Where to great songs come from? I wonder if there is one great song inside everyone.
Why can’t I write great songs?
I’m a songwriter. I guess some of you already know that. I’ve written many songs. Hundreds, I guess, over the years. But I find myself wondering whether I’ve ever written a great song.
I’m pretty confident that I’ve written some decent songs. I’ll even go so far as to say that I’ve written some pretty good songs. But a great song? I don’t know.
I guess you have to consider what a great song even is. Seems like we know one when we hear one. Or at least there seems to be wide consensus around which songs are great.
So if I can so easily identify a great song when I hear one, why can’t I confidently say that I’ve written one? Maybe it’s not so easy to identify greatness as I think.
Are there great songs inside everyone?
Or, even just one great song inside everyone Inside me?
Obviously there are great songs inside many people. And then there are those inside whom more than one–maybe many–great songs reside.
Names that come to mind include Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison. Three guys all pumping out multiple great songs from within the same band. How do you explain that?
Other names like Simon, Dylan, Van Zandt, Young, Springsteen, and so many others.
And those are all old guys. What about the kids today? Like Tyler Joseph from 21 Pilots. Schultz and Fraites from the Lumineers. And many others. They just keep writing great songs.
Just the right thing at the right time?
Are their songs really great? Or do they just strike some kind of public nerve that just happens to be tuned into what they are creating? Maybe that’s the definition of a great song. But then, is the song great, or is the timing of its creation just great?
Songs that where considered great back in the ’50s and ’60s don’t always hold up today. But then others certainly do. There are folk songs written well before recording technology could preserve them that are still loved today.
Maybe that’s the mark of a great song. Maybe anything could hit the lucky nerve and be the hot tune of the moment. It’s quite clear that not everything that is a big hit is a great song. “Itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini” was a smash hit, after all. But those that stand the test of time…perhaps those are the ones that are truly great.
But wait; some people love “Itsy bitsy…” It makes some people happy, so maybe it’s great after all. Regardless of the fact that it might make others want to rip their own ears off in self defense.
What makes great songs?
So what exactly is a great song? What makes a song great? Is it the structure, or the feel? Is it the lyrical meaning? Or is it less definable? Maybe it’s just about the way it makes us feel when we hear it.
I think Peter Himmelman has written many great songs. Why do those songs strike me as great? I don’t know. They just do. It pleases me to hear them.
And it distresses me to hear them because they often make me think, “I wish I’d have written that song,” or “Damn, I’ll never write a song that’s as great as that.”
Is greatness simply in the writing?
But I keep trying, for some reason. I don’t know if anything I’ve written or ever will write has or will qualify as great. I’m not sure any more whether that’s even the point.
Maybe the greatness is just in the writing. In the creation. Maybe everything I’ve written is great in its own way. Maybe everything anyone has written is great in some way. I seriously doubt it, but maybe.
Or maybe greatness as it pertains to songs comes from some mystical convergence of unidentifiable factors. The “hit makers” who choose the winners and losers in the Nashville songwriting scene will say they can identify a great song. But can they? Or can they just identify a hit? We’ve already established that just because it’s a hit doesn’t mean it’s great. Or have we?
I think this can’t be answered. At least not by me. Not tonight. Oh well. I’ll let you know if I ever write that great song. Or maybe you should let me know.
Or maybe I’ll just stop worrying about it and write whatever comes out. That’s what I’ve always done anyway. Feel free to listen to my songs and see if anything grabs you.
Who knows? Maybe I’ve hit great already and no one knows about it. That’d be just about my luck.