And by 'you' I of course mean me. My first writings were poems and short stories. I wrote from the time I was about 12 until I began writing songs at the age of about 17. A guitar stared at me in my room for five years before I ever mustered up the strength to teach myself. After getting 'okay-enough' at the guitar, I completely abandoned poems altogether once I realized that music and and melody could carry words and a story much easier than paper and ink alone.
The biggest and most obvious difference is the music. You can have very simple words in a song: "Baby, oh baby, I want you back." And if sung with soul and with a catchy rift it works swimmingly. But try only reading it, boring.
I am beginning to see my writing style go full circle now as my songs beg for more poetic themes. I'll give 3 examples to illustrate this. The first is from a poem I wrote when I was 15. The second is part of a song I wrote at 20. And the third is a song I wrote a couple weeks ago (at the ripe old age of 25)
Excerpt from 'Undermistood' - 1998
Undermistood, was I,
for being so subtle.
Unalarming, yet boisterous skin
From hers into what used to be mine.
Broken exhaustibly on the floor,
Cuddled with the remnants of my heart.
Excerpt from 'Killed a Man' - 2003
Chorus:
No matter where I run
No matter where I hide
A part of me is gone
A part of me has died
And sometimes you can't see
The forest for the trees
And there are times that I forget
The part of me
That's still alive
Excerpt from 'the Procession' - 2008
Verse:
The wet leaves on the sidewalk
Reminds me of cornflakes in milk
And the lines in your eyes
Are as bright as the sky, as thin as silk
Chorus:
Day to day we get forgotten
Twist our hearts into sailor knots, and
I know it all seems so trivial
But all the cars will stop
For your funeral
So I feel in some ways I am getting back to my roots, incorporating my earlier e. e. cummings-like dreaminess, while not missing the importance of a catchy, easy-to-sing hook.
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