About the songwriting

The interpretation of a song is such a personal, subjective experience that for anyone, even the writer of the song, to spout forth as to its ‘real’ meaning is not only wrong, it can be destructive. At a certain point the song’s meaning isn’t determined by the writer anymore, it’s up to the individual listening, what they bring to the experience, their personal stories, viewpoints etc.– and the extent to which they decide to pay attention. The meaning of the song is what happens when what the writer wrote and what the listener brings - meet.

So I’m not about to go through the songs and say what they are each ‘about’ (although I do have some opinions). I’ve had a few people offer their own excellent interpretations which have been very cool and I’ve learned a lot from – thanks - but I’ve also had a good many people asking me to shed some light, for interest’s sake, on what these songs are actually about - cause they are a bit ‘different’. And so, for those people, I’d like to give an extremely general overview of what, for me, is going on here.

While the majority of these songs often give the vibe of being romantic songs about relationships, they are never ultimately about that for me. Although the ‘love song’ element is undeniable, it exists mainly as the vehicle to get us to yet another place. A place which also concerns an important relationship, but a relationship of a different order.

Terms such as “spirit” and “soul” have been so contaminated over the past 20 years that they’ve been rendered pretty meaningless, pretty useless. The upshot of the New Age (not the ‘new wave’!) movement that took off during the ‘80s has left us with a definition of a ‘spiritual experience’ as something achieved with candles and an aromatherapy bath. So we are left to hunt for better words in describing our relationship with those hidden aspects of ourselves that are revealed in sudden insights and intuitive knowing. These intangible parts of ourselves that we sense in the silence. We can’t put our fingers on it, can’t clearly talk about it – yet it feels crucial to our deeper layers – indeed, it is the self that we might privately refer to as ‘the real me’.

I think these songs are trying to open a dialogue with that part – or parts – of ourselves. Coming at in from different angles and perspectives, most of the songs address in it one way or another - from the outside-in or from the inside-out. These songs are attempts to make out the voices in the distance - to find the figures in the dark. They are a way of developing an awareness of that very secret self. It remains mysterious and evasive, yet it is our most fundamental, most intimate (and life-long) relationship.

That is how they seem to me. That has, at any rate, been the experience of writing them.

So I’ll leave it at that for now. I wouldn’t want to go any further on a public page lest I wreck a song for somebody by saying too much. But if you have any questions or thoughts about a song, or an image or choice made in a song, please feel free to write me and I’ll do my best to respond. (I’d love to hear your take on this stuff).

I’m a rather careful and slow writer. We hear frequently about this or that songwriter who whips off the lyrics in 5 minutes, or who ad-libs genius – who laid it down in one take, etc., and when it’s a good artist whom I admire I can only think, y’know, “wow”. But that isn’t how it goes for me – it takes me a long time. And I work hard to make sure it’s right – as right as I can get it, to make sure that everything you hear is ‘on purpose’.

We hear of songwriters who will choose a word or phrase without regard to its meaning, but because it sounded cool – because it felt right, or ‘fit’. Or there are those from the John Cage school who compile their lyrics by pulling random phrases from a hat. That’s fine too, but it’s not for me. When I listen to a song – as when I read a poem, listen to music, etc., – I’m hoping that the writer has done their best – has brought the whole of themselves to the piece and tried, in good faith, to communicate sincerely. When I can trust that that is the case - then I can also, in turn, bring the whole of myself to the listening, or the reading, or whatever, and there can be a communion there. Something profound can happen there. If I sense that is not the case then I turn off - I stop listening, as I imagine many do. Which is why, perhaps, so few people pay attention to the lyrics these days – very seldom does one get the feeling that there’s anyone really there at the other end.

So when there is someone there, doing what they can, I’m grateful for it and resolve to return the courtesy through my own writing. And out of respect for anyone who might be making the effort to actually listen, I do as I can to live up to that, to meet with you on a one-to-one, to compare notes on the journey, and to play my part in our reminding each other that there is so much we share, we are all here together.