#49: Music Man

Music is not art. I'm almost at 50 songs now and I've noticed something. Poetry comes close to being art, an honest form of expression, more honest than talking or living or working. Then poetry becomes lyrics and they are now an approximation of the original art because lyrics have to have a meter and words that 'work' with the tune and the song. Then the lyrics are worked into a melody. It's almost impossible for the melody to perfectly enhance the true meaning of the original words. The music instead, seems to create a means for a listener to access the poet's world easier. So adding music is yet another approximation. Music approximates art. I love music and there seems to be nothing greater than composing music but it's not the work of an artist. I find that my best lyrics happen when I'm feeling close to the ground, honest, humble and generally melancholic. But melody and song structure need a comforting environment, support, good food and a calm mind to be created. So if anyone is wondering how I write songs that's how. I write lyrics frantically as if they're art and I write music calmly as the best approximation of that art. The final song is something on it's own; it's a song, an approximation of the truth and an approximation of art. I'm not going to Colombia. Instead I'm going to New Zealand in two weeks to collaborate with my friend Jon Dhama who can rip shit up on guitar and write great melodies. The boat sails on, iron grip on the tiller, heading for who knows what and a whole lotta songs.  Anyways, back to the cottage for a bit...


Don't you know I'm afraid of the stuff life is made of, of time, of time gone by and nothing having changed, Missing out on the story of music and glory, of rhymes, of rhymes and things that we need to say, And if I have just one reason, for committing treason, it's love.

I've got music on my mind, I will ditch you every time they call.
My singing voice is pretty shit but I have made the most of it, I've tried.
I got music on my mind, I will ditch you every time they call.
My guitar playing is pretty shit but I have made the most of it, I've tried.

With two roads to go down we look for a new sound, heavy, heavy is how we like to play. But with my band of locals we write our own vocals but it's hard, it's hard to write in the middle of the day, and music is alright and business dilutes life so we sing, we sing.