when you know your song is good?

[Greeny]

do people stll like santana

oh please.. he's the best guitarist ever and one of the best musicians alive.

Well, I suppose he's currently better than Hendrix and Rory Gallagher, lol

[AndyR]

I'm afraid Santana kinda leaves me cold. He's a class guitarist and all that, but he just doesn't make me feel anything. I was pretty much the same with Gary Moore... Watch him live, it was great, but a recording (even a live one) I just get bored.

By the way, if it hadn't said Santana on it, I would have guessed it actually was Gary Moore playing an instrumental a little bit like Parisienne Walkways! (And I would have said "er, has he run out of ideas then?!")

But, hey, different things float different people's boats


Anyway, you know your song is "good" when just one other person lets you know that they like it (even if you don't sometimes!).

When you've done it enough times, you'll probably know a new one is good when you've finished it, before anyone else hears it.

If your usual audience doesn't take to it, doesn't mean you were wrong either. They've got their own personal tastes. If you step outside that, they might not take to it, but usually someone else will. It's even possible you've written a good song that you can't do justice to - but someone else can.

Songs is funny things.

[T.C. Elliott]

I was in on a discussion about how most of the time the last one you wrote is your favorite or your best... even if only for a little while. I was lucky to get a darn good one many years ago that will always be my best even if it isn't. So I don't really ever get the feeling.

I would say if you think the song is what it should be then it's good. It may not be popular. It may not even be accessible. But it is what it's suppose to be.
I almost said if the song was what you intended, but I find sometimes the song is something other than I intended. Rarely, but sometimes it's more than what I intended.
And this conversation could lead me to a lot of places, but I'll simply end with this: If the song speaks to you then it is a good song.

[IanR]

I agree with TC

I would also add that if you can listen to it a year or so later - either live or recorded - and it still speaks to you, then it is probably a good song.  I listened to some old recordings of mine last night and was cringing a bit when some of the oldies came along.  Not my best work!!

I like to see some kind of emotion from the person listening to it.  Even if it is not the one you expected.  As long as that emotion does not lead to violence upon the songwriter

[maxit]

Oh, unfortunately I know when I hear a good song - when I'm driving in my car and can't stand from crying for the beauty of it, or for the feeling of it, then It's a good song ... a bit dangerous for driving but quite sure a method ;-)

[andy casson]

...when you hear your girlfriend / wife humming or singing it.

...when you get 2+ pages of comments on songcrafters, lol.

...when people request it at an open mic because they remember you doing it last time.

Bloody hell - hell will be frozen over a million years before that happens in my house!!!

My 2p worth is that it is about the combo of lyrics and music evocing an emotional response - Hey Jude Refrain, won't get fooled again or Sunday Bloody Sunday live etc.....

[maxit]

...when you hear your girlfriend / wife humming or singing it.

...when you get 2+ pages of comments on songcrafters, lol.

...when people request it at an open mic because they remember you doing it last time.

Bloody hell - hell will be frozen over a million years before that happens in my house!!!

In mine I get paid to stop singing

[vigwig]

My test for how good  a song is (or was), it could be put on my record-playerand the "hold-down thingy" could be swng to one side and the record would play over and over, allowing you to zone out t the max.  "Bits and Pieces", "Black is Black", "I Fought the Law", "Cathys Clown", "Hello Helllo" and "it Hurts to be in Love". And at 2:47 into the song in paticuar- you can crank up the stereo utill it rattles the doors
http://youtu.be/wccLRtQ3xuo

[dragonshade]

When I come out of the bedroom last night after writing the lyrics to the chorus of a very emotional song I have been working on, and read them to my wife (who usually gives a lukewarm.. that's good).. and she says OMG. I am am like "what..." (thinking there is prolly a spider on the wall).... and she says.... that is BEAUTIFUL.

[Oldrottenhead]

when my song makes someone cry


wait a minute, maybe  it's cos they are so bad ??