I’ve been singing and playing music for years, more than half of my life and it always annoyed me when I heard other musician’s say writing is the easy part. I’ve never felt that way about it. I’m not the kind of writer who can just decide to take my guitar out of its case and write a song. I mean, I guess I could if I really tried, but the songs I’m always most proud of, the ones that give me chills to sing at times, are those that are inspired. Whether it be from a fight with someone, or a scary dream I had, the song is inspired by an emotion I felt.
I’ve been told before that when people hear me sing, they can feel what I’m feeling. That is one of the highest compliments you can give me because that’s what my intention is. When I sing, I want someone to feel from it. And I don’t mean feel as in “I feel good because I like this song”, I mean really feel. If they can feel the anger I felt when I wrote that song, then I’ve done my job. If they can feel the love I felt when I wrote that song, I’ve done my job.
I remember when Eminem first started getting big, years ago. I was never a huge fan of rap/hip-hop, though I could respect those that had a talent for it. Well, I listened to his first few hits, and I was not overly impressed. I admitted that he had talent, but his stuff just wasn’t for me. But then I really had a listen to his entire album (The Marshall Mathers LP, 2000). When I heard, and I mean really listened to “The Way I Am” and “Kim”, my respect for Eminem rose sky high. When I listened to him rap those words, I could feel what he was feeling when he wrote them. I guess that’s why I’ve always called myself a lyricist. I’m not a poet, per say, but I believe in lyrics stating the ultimate truth about a song. So when a song has lyrics that don’t make any sense, it bothers me. I put a lot of thought, heart and soul into my lyrics because I want each song to tell a story of some kind.
Take my most recent song, “Time To Say Goodbye”. I didn’t write this song because I thought it would be nice to bring volunteers for that kind of work to the forefront. I am one of those volunteers. It astounds me how people react whenever they discover the volunteer work I do. They shut down and change the subject, they walk away, or they want details like it’s some sort of cable TV show. It’s real reality people, not TV reality! There are individuals out there who think their life isn’t worth living anymore, or that they don’t have anyone – well, in us (myself and my fellow volunteers), they do. It’s stressful work, but we do it because we care and we want those on the other end of the line to know that we care. There are already so many songs about depression and people wanting to kill themselves. So, I thought I’d turn the tables and write a song about those who don’t want people to kill themselves, and what it might be like for them. I don’t know if it’s worth anything to anyone else, but I’m pretty proud of it.
You can watch the video/listen to the song here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pp5d4su4fE
Beki