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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Songwriting, etc. . .


I'll start this blog by borrowing lyrics from a song written by one of my favorite musicians and adapt the words to fit my purpose.
"There's a song that's inside of my soul, and I've failed to write it over and over again."
I'm a musician. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a great one, but I have finally embraced the fact that God has gifted me with some musical ability. I'm fairly confident that I'll never reach the success level of a Paul McCartney or a Bob Dylan. However, I do know that in this stage of my life God has called me to lead His people in worship. This calling, partnered with the truths God has been teaching me about Himself, has left me with a strong desire to write my own worship songs. So here I sit day in and day out trying to write. Maybe it's because I'm my own biggest critic or simply a lack of creativity, but I couldn't write a decent song if I stole all the words and melody from "Come On Eileen". I recently heard an interview with Jon Foreman where he talked about how he wrote "On Fire" and "Dirty Second Hands" in 15 minutes on his tour bus. Are you kidding me?! I wonder if he has ever felt my current frustration. Of course, he would probably be the first to admit that he has written a lot of sub-par songs in his life too. I wish I could write a sub-par song. . . :)

2 comments:

Ryan Paulson said...

Do it! Write those songs... and when you do, let's sing them at The Well. I want us to start doing more originals - so that we can accurately reflect who we are a worshiping community.

Anonymous said...

Whenever I try and write a song, I tend to be my own biggest critic too, I think it's just one of the things that come along with being a musician. From my perspective: I'm never truly satisfied with anything I write, I feel I can always add something better. Don't always play with intentions of writing something, or it will never be good. Other than that all the advice I can give is just keep playing..