I have no real parameters here, it's a bad thing, but I'm just trying to make this a daily occurrence and I'll worry about serious marketing strategy later. I figure we'll keep this on a more personal level for now.
Something I realized a long time ago and once again it was pointed out to myself, by myself of course, that once I record a song I tend to forget it. Especially true if it was written in one of the ever changing open tunings that the Riversong lives in. I thought yesterday that I could record a live version of myself playing my first single, Birth of the King, but I couldn't remember how to play it. I only wrote the song a month or two ago and I recorded it almost right away. It's in open D and I never did manage a decent version of myself playing it live acoustic then nor now. I'll have to save that promotional tool for a song I know better. It's not to say I can't play songs live, just not that one apparently.
I have an interesting relationship to songs that I have written. While I feel that each song carries certain personal markers, lines from books or movies, references to my day to day, most often I wonder where exactly they might have come from. The typical pattern might be that the first two verses come quick and easy as well as the refrain and then I feel I am left to my own devices for the third verse, maybe that's why some songs repeat the first verse again for the third. I'm loath to repeat myself in a song, I don't even like using the same words unless it's for an effect, rarely if at all will I repeat the refrain at the end. I do repeat rhymes and themes from song to song, but voice and choice just go together so well. Some people say the words don't matter as much as the rhythm and melody, I would disagree, but the charts will probably prove me wrong. The hook is the most important thing, and it's not always the words. That being said I try to stand by what Willie Nelson said on the subject, “every line should be able to stand on it's own and lead to a different song.” That's a tall order, I like to hide double entendres throughout my songs that I'm sure is lost on most, I draw inspiration from Eminem, but I also like to be pretty straight forward. It doesn't matter in the end as the audience will put their own meaning to the words so I suppose I proved the point, they're not as important to some. I'll stand by the conviction that they matter in that they must make sense and take you somewhere else, and encourage you to sing along.
What do you think, what hits first for you in a song? Does it depend on the song? Has your relationship to a song changed once you learned the words? Have you over analyzed lyrics until you realize the song is actually really creepy? Some things are hidden in plain sight so they say.
I"m going to save my further thoughts on songwriting for another day, it's a topic I feel pretty confident about. Confident I really don't know what I'm doing but I know what I'm looking to hear and what I want to say and so if a song works it works and if not I don't stress myself. I don't normally like talking about it cause every time I do I seem to find a writers block as a reward for trying to brag about being a conduit for the universe to express itself. A reminder to stay humble I guess.