How many

[songbird52]

I wonder how many songs a typical songwriter has written. I probably forgot a lot of the songs I wrote in the past, and a lot of them really should be forgotten. But since I retired from working, I have gone back to some of my songs from decades ago and re-written or finished them.

 

I have been cranking out songs at a pretty good rate since I'm not working much. Just curious how many most songwriters have. I know it probably varies a lot. 

 

I currently have about 40 that are finished and that I have arranged and memorized.

 

 

 

[MikeRobinson]

So ... where are they?  😀  I wanna hear 'em!

 

Songs are things you should always be working on – getting them out of your head and into your phone's "voice recorder," then out of the recorder and onto paper and onto MIDI, or what-have-you.  And, you should painstakingly keep them all, including the drafts and "abandoned" sections.  Many songwriters have related how a "junk" song that they'd discarded later proved to have – or, to be – "just the thing" that they needed later.  

 

Creativity isn't a deterministic process.  But, the more you do it, the better you seem to get at it.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2018 by MikeRobinson

[songbird52]

I have been finishing a lot of the songs I started decades ago, and also writing new ones. I spend hours on this every day.

 

I have a lot of time right now. I always found it hard to write songs when I was busy working, etc. I have to spend hours with my guitar, practicing songs I already wrote. That makes me think of new ideas. 

 

If I get an idea for some lyrics, I write them, and if I get an idea for music I record it. Then I go back to the lyrics files or the sound files and see if I have more ideas to add. So I have a lot of songs in progress, that I go back to when I get a chance.

 

I am hoping to have a least 50 finished before the summer is over. I might not work in the fall either, so hoping for 100 by the end of the year. Yes, I do care about quantity, although I realize quality matters too! It's just that, I need to catch up after my whole life of not having enough time.

 

Playing at open mics, especially songwriter open mics, gives me additional motivation to get more songs done. I don't want to be one of those people who plays the same 3 songs at every open mic!

 

Also, I feel that having lots of songs gives you more to select from. You can perform the best ones, and use the second-rates ones as filler if you ever get a chance to play a long set.

[MikeRobinson]

Yup ... virtually everyone that you've ever heard about (in Nashville) has an immensely-long "catalog" of songs, most of which you've never heard about ... and in quite a number of cases, that's actually probably a good thing. 🙄

[MikeRobinson]

A relative of mine worked as a session-player in Nashville forty years ago, and co-wrote several songs, some of which he never got credit for (sometimes, no one was quite sure who wrote them), and some of which he ($$!) did.  He told many interesting tales of how writers were "cranking out songs and throwing them up against the wall, hoping that one of them would stick."  It was, at that time, very much a "quantity" game, because you never really knew which songs would make more than enough money to pay for all the rest.  For instance, say, Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire was thought to be "nothing special" by many at the time.  Who knew?  

 

The game at that time, as understood by anyone and everyone, was to constantly produce another single, another album, in hope that deejays out there would decide to play them on the radio.  ("Payola" came later, and today, most of the songs that "hit" at least start out as "paid product placements.")  You went on the road, touring, to push your latest product before going back to produce another one.  Some albums were literally recorded in one day.  (Marty Robbins made himself a millionaire from the product of a one-day session.)

 

Even though a star can achieve such stature that he could sell a copy of himself reading a page from the telephone book – as Elton John actually did, set to music that he improvised on-the-spot – usually the  number of songs from any "star" that you actually "know" could be counted on the fingers of maybe both hands.  But their catalog, of things which they have available for sale, might be vast.

 

One analogy I've heard is:  "everybody thinks they want a 'gusher.'  But what you really want is a field full of little oil-wells, all of which can be depended on to produce money every year.  Maybe they want to buy this one, maybe that one, but regardless, you've got something for them to buy."

Edited August 21, 2018 by MikeRobinson

[songbird52]

On 8/16/2018 at 12:35 PM, MikeRobinson said:

So ... where are they?  😀  I wanna hear 'em!

 

Songs are things you should always be working on – getting them out of your head and into your phone's "voice recorder," then out of the recorder and onto paper and onto MIDI, or what-have-you.  And, you should painstakingly keep them all, including the drafts and "abandoned" sections.  Many songwriters have related how a "junk" song that they'd discarded later proved to have – or, to be – "just the thing" that they needed later.  

 

Creativity isn't a deterministic process.  But, the more you do it, the better you seem to get at it.

 

 

 

I agree, that's why I am trying to get quantity, now that I have time for it. I have gone back to songs I started 30 years ago, and finished them this summer. Also started and finished a lot of new ones. 

 

Of course we have to think about quality, but I don't want to get hung up on trying to write perfect songs. Then I would probably only write one a year, or less. I have been noticing that even the best, the most famous, songs are not perfect. And most are very very far from perfect. 

 

And what is perfect anyway? No such thing. Each song has its own unique purpose.

 

I always had a drive to write songs, since I can remember, but I always had a lot of other things taking up my time. This summer I decided to make songwriting my "job." Maybe this fall also, if I wind up not working. 

 

I know people who call themselves songwriters and they have written one song in their lives. I used to think of myself as a songwriter, even though my list of songs I wrote that I liked was probably under 10.

 

Right now, my list is almost 50. It takes me 2  hours to play them all. So, yes, quantity is very important to me now. Whether any of them are quality I have no idea. That's why I play at open mics, and will post them here.

 

 

[Capo3tanya]

Man, I am short on quantity lol. 

[MikeRobinson]

Dunno, but somehow I remember one other quote:

 

"If you're waiting for angelic choirs to tell you that you're doing the right thing, there's just one word for you:  'Broke.'"

 

Hmmm... there ought to be a song in that ... 😁

Edited August 21, 2018 by MikeRobinson

[DaveKell]

Although I've only been writing for less than a year (finally getting some use out of the Comparative Literature degree I started four decades ago!) I agree with the quality over quantity comment. There are some gospel performers I've read about with claims to writing over 3 thousand songs. Okay, I admit that's entirely in the realm of possibility, but how many of them can possibly escape being a rehash of something they wrote before? Right now I have 13 songs that could comprise a decent album with lots of variety between the songs. They've mostly all gotten a very positive response from a successful Nashville songwriter friend. If I'm trying to write something and it's going nowhere I don't force myself to finish it. Probably have at least 10 more in that category. I always save them though in case a few lines can be taken in another direction in another attempt. If I'd have started this when I was a lot younger, at the rate I'm going now I'd have a few hundred finished songs at least. Right now all that's important to me is to finish songs that suit me, whether that's five of them a week or just one.