It's been about 9 months since I've blogged... life has happened. I need to commit to this, because writing really soothes my mind and clears my head. The last few days I've had a couple of topics I really want to focus on so my readers are probably going to get slammed this week. Writing and music are the things I go to in life when I need a release, and big things are hitting me. The only way I've been dealing with it, is music.
When you listen to a song, what brings you to it? Is it the type of music that the song is? Do you like country music, alternative music, pop music? What keeps you interested in the song... How many times do you listen to the song before you listen to the words? Do you feel the music?
I've always been one to listen to the lyrics, I'll rewind a song and start it again a few times. There's something special about someone who can write lyrics that bring out a memory or a time in my life that make a song touch "that" place in my heart. If you don't listen to a song this way, you really don't understand it. Lyrics to songs can place you in all parts of your life. In high school, growing up, through a death, through a love or a love lost. They can help you cry or celebrate. Lyrics help you remember the good and the bad, because believe me. Your life, as wonderful or awful as it may seem... someone has been there before; and an amazing songwriter is telling that story.
Lately, my life... if you follow me personally hasn't been a beautiful bed of roses. We've gone through a lot of sadness and trauma in 9 months. My grandmother passed, my kids' grandmother passed and my father almost left us. After 21 years as one household, we have decided to make it two. Covid. Covid happened and music all but died. Music, the one thing that held all of us together for 21 years... as crazy as that sounds, was not there to hold us together. Then, music came back.
https://soundcloud.com/lifelikeviolence
A friend of mine started sharing what he wrote, and it really connected with me. I don't know why, or what about his lyrics that did it, but they just came through. There's one song in particular, "Believe in Yourself" that really touches the heart and if you find time in your day, you need to listen to it. The lyrics are so solid and deserve to be heard.
Please click on the link and listen to the song, you won't be sorry- it's breathtaking.
Through all of this, I have never let go of IC Promo. Music feeds, music heals. I have to thank my wonderful friend Roger for that. He has been such an amazing supporter of my ideas, my promoting and introducing me to the bands that I needed to know. Through IC Promo, I have met SO MANY amazing musicians. Well over 2,000. I've met musicians I'm a fan of (super cute fan girl like...omg I can't believe I met them!) I've met musicians I've never heard of... I've met songwriters who have written songs that I loved when I was a little girl on the farm and even the guy that wrote "All About that Bass" ..yes it's true, and he was pretty cool. My favorite weekend every year is the Wild West Songwriter's Festival in Deadwood, SD. It's a must for me, listening to the songwriter's stories, why they wrote the songs, their personal interest in the song. Once you hear that and attach it to the song; you'll never hear the song the same way again.
Through all of that, the purpose of the blog is as the title says, "What's in a song?" Once you really get involved in all parts of the music, it's really something to just separate the lyrics out.
One of my favorite songs for lyrics is "Bless the Broken Road" - Now I know most of you will be referring to Rascal Flatts when you think of this song, but the song was originally written for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1994. I have also met this songwriter, and his story for the song was unbelievable. A friend of mine has a description of why he wrote each of his songs on his SoundCloud, and it really attaches the song to the lyrics. More musicians need to do this. I know that a lot of musicians are afraid that their songs won't make money if they put them on these platforms; but to me this shows that it's more about music. It's about getting people to listen to their words, what they write.
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