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My best songs simply flow out of me, music and lyrics simultaneously. I once heard Paul McCartney say that his songs come from beyond, and he just writes them down. I feel this way too. I usually spend 5 minutes on a song, and seldom rewrite any words or music. Sometimes I'll have a melody that hangs around for several weeks, months, even years - likewise with lyrics. Something tells me when it's time to complete the song. I've written lyrics for a few songs where someone else wrote the music, but more so I've written music to lyrics written by others. I usually compose my songs on guitar out of convenience, but sometimes use the piano. I consider myself a better guitarist than a pianist. I play piano like John Lennon - as a rhythm guitar. I would give anything to play like Billy Joel, Elton John, or Paul McCartney. Maybe someday. I have dedicated all of my songs to someone, usually a girlfriend at the time. I've written one song for each of my kids, and one for my mom. All of the others have been for women I've known. The most for one person is 66, with a few others with 25 or more. So far, I've not found anyone who wants me to dedicate "You Give White Trash A Bad Name" to them. During college, I would find myself tuning out professors in class and writing lyrics. I would then go to the music building or go home and put the lyrics to music. I remember once writing a lyric during class, and showing the girl next to me. She passed it around the class, and everyone giggled at me. It was Gimme, Baby ("when I get your lovin' I get weak in the knees, ready to roll over honey gimme a squeeze . . . every time our love we're making I can feel your body shaking . . ."). Oh well, at least it got a reaction. Looking back, I had a lot of depressing lyrics, but also some wonderful love songs. I try to vary the genre of my songs so they don't all sound the same. I don't worry if some of them are similar, or if the lyrics are similar. I figure out of several hundred songs, one of them may be successful. In 1980, after John Lennon's death, I lost my inspiration for writing, and didn't write another song for 14 years. I also went through a marriage and 3 children, which made it difficult to write. After my marriage was over, I regained my inspiration for writing, and have been writing ever since. I go through dry spells where I don't write for months and months, but then I find a renewed inspiration and write several songs in a few weeks. Since I've listened to some songs on the radio for 40 years, and don't know the lyrics, I guess you could say I'm more passionate about the music than the lyrics. I tend to listen to the voice as an instrument, hearing how it is said versus what is said. I do, however, like to write lyrics. I definitely prefer to write with a set rhythm and rhyming scheme. I usually follow a verse-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus-verse pattern, which was the formula used by Lennon-McCartney. If you want to make my day, tell me that one of my songs sounds like a Lennon-McCartney style. I suppose I will write songs until I no longer am able, or no longer inspired. Until then, I hope you enjoy my songs.
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