I thought you might like to listen in as Sir Paul McCartney speaks out on the Pirate Bay verdict. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_8008000/8008384.stm
If nothing else, I enjoy his accent.  :)   Which is just one of the many reasons I listen to whatever Simon says .... Cowell, Hawkins, you name it.

Signed,
Shall O.

I'll bet you had never heard of Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III before he landed that jetliner in the Hudson River this past January, even though he'd been getting out of bed, taking a hot shower, and going to work at U.S. Airways for 30 years. 

I'll bet you had never heard of Susan Boyle before she auditioned for Britain's Got Talent, even though she's been "Susan" for decades - and even though she's had that gorgeous, undiscovered voice for decades as well (a singing voice, by the way, which she hadn't even used for the past two years!). 

Those stories have been reminding me we serve a God of Surprises!  He's in charge!  And yes, along the way, it's unquestionably important to be diligent and faithful in whatever He's asking you to do.  (Do you really think Sully could have pulled off that landing if he'd been a slacker for the last 30 years?)

Anyway, who knows?  Maybe someone you know will experience a stupendous surprise tomorrow morning.  Maybe you!  Maybe me!  Of course, if it's something much smaller, it still doesn't diminish the fact that God could do something of that magnitude.  Big or small - that's beside the point.  The POINT is that it's GOD doing it.  (It's really not that difficult for Him, ya know?  All He needs to do is give the word...)

I stand amazed.  Again. 

Signed
Yae Gawd!

I just read my Songwriters Connection E-TIP.  I don't always take time for that, and sometimes when I do it's not worth my while.  But I thought this one had merit, and was thought-provoking enough for me to paste it in this blog.  Want more?  Go to www.songwritersconnection.com and sign up.  (Hopefully that little bit of free advertising is enough to keep me out of hot water for reprinting the article entitled "Writing 'Out of the Box'"!)

Signed,
Boks?  Wutt Boks?

***

Writing "Out of The Box"
 
One of our readers sent us a request to further define what we mean when we counsel you to "write outside the box." Since we live to serve, we three will each give you our own "schpew" (if there is such a word).
 
With this assignment I also want to do my best to remain responsible to passing along info that will help you get songs you write cut. I say that as a "starter outer disclaimer" of sorts because my point of view here is going to seem to be in conflict with itself. Sorry. Welcome to Show Biz.
 
My textbook view of "writing out of the box" is, first, having the courage to write something other than a co-dependent love song. There are so many and, yes, so many are such big hits (dysfunction beats healthy living in real life every day) (Sorry. Welcome to Show Biz). Let me define courage as it applies here. It means being patient enough to wait the time it takes to get it cut and endure the furrowed brows that serve as many the response to its performance. This brow is usually accompanied by some non-committal verbiage such as "I've never heard anything like that" or "That was incredibly...interesting."
 
Second, to use chords and lyrical references that are not: a) the same as any 27 other songs we heard this week nor b) so weird one must have a graduate degree in music theory and have researched Carl Sagan's every footnote to have a chance of understanding what was played and said.
 
Third, it is just keeping me dialed in as a listener with a story, a tune, a lyric and a turn of the phrase I haven't heard before but totally understand as it goes by.  Give me a few lines (not every single one) just clever enough I get a half smile and will use the next time I want to impress someone with a wry slice of universal, street-smart, savant philosophy (there is such a thing).
 
Need a reference point? Kenny Chesney's single "The Good Stuff." Big hit. You don't have to be clairvoyant to figure out where it's going. It's touching and charming. Perhaps most importantly it keeps you reeled in time after time after time.
 
Many times the phrase, "they just don't get me and my stuff" frankly is a writer's cover for having failed to do something new that was actually appealing. The reality is there is only so far you can go in any mainstream COMMERCIAL art form with experimentation and hope to have it be successful.
 
Need proof?
 
Tim McGraw: "Red Ragtop." Tell me what is so Satan worshipping radical about that! It is an extremely well written song about a life experience that is more common than I guess we want to admit (witness the Jerry Springer show for God's sake). It does not cast blame; it does not glorify abortion. It just tells it like it is in a really wonderful, intriguingly touching, honest way. Despite the fact it is the single of choice by one of the hottest acts in Country Music who has an avalanche of momentum, it will probably stall out before it hits number one.
 
More proof?
 
Kenny Chesney: "A Lot of Things Different." Don't get me started.
 
Point, match, set. See ya in the clubhouse.
 
Back to that "just don't get me" thing for a minute. It may be the most laughable copout I hear. There was a country comic many years ago named Brother Dave Gardner. He had a phrase I loved: "If the whole world is wrong, right your own self."
 
I am not vouching for the S.A.T. scores of everyone in Nashville but maybe, just maybe, there is something they are telling you that is worth examining when they are clear and specific with constructive criticism. You have to process it for yourself but keep your ears and mind open so mind-changing stuff can get in. You ALWAYS want to be in business with people who can change your mind.
 
For those of you who have been to one of our seminars you will know the tone of voice that goes with this allusion: "You take your canoe down to the river. If you want to get somewhere on that river, you put your canoe in the water and work the tides and currents to your advantage. Or you can stand on the bank and bitch about the course the river takes and get nowhere. In either case, the river goes where the river flows and no one is big enough to change the course of the river. Not even Chris Gaines (but God bless him for trying)."
 
Now, out of the other side of my mouth.
 
Here is the Big Secret to Life you have been waiting for.
 
Most of what gets cut is in many regards a major recycle of what is already out there. Not a plagiarism (Oh God no!!!!). Just familiar enough musically with enough different lyrical and musical twist to make it just different enough to get cut and for you to not get sued or at least prevail when you are sued.
 
By the way, if you have any real success, you will be sued so the very last part of that is the most pragmatic part.
 
How do you do this? Well this is where writing out of your own box is the key.
 
Almost without fail I hear writers complain that they are not happy unless they are writing something completely unlike everything else out there. Great. See you on seven to ten years. That is your artistic ego talking. And it has not spoken with your wallet in a while when it wheels out the soapbox, straps on the cowboy boots, hops up on Jeffrey Steele's coffee table and begins lecturing all those rich-but-talent-seeking writers in Nashville on the importance of having your artistic integrity completely intact.
 
How many of you love Mutt and Shania's lyrics? How many of you would like to have the royalties that 35 million records sold and 15 or so top-five singles in multiple formats produce? Get the connection? Whether you like their songs or not, they are speaking to a lot of people in a way that gets a bunch of them off their wallet. That, too, is art, my friends. COMMERCIAL art.
 
Let me close with my favorite creative conflict-baiter: Diane Warren. When anyone can write that many hits for that many acts in that many genres over that many years, there is no debate: she is a GREAT writer.
 
What is out of the box about that? She didn't wrap it up and pack in her unique take on codependency in 1979 after the first series of big hits she wrote. She discovered a way to profit from therapy for years, tap into generational dysfunction and make people OK with how screwed up they are. 
 
Bottom line? Mine your misery. There are hooks and song ideas in the issues you excavate in therapy that could sell lotsa records. It can make for some good & real songs. Most people are really unhappy and totally relate to songs that lay it out there with nipple twisting accuracy. There is nothing wrong with profiting from your therapy and self-discovery. How many people can turn a profit from paying someone else to examine their pain?
 
The zenith of commercial art is to express universally understood themes through small, intensely personal experiences everyone gets and is glad they heard about instead of lived. It makes them feel like their life ain't so bad after all.
 
Got some deep dark secret you'd never ever tell your best friend? Write about it and say you saw it on the Jerry Springer show. He's way out of the box.
 
Is anyone sorry this question got asked...or answered?
 
Now. Go write something that moves you.
 
John Dotson
 

What is it about a song - or a lyric - that moves one person and not another?  Hard to say. 

Miley Cyrus' song, The Climb, moves me. 

An aside:  ....  My son thinks Miley's voice is all wrong for something this pop.  I dunno - maybe he's right.  Or maybe he's simply a narrow-minded teenager.  (Oops!  Did I just say that out loud?!!)

Back to my point:  There's just something about "mountains" and "uphill battles" and "pushing on" that speaks to me.  So often I think we get overly focused on the end result, on "success", or whatever "it" is that we're chasing after.  But golly, that sure leaves out a lot of day-to-day livin', don't you think?  What about today?  What about the people whose paths crossed mine in the last 24 hours, or the last week?  What about the things I'm learning as I face daily struggles and learn to trust God just a little bit better?

Some lyrics are deeper than others.  True.  Some music is complicated, and some is simply...umm...pop.  Whatever.  I love it all.  ....  I'd really like to quote the lyric here, but maybe that's not allowed.  (I confess I get confused about all that sometimes!)  But you can look it up for yourself if you feel so inclined.  Or better yet, listen to the song.  At a minimum, I'm going to at least quote the final lines of the chorus:

    Ain't about how fast I get there
    Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
    It's the climb

Hmm.  That sounds kinda simplistic all by itself.  I guess that's why you BUILD UP to the hook. 

Enough rambling.  You get my point.  (Or if you don't, then I apologize for taking up your time.)  But I do hope you're enduring and enjoying and embracing today's climb, no matter what size mountain lies before you.  It's the climb....

Signed,
Truhj Awn