This week I decided to take a look at The Swell Season’s Falling Slowly. It’s a song I’ve loved for a long time, (and a reader suggested looking at Glen Hansard’s songwriting).  I’ve sung it with, and for my wife. I’ve sung it with friends when it came on the radio on the drive out to … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: The Beat of Falling Slowly

Jeff Tweedy has an exercise he talks about in How to Write One Song he calls the Word Ladder. The idea is to choose a noun, (an object, or maybe a profession) and write down ten verbs that are associated with it. Then you make a list of ten nouns, he suggests things in your … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Peace Train (& Frankenstein’s Monster)

There was a time when I had my own writing room, with a white board and everything. And on that white board I scrawled the words, “In this room there are no mistakes.” That's a quote from Tunesmith, Jimmy Webb's book talking about the process of songwriting.   I got Tunesmith out of the library … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Del Shannon’s “Runaway”

Over the weekend I finished reading Jeff Tweedy’s “How to Write One Song.” He talks a lot about disappearing while writing a song, (or performing). How in a way, that’s the goal of the work. That, and connecting with ourselves and others through the work.   Talk about contradictory goals, disappearing and connecting. Yet, I … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: The Axis Of Awesome

“Welcome to the Jungle” is not a song I'll be covering anytime soon. Nor will emulating Slash blazing through a guitar solo (not for lack of wanting to). So what can an Americana Aficionado like myself, (and likely yourself too), glean from a song like Welcome to the Jungle which lands at #467 on Rolling Stones list of … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Welcome to the Bo Diddley Beat