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Songs about Writing

old_prof

old_prof

Older than that
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Sep 12, 2015
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I was talking about writing last night with @NuclearFairy and I suddenly remembered the lyrics to a Suzanne Vega song (Language). I don't think it's not actually about writing, but most of the lyrics rang very true.

First two verses are
If language were liquid
It would be rushing in
Instead here we are
In a silence more eloquent
Than any word could ever be

These words are too solid
They don't move fast enough
To catch the blur in the brain
That flies by and is gone
Gone
Gone
Gone
Click to expand...

A later verse also rings very true to my writing striggles
I won't use words again
They don't mean what I meant
They don't say what I said
They're just the crust of the meaning
With realms underneath
Never touched
Never stirred
Never even moved through
Click to expand...

Are there other songs that ring true for your own writing efforts, whether or not they're about writing?
 
My first thought was Heine's song about a boy and a girl, set by Schumann, and ending with this:

Es ist eine alte Geschichte,
Doch bleibt sie immer neu;
Und wem sie just passieret,
Dem bricht das Herz entzwei.

(It is an old story,
Yet it always remains new;
And whoever it's just happened to,
It breaks their heart in two.)
 
I'm a bit stuck in writing in memoir style at the moment and 'memoir' always pulls a song out of my list of "favorite songs that were never singles", Verdi Cries by 10,000 Maniacs.

He will not touch their pastry
but every day they bring him more.
Gold from the breakfast tray, I steal them all away
and then go and eat them on the shore.

I draw a jackal-headed woman in the sand,
sing of a lover's fate sealed by jealous hate
then wash my hand in the sea.
With just three days more I'd have just about learned the entire score to Aida.

Holidays must end as you know.
All is memory taken home with me:
the opera, the stolen tea, the sand drawing, the verging sea, all years ago.


Music has always been one of my escapes and the note progression (at least 5 notes in the word 'Holidays' alone) in this song tests Merchant's singing chops a little, and thus mine.
 
Not so much the (epic) song but the video, which was conceived by Björk. It’s a brilliant bit of self-referential looping.

 
Of late, there is but one choice: Bang My Head.

For those needing a guided tour through my forebrain of late, the lyrics. Fair warning - they do go on.

I was bound, was tired
Hadn't seen a light so long
Thought I lost my fight
Couldn't find my way back home
And I found the light stepping out of me
I was bound, and tired
Waiting for daylight

Bang my head against the wall
Though I feel light headed, now I know I will not fall
I will rise above it all
Found what I was searching for
Though I feel light headed
I should have failed, and nailed the floor
Instead I rose above it all

Oh, oh, oh
Bang my head against the wall
Oh, oh, oh
Instead I rose above it all
(Bang my head against the wall)

When you think of giving up
Just know, you might think you're dying but you won't
And you feel the love stepping out of you
But when you think of giving up, don't

Bang your head against the wall
You may feel light headed, but you won't crawl, no, you won't fall
You will rise above it all
You'll find what you're searching for
And you may feel light headed
You think you're gonna hit the floor
Instead you rise above it all

Oh, oh, oh
Bang your head against the wall
Oh, oh, oh
Instead you rise above it all
(Bang my head against the wall)

I have broken wings
I keep trying, keep trying
No, I won't give up
Oh I'm flying, oh I'm flying

Bang my head against the wall
Though I feel light headed, now I know I will not fall
I will rise above it all
Found what I was searching for
Though I feel light headed, I should have failed, and nailed the floor
Instead I rose above it all

Oh, oh, oh
Bang my head against the wall
I was bound, was tired
Hadn't seen a light so long
Thought I lost my fight
Couldn't find my way back home
And I found the light stepping out of me
I was bound, and tired
Waiting for daylight

Bang my head against the wall
Though I feel light headed, now I know I will not fall
I will rise above it all
Found what I was searching for
Though I feel light headed
I should have failed, and nailed the floor
Instead I rose above it all

Oh, oh, oh
Bang my head against the wall
Oh, oh, oh
Instead I rose above it all
(Bang my head against the wall)

When you think of giving up
Just know, you might think you're dying but you won't
And you feel the love stepping out of you
But when you think of giving up, don't

Bang your head against the wall
You may feel light headed, but you won't crawl, no, you won't fall
You will rise above it all
You'll find what you're searching for
And you may feel light headed
You think you're gonna hit the floor
Instead you rise above it all

Oh, oh, oh
Bang your head against the wall
Oh, oh, oh
Instead you rise above it all
(Bang my head against the wall)

I have broken wings
I keep trying, keep trying
No, I won't give up
Oh I'm flying, oh I'm flying

Bang my head against the wall
Though I feel light headed, now I know I will not fall
I will rise above it all
Found what I was searching for
Though I feel light headed, I should have failed, and nailed the floor
Instead I rose above it all

Oh, oh, oh
Bang my head against the wall
Oh, oh, oh
Bang my head against the wall
Bang my head against the wall

Instead I rose above it all
Oh, oh, oh
Bang my head against the wall
Bang my head against the wall
Instead I rose above it all
Click to expand...
 

Florence + The Machine - All This and Heaven Too.

This song inspired one of my stories. Specifically, the line "All my stumbling phrases never amounted / To anything worth this feeling"

It's such an awesomely frustrated song.
 
It's about song writing, not fiction writing, but the principle is the same: Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark" is about struggling to write in the face of deadlines and pressure.
 
An oldie that isn't fully about writing but uses it as a metaphor. It's from Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey:

If they asked me, I could write a book
About the way you walk and whisper and look.
I could write a preface on how we met,
So the world would never forget.

And the simple secret of the plot
Is just to tell them that I love you a lot.
Then the world discovers, as my book ends,
How to make two lovers of friends.

 


I came across another version of this a fair few years ago. It was good for me to hear it as it not only got me writing again, but it got me to talk to my therapist about sharing my writing, which I did for the first time a year or two later.
 
Natasha Bedingfield's "unwritten"

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Click to expand...
I mean, writing is a metaphor but...
 
Erozetta said:


I came across another version of this a fair few years ago. It was good for me to hear it as it not only got me writing again, but it got me to talk to my therapist about sharing my writing, which I did for the first time a year or two later.
Click to expand...
That was very powerful - thanks for sharing it.
 
I always hear Bob Seger’s Against the Wind as a writer’s song:

But those drifter’s days are past me now
I’ve got so much more to think about:
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in - what to leave out
 
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