JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum What Keeps You Going?

What Keeps You Going?

Songwriters work at a craft in which perfection is unattainable. There is always more to learn. It is art. If You have mastered a genre, there are hundreds more to be mastered. Many of You know i pitch alot of the music i've created or had a hand in creating.
The interest level is maybe 1%. In other words i pitch to a hundred listings, i'll get 1 publisher or artist inquiry, or hold, or maybe make a publishing deal. These small victories are often the result of a song that has grown up here on the lyric and mp3 boards, been pro demo'd, pitched often, and then the real waiting starts...ha...no one said it's going to be easy, and it isn't. Personally i love the creative process, and i hate tooting my own horn, but i still feel like i'm learning and crafting better songs when i write by myself, and writing better music for the lyricists i work with. i have learned many new interesting tips and techniques from my co-writers, and the many talented writers who frequent these boards, whom i call my friends(though many of You i've never met face to face). i think the constant openness to learning keeps me feeling in gear along the way trough this whole process.
This forum being the huge crutch of support that it is, i thought it wouldn't hurt for us to share "what keeps You going?"
i have other things to ask You all on another thread, but i'll read Your responses to this with much interest. Be well my friends.

I'll start! I wanted to be a musician as a teenager but wiser people made sure I got an education and a real job which meant music went on the back burner. Now I have time to play but am too old and not good enough to be a star. But I play out a lot at gigs, open mikes and jams. Writing songs about my experiences just happened and a few people liked a couple of them so I keep doing it. When I play out I mix in my own songs with others and check the reaction, if any. Sometimes people like them. It is satisfying when you get a few compliments.

Recording my own songs is also satisfying even if nobody else likes them or buys them. I have little hope that one of my songs would ever be picked up by a major recording artist. I recognize that the odds are minute. I have had some magazine articles published in primo magazines over the years (not music related) and I was always disappointed in the lack of feedback and the pocket change that resulted. I see doing background music for TV and such the same way - a lot of work for not much in the way of rewards.

So I basically do what I like to do for my own enjoyment and don't bother with the rest of it.

Junk food and energy drinks. LOL

Seriously it is the thrill of creating something that is unique...yours. I like to experiment and try out new things. There is nothing to replace the buzz and feeling you get when you sit back and listen to your song being played for the first time. It gives goosebumps. It does not matter if it does not sell. If only one person says "I like that" then all the effort was worth while. Learning new processes, styles and techniques are always great but to have something to show at the end of it all is a huge bonus. Now some people write for their own amusement and others write to publish and hopefully make an income. It does not matter which I bet each writer gets great personal satisfaction from writing a song and seeing it through the various processes to completion.
Often people will write a turkey....it is a learning experience. The next one will not contain the same mistakes and is all part of the learning curve. What keeps me going?.....well the thought and dream that some day one of my songs might be recorded by someone famous and remembered long after my death is pretty strong motivation.

Hi Moker

What keeps me going?

The emotional attachment to my songs, the experience was overwhelming when I recorded my first song, that it really made me feel good about who I am, and has given me back lots of confidence, and it has also got me out of wearing that MASK.

JPF, you all here keep me going, my hubby, my family, friends, and my children in which I live in hope, that one day, they will hear my songs & come home, also I would like to raise money for Mental Health.

Going through school, I didn't understand music, as being a victim of child abuse, I just got through my education, with low marks. But as a teenager, I loved going dancing at disco's, and roller skating.

Some people would probably laugh at this, but I went for my first lesson, as to learning how to play the keyboard, and I got so excited, as I am learning right from the beginning, and to play HOT CROSS BUNS, and TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR, golly, Yipee, and I'm 45 years old, I was overwhelmed by it.

I can type 60 words a minute, so I have no doubt I will learn it pretty fast, it's just learning all about the notes etc.

Michele

Well, I tell people I have to write. It's what keeps me from going crazy at my day job. (Yes, people regularly tell me it's not working.) If I didn't do it, I expect I'd end up formally institutionalized. Then again, three squares a day, and lots of meds... It could get attractive.

In the same vein, I perform not because I want to, but because it's the only way I know of to showcase what I've written. It's not like people are lining up wanting to cover my stuff.

Now, I ain't gonna be a Britney Spears or even a Porter Wagoner (ain't got the figure or the suit). I have had, and continue to have, hope I could make part of a living off what I write, and that hope hasn't been beaten out of me yet.

Joe

What keeps me going? I am a singer/songwriter. I built that identity from the ground up, starting in 1990 with taking some voice lessons and being determined that my two dreams - 1) to live the most creative life possible, and 2) to become the singer I'd always desired to be - would never again be compromised by my past programming.

But more than that, creating is play... and I love to play. I love to be 'in' the music any way I can. It's as essential to my life as breathing, eating and sleeping. I also love to perform, and move people to laugh or to cry. There's something about communicating with music that removes the barriers between us. Don't ya think?

Colin, keep writing, it seems to be doing Your soul a world of good...and those dreams You had as a teenager to be a musician, You are one...'tis a good place You come from musically, i suppose it's "what keeps You going" ... be well...moker

HiDee Bro Moke'!

What keeps me going is knowing Someday it's all Gonna Stop.

I'd like to leave behind Something of (Perhaps Large) Value..both to my Offspring...as well as To Humanity.

My life's been a series of Questions. Sometimes I've made up The Answers...sometimes Life's brought 'em To Me. I rather enjoy passing out "My Take" to My Fellow Humans...& letting them make their own minds up about Whether I Was Right or Not.

I enjoy laughing at Whatever seems to be So-Serious at the moment. (Knowing full-well that That Next Breath is really about The ONLY thing that's really all-that-serious.) I find even Religions to be Fair-Game, when Their Logic clashes with My Observations...and if Your God doesn't gibe with Modern Biology & Astrophysics, perhaps one of us is Missing The Message.

Of course, I don't even take MYSELF all-that-seriously. I'm (to quote a Song Title I hate to listen to the recording of) "Dust in the Wind." But, with any luck, I'll leave a Nice Sandpile Behind to say I Was There.

Best Wishes (& Good Luck with Your Quest)
Ol' Stan

The need to play and compose music. Love for both. A "have to".

Pleasure and frustration seem to blend together at various times, so it's all worthwhile. Good thing too, for like I said: I have to!

John

Tenacity and desire.

Dave

I have honed and improved my own talents and creative abilities since 1979, and it's true of songwriters the same as good bourbon, we do get better with age, which is translated as experience......

Look at new genres, listen to new and different musicians, and let those elements seep into your head, and that will eventually come out through your hands....

For me? The love of the art.

I write for myself, and enjoy creating and recording my songs. Yes, I've had people like what I do, and that's a wonderful feeling, but it's most important that I like it. My creativity is what keeps me going. As someone else said, it keeps me from going crazy from my day job.

I know this is meant in reference to our music, but the truth is what keeps me going is my family. My love of music and songwriting I could not live without, but I do postpone them in favor of the needs of my family regularly.

Blind ambition and Jim Beam.

Boredom and Tequila

For what keeps me going while writing, I have to agree. Red Bull and Copenhagen Snuff

As far as songwriting goes when I get a good idea I write it down or as much of it as I can do. If I don't finish it then it goes into a file where I reveiw from time to time to see what I can finish.

Big Jim, i have had the pleasure of watching a few of Your embryos hatch into full blown compositions...with Your talent i can see why it a rewarding thing for You...and your listeners as well...write great, write often, be well my friend...moker

Michele, i'm so happy to hear you're doing piano...i wish i was taking piano lessons, my right hand's just ok and my left is lame...ha...i sound like a guitar player trying to plunk at it...thanks for sharing...be well...moker

Joe, i thought you were a dead ringer to be the next Britney Spears, hell you're already half crazy and she's full blown crazy so you're halfway to superstardom...ha...kidding aside,i enjoy the stuff you share with us on here...it's always entertaining...keep writing, what the hell else is there to do...moker

Great thread, Moker. I have always had a love for songwriting but I dropped it out of my life for some years after having built up too many "close calls" but not enough successes.

What actually got me back into writing again (believe it or not) was the American Idol songwriting contest. I then found this forum when looking for others who were also entering the contest.

That was over a year ago and I have been a writing fool ever since. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the craft as well as the emotional outlet. It's really a part of who I am. I had lost that part of me for a while.

Now, what keeps me going is the wonderful inspiration from people like JPFers and the fact that I'm actually making some great headway with my songs.

So, I'd like to personally thank this wonderful forum for being a big inspiration and support system. Truly, I have gained much from all of you.

Thank you for supplying this thread, Moker, and for all the beautiful songs I've heard from you and others on this site!

Heidi

Thanks, Moker. That's great. I'll use it.

Joe

What keeps me going is to try and pull off what inspires me artistically and put that in the form that can make the most musical sense.
Rock and pop are one of the few genres to where with a couple of chords and a simple backbeat, a good song can be made.
Yet ironically it is the form that is most popular.
That is why I keep going at it.

What may be considered more listenable from me would actually be much simpler.
At least by professional standards.
If it were about making concertos or playing an instrument for thousand piece orchestras, forget it.

I do not want to leave out either that I have recordings posted on 2 dozen sites to get a feel for what people like and what sticks out at them as my strength and weaknesses.
I have not met anyone that has done recordings just to keep them to themselves.
Even if they have no large money making goals with it or it is strictly for a hobby.

Outside of that, what keeps me going is my family and not to mention my mother that is coming up in age.
Even if I have not cared for myself, my family has been my reason for living and kept me going.

Hi Mattbanx,

A couple of chords, ? Are you serious, even punk is better when we use unusual chords un diatonic, and modulating chords.


I agree with the family bit, but the rest of what you write is confusing what is the point of what you have written?

What could be more simpler than a song with two chords?

Lamorna

What keeps me going is the simple hope that someday, something I've written will make a difference in someone's life.

Vikki, i wish i had been as wise about planning this thing out as you have...but that would be assuming i had talent in the first place...ha...be well and enjoy the ride...moker

Stan, i too get that sense of i better hurry and create something great cos tomorrow ain't a gaurantee"...ha...gotta love your outlook...keep at it, it beats the alternative by a long shot...be well...moker

Lamorna:

Doing a song with one chord (LOL).

The musician that wrote "The Entertainer" did songs around one key. Can't recall his name off hand.
But that is stated more for the basic riff, not just one key played obviously.
Some of the best music has been the easiest.
Deep Purple started out as quite a prolific prog act, then it was "Smoke On The Water".
Every kid that picks up a guitar has learned it.-

And as far as the question on why I said what I did was not a knock on the craft, it is that rock and pop has been more to do with the art and sound than technical prowess.
Otherwise prog acts should be ruling the mainstream.
Even if I can't play a straight line with a 4/4 beat the exploration of the different forms can only make the easier, more formidable stuff grittier and more diverse sounding.
Make those two chords speak more hopefully.

I haven't been going lately! Still getting ideas and jotting them down, but I don't know why I can't seem to go any further with anything. Thank you for this thread, reading what everyone has to say is encouraging!! And for me, it is all you other songwriters that keep me going.

What keeps me going is certainly not money. I've made a fair dollar at it over the years but I've spent a lot more. My main aim when releasing a CD is to first break even, does not always happen, the next is to try for airplay, usually get some but not enough. Songwriting started as a hobby and in many ways it still is. I have no ambitions as a performer, I know my limitations there, but I would like to know that my efforts mean something to someone. I write mostly Christian music now, and I get great pleasure when people tell me that something I wrote touched them. Money or fame can't beat that. I don't think I want to be famous with adoring fans, I would not feel comfortable with it, kind of embarrassing. Some people love it but not me. I would like to write something that made it big, not to get rich, but to know that I could actually do it, make a difference. The older I get the less importance I place on money and fame, the more I place on leaving a legacy.

God keeps me going.

Years back I was in a depression, due to the loss of my four best friends all in the space of two years. I turned to alcohol and drugs. Life lost its flavor. Music was on autopilot. When I listened, I just analyzed. Nothing moved me. My health started slipping and I didn't care. The only thing I had was my family, but I put them on "autopilot" also, not neglecting them but not putting my heart into it.

This all came on gradually. While my friends were dying, I was being strong for them. When it was all over, I didn't have the energy to be strong for me. Only, I didn't know it. Humor was gone. On stage, I wasn't funny any more. Songwriting stopped. I even quit fishing and playing golf.

One day while driving, someone on the radio was talking about the joy of living. I turned the radio off and realized I had no joy of living. So I asked God for a sign, and got it, a strong unmistakeable (to me) sign, immediately. Things changed. I quit drinking and doing drugs...didn't have to work at it, didn't really think about it, I just quit. I started living a healthier lifestyle, began going to the doctor for regular check ups. Soon, I quit caffeine and sodas, quit artificial sweeteners and greatly reduced my sugar intake. My health got better. It's better today than it has been in fifteen years.

Music got better. My playing improved, I got more and better work, (took a break here...hey, I just got off the phone now, another session for Monday at a local studio ). My family life got better, more important, more loving, and I've made new friends, some have become and some are becoming close friends...good friends.

Reading this, some people will be puzzled. Some will laugh and make fun, even ridicule. Some will get angry. That brings up another change in me, I don't care what other folks think about me. I'm free.

All it took was God. All it takes is prayer. Yep, God keeps me going.

All the Best,
Mike

John, i know that sense of pleasure and frustration. certain songs or parts that i don't have the ability to do myself the way i want them done is frustrating,why didn't i prepare myself to be better on keys, engineering, singing, etc.? But the fact that i do alot of my creating right at home with my wife and daughter there in close proximity seems to lend a certain comfort level to my process. Evrything i write certinly is not of high calibre. But i write often, so it's not very long between writes that i feel the pleasure of creaing something pleasing to the ears. Doing this sort of thing as long as many of us have i know, we know, if something is good music or not. i can relate to Your feeling of "have to" ...i enjoy my mini-breaks from it which i impose on myself occasionally, but then i'm craving to get back in there and record something...be well...moker

Dave,a little says alot...i keep trying to apply that to my lyric writing...ha...be well...mj

Hey Moker--cool thread. Really got me to thinking why I do keep going. Well, I write songs, but I've never pitched any. I really don't have any commercial ambitions. I don't think I'd become a touring performer even if given the chance--family, friends, happy with my life as is, etc. Plus, I could never live that type of schedule. Here one day, another city the next.

As to writing, I do it for myself. I guess the whole creative process thing is like a drug for me. It's like a painter starting with a blank canvass. You get an idea and then you begin to develop it. I record in my basement on the computer, so I do most of it myself. After a while, what started as nothing becomes something--a song. A song that didn't exist before I created it. I think that is an amazing feeling--one that the majority of the folks in the world will never know. Once you've put it into MP3 format or onto a disc, it's here forever--kinda like a painting or sculpture.

I started writing years ago after a rather nasty break-up with my fiancee--caught her cheatin'. So, I spent a couple months holed up alone and wrote songs about how I was feeling. I found it to be incredibly theraputic and it really pulled me through a rough time. I actually quit writing for a long time after that. It took my wife, who is not the previously mentioned fiancee , to explain to me that I didn't have to be utterly miserable to write songs. So, I started writing again a couple years ago--and not only about heartache and misery--ha ha.

I do play some of my songs in public, and my band has released a cd of originals, but we knew we wouldn't sell many (and we haven't--ha ha). But that's not what it's about for us. We enjoy one another's company and like playing together. We have a hoot arranging harmonies, etc. It's not at all like work--that's why it's called PLAYING music
Guess my reasons for keeping at it are mostly selfish--I enjoy it, so why stop?

Oh--it's a great stress release from the day job, too. Ha ha.

Eric

Sam, 1979 huh? i thought i was going to be a rock star in '79, as soon as i got out of the pool swimming at nationals...ha...hey like bourbon we age to perfection,reminds me, if you ever get a chance to see Chuck Cannon live in Nashville, GO. he has alot of hits for Toby, etc. but when the guy does his own stuff it's real entertainment,nice on the ears. He has a cd called "God Shaped Hole" that is way past good...it's got alot of tongue in cheek references to religion, but the stories, the ultimate attention to tone etc., anyway i thought you'd enjoy the listen if ya get a chance, you being in it for the love of the art tipped me off that you'd enjoy it...be well...moker

[quote=Lamorna]Hi Mattbanx,

A couple of chords, ? Are you serious, even punk is better when we use unusual chords un diatonic, and modulating chords.


I agree with the family bit, but the rest of what you write is confusing what is the point of what you have written?

What could be more simpler than a song with two chords?

Lamorna [/quote

A song with one chord?

I just wrote this elsewhere, but it seems to answer this question too. From Day One I wrote songs hoping that they might outlive me. It's a little embarrassing to admit that--it immediately calls into question the value of my songs, as well as my own honesty--but that has always been the truth for me. There is a certain wild joy I get out of creating something out of nothing, and it makes me feel close to God.

Do I feel like God?? Hell no! It's not an ego thing. I'm just saying that an act of creativity is a magical, spiritual endeavor, and it blows me away every time it happens...the very possibility of it amazes me every time. So I do it for the sake of doing it, for the sheer joy and astonishment it brings me. I never until recently tried to sell one, and I've never been able to look at it as strictly business. There's just too much joy in the act for me to worry too much about making it the focus of my income. Any income I make from my songs will be like a hilarious punchline to a cosmic joke--a great, wonderful gift...one that was never expected.

If I die and my songs never go further than my daughters' shelves, that's fine. If even one of them ends up being recognized beyond my lifetime, expect my ghost to be cracking a smile. Because, yes, I would like to make a positive impact in the world somehow.

So what keeps me going? Joy. The sheer unbridled joy of creation. Just can't get enough of that sweet stuff.

Hi Bigfoot Mike:

I'm more than a little impressed with your post. Overcoming depression and all the attendant baggage associated with it must be an overwhelming task. We take our health for granted and yet we pay little attention to our intake of food that is bad for us, alcohol, cigarattes, etc... but most of all.. we forget to feed our souls. So glad you were able to climb out of such a deep hole. Testify, brother... testify. You never know whose life you'll turn around because of your example.

All my best,

Dave

http://www.showcaseyourmusic.com/DaveRice

Interesting thread…..what keeps me going is what got me started. I think it arose out of a need to make sense of things. I know writing is a natural way for me to express myself because as a young girl I wrote poems and a few lyrics and even wrote to a well-known songwriter for advice (he never wrote back!) I enjoy different creative outlets, but have always said, “there’s something about writing…”

Now I find it's fun to challenge myself to create something from a tidbit of an idea. Develop it into a cohesive story or feeling. And it’s great because you have something from nothing when it’s done. Something, for myself, but also something which has the possibility of doing something for others…..and sharing with everyone here is a wonderful support system to have when trying to make the songs “sing”!

Kristi

One of my favorite songs by the group Alabama is "My Homes In Alabama." It had these lines:

What keeps me going
I don't really know
It can't be the money
Heaven knows I'm always broke

I don't write much no mo but when I do, I guess it's because I think somebody is gonna finally realize how great I am and they'll make me rich :-)

Moker, i think we all feed from each other,and we all need to eat right,?? I guess the hunger for creativity ,sharing it and being able to spill our hearts on paper for others and for ourselves. For me Im addicted to songwritng its just who we are. It isnt about the money though it would be a cool way to make a living, its about whats inside and bein able to vent it out ,Thats what keeps me goin ,just my 2 cents. S.Dee

Unshakeable faith in myself and fear of nothing.

Corrine, creating, recording, and having something tangible there is a great feeling isn't it. I like your theory of doing it for you, everything else an fall whereit may then...thanks for sharing...be well...moker

Jack, i'm with you on that...family is the most important part of life...they count on us, and we count on them...it's of much comfort to me that i am set up to do most of my creating right at home, thanks to the digital age i can record a frickin' rockin' tune and hardly make a peep except for the vocal tracks
thx...be well...moker

Bob, i thought you had an endorsement deal with Jim Beam, how much did you get 'em for?

cozmic, atleast you found something useful to do with your time and money, tequila has been known to make people crazy so proceed with caution...be well...moker

stevens, just the name red bull reminds me of the way a group of friends i party with occasionally mixes that stuff with jagermeister, they've got a machine now where three bottles of jager sit on top upside down and chilled shots come out...yes they are a little crazier than i am but the guy is my lead singer, whatcha gonna do...take care and keep writing...moker

good idea Ray, i lose alot of brainstorms because i don't do that often enough...be well...moker

Heidi, that's a great story, i enjoy finding the details of stuff like that...getting to know people is one of the great joys in life...you keep writing now, there's a hit in there somewhere...it's alot of fun just creating isn't it?...all the best to you...moker

Hey Moker,

While the glib response from me would be "insurance and fiberglass", I guess the true answer would depend on the day of the week you asked me.

Unlike some of your other respondents, I don't feel "compelled" to write....I simply enjoy it. The ability to make something from nothing, to turn a nugget of thought into a (sometimes) fully-produced song, is thrilling. Even if it just makes its way to lyric form (which is most of the time), it is a very gratifying -- albeit challenging -- process.

Additionally, I like to entertain people (duh )...and I've found writing songs can be a mutually-satisfying way to do that.

Necessarily, JPF has played an important role. Once I came here, I found myself part of this very cool and supportive group of musicians. Over time, I wanted my "family" to be proud of me -- and this has provided further incentive for me to keep writing and trying to get better. Again, a win-win as far as I'm concerned.

Finally -- and this one's a bit tricky to explain -- songwriting has given me a purposeful and "self-contained" identity. Having spent a billion years in the ad biz -- as a fairly big yuckity-yuk, if I do say so myself -- I stopped working to raise my children. While that "job" is still the best one going, I spent several years being "JUST" Mommy, Housefrau, Wife", etc -- positions which cast me as part of a relationship with someone else. Songwriting is for ME. And it feels good to be known among my "real" family and friends as Beth, "who writes terrific songs and someday's going to win 25 grammys", instead of Beth, "poor thing, if it isn't one thing, it's another...what did she break this time?"

So looking back over this, I guess the bulk of it has to do with EGO. Especially for someone like me, who DOES have so many medical issues, to have found something which makes me feel good about myself on a number of levels is just what the doctor ordered.

Thanks for asking, Moker.

Beth