened him up to his audience and he is no longer trapped in one spot. “Hmm!!” It made sense to me. As Stan began to sing I couldn’t understand a lyric he sang, thanks to his boomy & distorted headphone mic.

His sound man was smiling eye to eye, like a proud father. Finally, I took the furniture store stage. Four people stood and listened. I made 25 bucks in tips, sold one CD two vinyl records, and sold the chair I was sitting on which made the store owner happy.

Not bad for of evening of fun.