Blessing or Curse???

by Linda Perry
(Knoxville, TN)

I'm not sure if becoming a songwriter is a great blessing or a small curse. I had never written a song until 2009, and the lyrics seemed to rush out of my head . I couldn't write fast enough to get it all down and I was afraid I would forget the words before I could put them on paper. Who knows how or why that happens, but I don't think I am the only one who has had that experience.
For me, the first song was in a gospel genre. I had on occasion sang at church sometimes, although I am not a singer, our church is so small that we are grateful to anyone who will try to sing a solo. I had a captive audience and made them suffer through my song! But, I've never been so nervous in my life as the Sunday morning I rose to my feet and walked to the front of the church to sing my first composition. I was so afraid that I conned four friends into learning the song and singing it with me! That meant there was about 25 people left in the pews to hear it. But, no matter. The important thing was their reaction to the song. Luckily, they loved it and I recovered from shaking knees and trembling hands within a few minutes. So, as Sissy Spacek said when she portrayed Loretta Lynn in the movie about Loretta's life, "your momma is a dad gum song writer!"
I know there must be a million stories out there about a first writing experience and I'd love to hear them. I hope you will contribute to this site and to the newsletter. Can't wait to get my first copy.
I recently joined a local songwriter's group who were sponsoring educational programs for writers. I went to a workshop where the speaker was Kim Williams, who has had numerous #1 hits as a writer: Three Wooden Crosses cut by Randy Travis; Ain't goin' down til the sun comes up cut by Garth Brooks; Overnight Male by George Strait; Honky Tonk Truth cut by Brooks and Dunn; Fall in Love by Kenny Chesney; and the list goes on and on. They guy is really a walking encyclopedia of information on song writing and how to sell your song. I sat there for 4 hours listening to this giant of the music industry and trying to grasp all I could from the mountain of information that was passing through my head. It was then that I realized just how little I knew. Lots of terms I had never heard of; questions about pitching songs, which I had never really thought about doing, etc. I feel like a lump of clay that needs to be molded and the whole experience encouraged me to keep on keeping on, even though I was like a blind person in a strange room, just bumping into things, but, moving on to the next experience.
I say this because I realized that if I want to become a quality writer, whether published or not, I need to learn everything I can about the area of songwriting and music. The bad news is for a person who has no idea how to play instrument and whether a note if a C or and F#, I've got a very long way to go. The good news is that I am willing to trudge through all the mistakes I'll make and welcome critiques from friends and fellow writers. If we don't make mistakes, we'll never be successful.
By the way, I should mention that I just turned sixty-five years old and live in a wheelchair or on a walker all my waking hours. But, all the more reason to seek success in a new area. I am an original dancer from American Bandstand when it first came on the air. I had 5 years of successful modeling and then I retired after 30 years of national and international dance choreography, competitive coaching for couples and teams and as a Certified Master Judge I trained future Judges. I have been inducted into the UCWDC Hall of Fame in 2000. Oh well, one career down and another one on the way!! The photo is a TV program where Dick Clark and myself appeard, celebrating his 30th year in show business in 1982. Oh, those were the days! Thanks for letting me express my experience and thank you for your very, very nice website. I've read everything that's on it! Good luck to us and God bless.
Linda Perry