So, I was just starting to outline my article for the November issue when I got an email from Rachel Rocks letting me know that Thursday October 25th was “The ABSOLUTE DEADLINE”  “and,”  she added,  “It’s the BIG  25th Anniversary Issue, so we’re hoping it’s going to be an exciting one.”  Oh no!!!!  Double pressure.

    An approaching deadline, and it has to be a really good article. This is going to be tougher than I thought. Some people work best under pressure. I fold like a broken umbrella in the wind. But, I find with writing, and with performing, it’s good to have a degree of anxiety.  It can make you work “up to” the task at hand.  Just nervous enough to make you spontaneous and energized, but calm enough to know that you can do it. Sort of a “controlled panic.”

 I own a songwriting service. It’s called SongwritersForHire.com. I usually write some very simple drivel for guys who just want to apologize to their girlfriend because they got caught kissing her best friend, or a girlfriend telling her boyfriend how much he means to her, or some other crap like that.  But, I’ve had a couple different cases where I had song requests from people who actually wanted songs to record.  One of them was already a well known name in Christian Rock in England.   I didn’t know this when I wrote the first song for him.  If you are familiar with any of my songs that I record,  you know how funny the Christian Rock story is.  I wrote three songs on three separate occasions for the Christian Rocker over about a six month period. (No, I didn’t put any fat butts in these songs)  The third was the best. The first one showed my relaxed “who cares” attitude about the song, thinking it was for someone who just wanted to make a home recording and play it for his sweetheart and his mother.  The second one showed my nervousness in my attempts to write a great song for someone who I discovered was “sort of” a star and this song may be played in concerts and be recorded.  The third one joined the relaxed attitude with the anxious desire to do it right.  It’s not going to be a hit.  It’s certainly not my strongest genre.  Well mixed with the emotions but not the best ingredients.  You can’t get duck’s milk from....well, you can’t get duck’s milk from anything can you?

   Sometimes,  just when I’m wondering if anyone reads this article,  I get hit with some complaints, corrections and even occasional compliments about it.  I was doing my Meiserville Inn thing a few weeks ago when I got all of the aforementioned on the same night.  Robin and Whitey stopped by and Whitey had me sit down while he corrected me about some cracks I made about Bob Dylan.  Whitey does know his Bob Dylan history for sure.

   Then “The Mayor,” as we call him at Meiserville (actually he was the mayor of some local town down in that area....I’ve heard rumors of corruption in office, impeachment, etc,).  Anyway, “The Mayor” said to me “hey, dummy, why did you say no one listens to song lyrics?”  “I always listen to them.” Ok, so The Mayor reads my article....or has someone read it to him. I am, of course, joking about “The Mayor.”   He’s a great guy and is always there to support the musicians playing at Meiserville Inn. He did mention that part in my last article though so I guess he does read it.  I tried to get the Mayor to drop some money near Chuck Marciano so that when Chuck bent over to pick it up,  I was going to step on his hand.  The Mayor asked me why I would want to step on Chuck’s hand and I told him that Chuck played guitar just a little too good to suit me.  The Mayor said “Dave, it’s hard for some people to be jealous and not show it.”  So, now I’m trying to figure how to step on Chuck’s and The Mayor’s hands at the same time.   Jealousy and vindictiveness are two of my strongest traits.    Come to think of it, I’d have a lot of hands to step on at Meiserville with that attitude....they all play guitar better than me.

   So,  how about you practicing some writing under pressure?  I’ll give you an assignment.  Write one song for any well known heartburn medicine and have it done by tomorrow at 7 pm.  It must have a pre-chorus and be in your strongest genre.  Write it in a minor key that you don’t often use.  Maybe F#m?  That would be a good sounding key for that subject.  Come on...it will be fun.  Let me know how you made out.

   For my next article, I’d like to interview some of Pennsylvania’s singer songwriters.  Maybe just interviews by email with the singer songwriter telling me a good story.  I’m looking for stories from songwriters like you Chris Whitmer, Jim Gearhart and Mycenea Worley.  Drop me a line and tell me a funny or interesting songwriting story.  Or let me know your process for writing.  If nothing else, it will make my next article easier to write as I can just relay all the stories.....this is way too much pressure.  That last line will be a lot funnier to you if you are familiar with Tweak on South Park....otherwise it just sounds sort of whiney.

 

 

 

 

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