Let's Talk Songwriting!

MARCH 10, 2010, 1:33 pm

We're teaming up with our good friends over at Our Stage and we're looking to mentor their best emerging talent. This could be you! We're looking to work one-on-one with an up and coming act and talk to them about songwriting. If you haven't signed yourself or your band up to be an Our Stage artist you can head to Our Stage now and sign up.

If you're not an artist, don't worry, you can take part as well! You can scout for talent and discover the best new music by ranking artists in the channel. The Best Predictor of the final rankings in the channel will win tickets to one of the band's upcoming tour dates. Keep judging the channel all month for your chance to win!

To get all the details, and find out how to enter, head over to Our Stage . Good luck! We look forward to working with one of you in the near future.

- Pat, Jimmy, and Scott

Comments for this News article

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Sun, 2010-04-25 01:19 — QuillKnight

That's a good one, Perry. Gives you something to think about. Y'know, I was gonna put up something happy next, but none of my happy pieces are really lyrics. I'll settle for this one. Decidedly not uplifting, but I'm interested in seeing what you think.

Angel With Crimson Tears

An angel with a broken wing
Falling throughout life
Spinning out of control
She wants to scream
But only inside
So no one else will know

Her cheeks are red
But only from blood
The blood that flows from her eyes
Her tears are red
And she chokes on the pain
That comes every time she cries

Falling, ever falling
There just seems to be no way out
When you can't see left or right or up
You just have to look straight down
And you know that there has to be an end
To life just rushing by
But all that you can think about
Is the simple question 'Why?'

No one hears her pleas for help
Or ever seems to try
Those few that have are come and gone
They always seemed to lie
The droplets streaming from her eyes
Blur her field of view
The ones that stay sit on her face
Like a crimson morning dew

Falling, ever falling
There just seems to be no way out
When you can't see left or right or up
You just have to look straight down
And you know there has to be an end
To life just rushing by
But all that you can think about
Is the simple question 'Why?'

She's trying hard to see the light
Streaming from the sky
But beneath her is her shadow
And the sun's rays pass her by
There is one thing she doesn't know
Even though it's true
One day I will get there
And I'll catch her when I do

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Wed, 2010-04-14 06:51 — Perrynfld

I think your writing is wonderful...I didnt enjoy this one as much as the first...I could almost hear a tune with the first one but maybe I have to read it again...I agree I think that most of us have been affected by pain to some degree...the similiarity is that its pain and we counteract its affect by using it in writing...no matter the degree of pain it is expressed in the same manner. I grew up in a small community on the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and I can say for sure that I saw a sliver of pain in every face in my community everyday. Loss of a way of life, of life itself, economic depression, personal demons and all.

Change

Sitting by my window
Feel the oceans song against my face
The waves keep on whispering
But all the words have changed
My laugh cannot be strangled by sorrow
Living today to believe in tomorrow
And with my faith in you I’ll borrow
Time to make it through

Take life’s changes as their meant to be
Though it’s harsh it seems
Your cannot lose your stride and choose the path in-between
Casting votes for change when there’s no one left to blame
And hang onto your dreams they help wash away the flames

I thank God for the one true thing
When he had made us men
Giving us faith to help us through the time when it all will end
And now my thoughts bring me back to one of those precious moments in our lives
I’m standing by your bedside and seeing my heaven in your eyes

(Corus)
Photocopied duplicates of lives for none to see
Sitting in a shoebox in this dusty cardboard sea
Forgotten times…
Forgotten places…
Childhood dreams…
Skin kneed races…
I miss you so
And how much you’d grown

And the thoughts rush back so strong
Like a favorite song
It brings me back…it brings me back where I…belong

Purpose driven, blinders on
That’s how it’s meant to be
I go full out with no regard
Cleanse me in your wondrous song
I sit upon this rock and hear
Your virtuous voices
Their sweet magic draws me near you
Breaching surfaces, making choices

(Corus)
Photocopied duplicates of friends and family
Sitting on a bookshelf for all the world to see
Happy times…
Favorite places…
Childhood dreams…
Skin kneed races…
how’s it goin’?
your smile is showing

And the thoughts rush back so strong
Like a favorite song
It brings me back…it brings me back where I…belong

Hmmmmm…Feel the oceans song against my face (slow)

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Tue, 2010-04-13 15:45 — QuillKnight

That hits a spot that everyone can identify with, I think, even though no one really wants to think about it. Here's something I think is fairly similar:

Things I Don't Tell Myself

Everybody has those times
When you sit down
And think about your life
I think about love
I think about work
I think about all those times that I've been hurt
And I have realized
That all this time I should have been

Thinking about
Things I don't tell myself
Those times I lie
Or run away and hide
In the corner of my mind
Whenever I'm
Embarrassed, afraid, ashamed
I just keep playing this game with myself
About myself
And those things that I don't tell myself

I don't think about
Those little demons in the back of my mind
I don't talk about
The evil deeds I thought about last night
Things that I could have done
Things that I would have done
Things that I pretend I never thought about
I can do without

I cry at night
I only wish that I could hide my thoughts
From me
Because they're only innocent inconsistently
And I just pray
That there's hope for me and all those people
Who can't control the voice inside
Who aren't understood
By anybody who hasn't laid awake at night

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Tue, 2010-04-13 14:30 — Perrynfld

Nice...I feel some personal connection with those words...not that I thought I was one of those members of the Gang of the lost but that everyone else in the world was not...I feel some tremors returning reading the words…”Why doesn’t anyone understand me”…lol...and word order...well as I said I am no expert but I would like one to take my words and add some freaking music to it...heres another:

A Devil Walks Beside Me

On a lonely street
under a faded streetlight
A sound pulses inside my head,
Telling me things are not right
Scares me how,
it tears me now
I slam my face against the pouring rain
So I won’t fear it
so I can bear it
But I want to wake up
Can you help me wake up?
There’s a devil underneath my feet

Chorus

Devil Walks beside everyday
Devil makes me believe that you’re here
I want you to be here
I need you to be here
Where did you go?
I want to know
Did the Devil take you?
…and now I finally understand
…that devil is me!

When I enter your room
I feel Cold and shaken
On the verge of breaking
Misunderstanding my surrounding
I look in the mirror to try and discover
Is this failure I’m seeing really me?
Or is it the Devil that walks beside me

Chorus

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Tue, 2010-04-13 14:08 — QuillKnight

Interesting, Perry. Although, while you're actually eating one, not much really is better than an apricot sundae.

Really, though, I like it. It shows deep, but changing emotion, while not completely obeying some of the traditional rhyming rules. Good job!

Now here's one back atcha:

We are all the nice guys
Who got left behind
Forgotten and abandoned
By women who’re blind
Left out in the winter cold
Gathering frost
We are what we’ve come to call
The Gang of the Lost
(Gang of the Lost)

We only have each other
No one else knows we’re gone
Warming up the benches
While the world carries on
Unnoticed, undiscovered
As our lives go down in flames
We comfort one another
While the sorrow remains

Watch out! For your brother
Oh, look! Here comes another
We’ve got no choice
We’ve got no choice
Bring the man in from the cold

We are the Gang of the Lost
You can’t look down on us
You don’t even know we’re here
We just want to be remembered
To not live in a world of fear
Nice guys finish last
We’ve learned this from our past
Just let us out of here
Let us out of here

Huddled up together
Tell our stories one by one
About the world that used us
While others had their fun
We waited ever patiently
So quietly in line
But the women that we loved
Just never seemed to find the time

Watch out! For your brother
Oh, look! Here comes another
We’ve got no choice
We’ve got no choice
Bring the man in from the cold

These guys are my family
But I don’t want to stay
None of us deserve this
We have no price to pay
Other men are happy
Lying next to all our girls
They’ll give them nothing special
We’d have given them the world

Watch out! For your brother
Oh, look! Here comes another
We’ve got no choice
We’ve got no choice
Bring the man in from the cold

Let’s go!
Let’s take back our lives!
No more sitting quietly outside!
Let’s go!
We’ll take the world by surprise!
We’ll storm through every city!
No more quiet nice guys…

We are the Gang of the Lost
You can’t look down on us
You don’t even know we’re here
We just want to be remembered
Want to not live in a world of fear
Nice guys finish last
We’ve learned this from our past
Just let us out of here
Let us out of here (out of here)
Let us out of here (out of here)
Let us out of here (out of here)

Just let me out of here

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Tue, 2010-04-06 06:27 — Perrynfld

By the way Quill heres one for you to chew on

Coffee and donuts all week long
Sitting here in this same old song
Days are weak and oh so wrong
But 4 o’clock and Ill be gone

I’ll take myself to your store
I can’t wait in line no more
Tell the ‘keep’ give me the score
Cause I’m breaking down this door

(Corus)
Was it faith or was it planned
I thought I had the upper hand
Right here now I make my stand
Being with you is better than an
Apricot Sundae

Can’t be late can’t understand
Busting out this little tin can
Right here now I make my plan
Being with you is better than an
Apricot Sundae

I push aside the thoughts and pain
When you said it was just a game
And all you wanted was fortune and fame
For that I have myself to blame

But I don’t mind your little fake prizes
I’m a man of great compromises
Touching you with these disguises
Makes my soul realize….that

(Corus)
It was faith and it was planned
I always had the upper hand
Right here now I make my stand
Being with you is better than an
Apricot Sundae

I will be late you understand
Captive in this little tin can
Right here now I make my plan
Being with you is better than an
Apricot Sundae

Now I can see the cage you built
Disguised behind my blinded guilt
What I thought and what I felt
Is washed aside like bad spilled milk

Running hard and slipping fast
Your stranglehold on me is past
Your medusa spell can’t last
You have nothing left to cast

(Corus)
It was faith and it was planned
I always knew I’d make my stand
And I know you can’t stand…knowing that…
Being with her is better than an
Apricot Sundae

I turned your page you understand
Little more than falling sand
Right here now I rewrite my plan…and
Being with her is better than an
Apricot Sundae

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Tue, 2010-04-06 06:23 — Perrynfld

Thanks Quill – Upping the medication ante may help…If you come across a site or contest that just wants to have the words let me know…until than I’m going to phone my mother and ask to her to start looking for that little plastic violin I use to play…

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Thu, 2010-04-01 15:37 — Earswideopen

Was at the show in Indianapolis last night (3/31/10). It was one of the BEST shows I have ever Seen!! I have been going to concerts since the early 70's and have seen countless groups perform and this show is in my TOP three Ever seen!! The whole group, the Whole Show was incredible!! I would see them again and again and again!! No BS, they were that GOOD!!

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Thu, 2010-04-01 13:58 — QuillKnight

Oh, I played the saxophone back in the day... loved it, too. But I'm so out of practice that I can barely read music anymore, let alone write it, and I can't afford real lessons. Not mention the fact that the saxophone, while a wonderful, sexy, soulful instrument, isn't entirely conducive to the sound I have in mind for most of my songs.

Guess I'll just have to wait until our kind of contest comes along, Perry.

I'll take your Advil and raise you an Excedrin Migraine.

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Fri, 2010-03-26 06:27 — Perrynfld

Your right Quill...don't have the pipes or never had the chnace to play an instrument of any sort, except for that little plastic violin that broke 5 minutes after it came out of the box. I thought that this was finally that type of contest to help me wash aware all those night terrors...lol. Anyway I really like the new sound of Train thought that great here is an opportunity to let someone take all those words that are exploding in my brain and put music to them. Oh well! Anyone have an Advil

Re: Let's Talk Songwriting!

Mon, 2010-03-15 18:27 — QuillKnight

I have to say that while I absolutely love the intent behind the contest, what about those songwriters who simply don't have the voice to back up their words? Poetry contests are great and all, but they don't really give proper lyrics the attention they deserve. Hopefully one day we'll see a contest that links the songwriters who need singers and the singers who need songs to sing.


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