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Post by Kathy on May 25, 2013 8:34:36 GMT -5
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/simple-or-impossibleMeasure for Measure: How to write a song and other mysteries. Painfully aware of the who-what-when-where hocus-pocus that constitutes the journalistic game, I beg the editors’ pardon because illiteracy is part of my stock-in-trade. I write songs where “orange” rhymes with “gorgeous” and “chin” with “gasoline.”.........
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Post by timx1386 on May 25, 2013 9:10:21 GMT -5
Wow, awesome! What a great article. i somehow missed his previous piece in the paper and I'm glad they linked to it. Both articles were heartwrenching but in very different ways
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Post by FreeRider on May 25, 2013 9:32:51 GMT -5
good stuff! I hope this essay is a harbinger of more things to come from Paul.
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Post by wecantgetanybetter on May 25, 2013 12:49:39 GMT -5
I wonder if this grew out of his work producing The Silks' record.
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Chris
First Class Scout
Posts: 156
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Post by Chris on May 26, 2013 5:30:33 GMT -5
It's as thought this is the missing piece from Come Feel Me Tremble - "the trick, the trick is there's gotta be goosebumps"
When I first heard "My Road Now" I immediately got goosebumps.....
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Post by TomT on May 26, 2013 7:14:09 GMT -5
Glad to see Paul is still out there working. Pretty decent writer too. Now if only he would consider his own book. I'D buy it!
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Post by Veets on May 27, 2013 9:00:18 GMT -5
Wonder what prompted this?
Anyhow, it's nice to see Paul get some exposure.
Didn't he say before that Tommy was his b.s. detector? Must have been for non-goosebumps songs. (un-goosebumps songs?)
Is "49" Paul purging "brain vomit "? There are some gems in there that maybe he shouldn't give up on.
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Jer
Beagle Scout
Posts: 1,183
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Post by Jer on May 27, 2013 10:03:30 GMT -5
I wonder if he's talking about the book Tunesmith by Jimmy Webb. It's a great read for songwriters.
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Post by wiser's deluxe on May 31, 2013 1:16:41 GMT -5
as someone who sweats over a keyboard for a living, Paul hits that bottle-cap on the head. dead-smack on. perfect in its imperfect ending, too.
he's wonderfully inciteful and lucid in his writing style, which certainly translates into his song-writing skills, reflecting his voice. it ain't easy, and then it is, and for someone who picked this thing up on the fly at a young age, he's got it. hell, his ability to play with lyrics has helped me out in more than one pinch on deadline. a shot of whisky helps, too.
make mine, Wisers, of course.
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Post by towilmusic on Jun 1, 2013 5:51:43 GMT -5
What perfect timing. I just read at the bottom of page 237 of Bob Mould's "See a Little Light";
"The next 5 minutes were completely improvised and the version that made the album was that first take and only attempt at recording and, in fact, writing - the song.
As the years continued, I further explored that elusive spot, that magic moment lying between unconcscious creativity and conscious performance."
Which to me is where all of my influences lie, Westerberg, REM, Lennon; there's magic in those early takes and for me who's never had any luck in the studio due to time restraints, budget or lack of, my voice, etc. and so on....that "elusive spot" is all I mostly have.
I much prefer to listen to's Lennon's "Anthology" than any of his studio stuff these days, esp. disk 4. The bastardization of what the other 3 fabs did to "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" should be criminal...hahahh
Obviously, Paul is the king of finding that magic moment and REM lost it around the time of their last decent record "Green", its super cool hearing such accomplished/professional songwriters talk about their struggles with it.
Music is like any other art, you have to work, strive, put your blood and guts into and if at 1st it doesn't work....DO IT AGAIN. Shellie gets sick of me telling her "Honey I've written my Best Ever" for the 1,000th time -BUT- its true, that search for the perfect moment is where the fun lies for me.
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Post by brianlux on Jun 3, 2013 1:17:47 GMT -5
"I beg the editors’ pardon because illiteracy is part of my stock-in-trade." Paul, the master of irony. If this is illiteracy, I'm all for it and could read this kind of work all day. Dare we hope for more? Yes!
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Post by landshark on Jun 3, 2013 11:26:31 GMT -5
Very cool ... hitting a bottle cap with a coat hanger. After examining the lyric sheet for "Crackle and Drag," which completely puts the lie to the illiteracy claim, I am convinced that our man does indeed know a thing or two about dyslexia ... look how he spelt slept
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Post by FreeRider on Jun 3, 2013 20:09:08 GMT -5
Music is like any other art, you have to work, strive, put your blood and guts into and if at 1st it doesn't work....DO IT AGAIN. Shellie gets sick of me telling her "Honey I've written my Best Ever" for the 1,000th time -BUT- its true, that search for the perfect moment is where the fun lies for me. towilmusic, check out the interview and articles thread. This is what Paul had to say in one of them about songs and songwriting: Q: What's the feeling you have when you've got a good one? A: It's a great feeling. And it's almost sad, too, because it flashes through your mind that the greatest moments of your life will almost always be spent alone. Playing live with the guys is great, but it's not like writing by yourself when there's no one around. For that hour or two you feel like you've got a purpose and a place in life. You think you're hot shit and pat yourself on the back, and then that fades. paulwesterberg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=generalpw&action=display&thread=7060&page=3 |
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Post by anarkissed on Jun 3, 2013 23:08:17 GMT -5
You struggle through a bunch of half-baked ideas and things that you never really finish...You have those moments where you think you've really hit on something, then you look at it later and think: "Geez, this was crap!" But I like those ones you never thought much of to begin with, you forget about, then you stumble across much later and realize: "That was actually kinda good..."
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