NOTE FROM EDITOR: This is companion piece to Are You a Liar?, an opinion piece submitted by David Guilbault. If you haven’t read that piece yet, we’d suggest you start there, then come back here. It is our sincere hope that you will read both pieces and then respond via email to info@songwritersinseattle.com. Lucid responses may be published.
Am I a liar? You bet! I lie with regularity in songwriting. Well… exaggerate, make stuff up, talk about things that I can only dream of, fantasize about imaginary gobbledygook.
Here’s the deal – there is nothing like songwriting to key into the listeners emotions with stories real, made up, or imagined. I would not want to limit myself to one style, and I sure do love having my artistic license that I like to use to my own advantage.
Just thinking back to some tunes, I’ve written songs about capturing a Wombat, about the Bigfoot, a coyote, a seller at Pike Place market, and on and on. I’ve also bared my soul with pain and sorrow and written some mostly biographical goofy stuff.
Here are some lines from 4 different songs:
- “We’ve got brains as big as meatloaves but they do not think a thing.”
- We held a rock above our gleaming eyes and then we had a thought that made the monkey wise”
- “We could turn these stars to monsters or to glimmers in our eyes”
- “I said oh yeah I can I can be your Kahoona Woo Hoo.”
Hey – and that’s NOTHING.
As for love…
Yeah, love is a fantasy, The most marvelous, all-consuming, terrifying, and most captivating of all the emotions, in my humble opinion, and so is a never ending source of song inspiration, both real and imagined.
I choose both fiction mixed with truth and pure fiction without truth. Sorry folks, I just want to surprise you, or tell you something, or even tear your heart out. That’s songwriting to me.
How about your songs? Are they honest are they fantasy? I’d ‘love’ to hear what you think…
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