I wish I could write songs. I seem to be able to write a few lyrics here or there, perhaps a decent chorus occasionally. But they never come together into a full song, really. And music... don't even get me started on music. That might be half the problem right there. I can carry someone else's tune just fine. But when I try to put my own together - it comes out either sounding exactly like a song that already exists (because it probably is) or like a jingle that a commercial might use to sell kitty litter.
In my conversation with Ryan Delmore last fall in Asheville, though, I was actually presented with a perspective that was very foreign language from what I'd been hearing the whole week, "Not everyone is a songwriter..." I know, right? Being a part of a movement - like the Vineyard - that has deep roots in music, this was a somewhat shocking thing to hear. You mean everyone that can strum a guitar isn't going to write an awesome song that will end up on "WOW! Worship" in a year or two? But what was even more important to me was the thought that followed, "...but that's not something you should necessarily sit around feeling bad about."
It reminds me of the passage in 1 Corinthians about spiritual gifts. If the foot feels bad that it's not a hand, it doesn't make it any less a part of the body. It's just meant for a different role. And every part of the body functions in an important manner.
So I'll probably still try writing a song every now and again. And I'll more than likely either not finish it or be dissatisfied with the results if I do. But that doesn't mean the music will stop. I can keep playing it and singing it, even if it's written by someone else.
And I will.
Tim you may not write songs but you do something that i love to do as well and that is make someone elses song your own. I love doing it because deep inside me there is a drive to take good things and make them better either overall better or just better for me. Freedom Doxology Tim K version> Whatever that band is called that wrote it... You don't need to write songs but you should definitely try to and don't worry about whether or not it sounds like something you've ever heard before or not. And enlist help! sometimes the best idea's or lyrics need a tweak from someone who knows you well. You got a wife... ask her! haha Heather helped me refine the lyrics to that song i played for you guys on saturday. Without her help i wouldnt be nearly as confident in that song. She refined the lyrics of the loudest part of the song! and what's music if it's not incorporated with community collaborations. and if you do write something small and good save it forever because you never know when you'll find it again and have a more defined sense of where it came from to start with. Keep up the music my friend you are gifted indeed.
ReplyDeleteWord. I remember reading somewhere that Bob Dylan would keep a pencil and paper next to his bed - so if he woke up with a lyric in his head, he could write it down. Then he'd put those slips of paper into a drawer and when it came time to write a song, he'd just gather all the little snippets and piece them together into a "musical mosaic", if you will. Don't know if that's true or if it'd an urban legend. But I kind of like the idea. Now if I only had a bedside table.
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