when you know your song is good?

[T.C. Elliott]

Or possibly I know it's good when it makes ME cry.

[AndyR]

I'm kind of rethinking my views on this... What I posted before hasn't really changed, but I've learnt some stuff recently...


I rarely actually know whether a song is "any good" until other people tell me it's good - and I often don't really believe them...

But I always think it's good if I continue working on it or finishing it.

I'm talking about the song itself here, NOT the recording or performance - that's something entirely separate in my head.

Unfortunately, for other people to hear a song, you either have to perform it ok or manage to capture a recording that sounds like it's being performed ok...

Now, I have to admit, that something weird happened to me recently. A few weeks back I went and listened to all my existing recordings with different ears. I don't know what put me there (well, I do, someone I was trying to impress, who I think is utterly amazing, suddenly stopped me and asked me if I actually realised what it was that I was creating). Anyway, I managed to listen to them all as if I wasn't the person who'd written the songs and made the recordings. I was a bit surprised (I was actually in tears)... they're all, even the naff ones, a LOT better than I personally thought they were...

... it seems that that's how much I don't know whether a song is any good.

And I suspect that we're all in the same boat about our own stuff.

I always hope it's good, that's why I'm prepared to make it public. But, so far, as I post them, and as I read people's comments, not a single one of these recordings/songs have ever been as good as they should have been. I always seem to find someone else's song that seems even better to me. And, for me, it's always slightly clouded by that... and that's what spurs me on to try harder again next time (even though I'm proud of achieving whatever it is I've just posted).

But what this strange experience has taught me personally, or rammed it home, anyway... is that you don't really know it's any good until someone else thinks it is - and you should be happy to listen to them if they tell you


I'd advise anyone to try this experience I went through, though:

Grab a bunch of your recordings, the ones you're proudest of, grab a glass of wine or whatever, and find a quiet corner to listen to them, just you. You're listening, not creating, nor critiquing. Try to turn off the "It should have been better" and the "I can't play as well as I should be able to", and the "I've run out of ideas"... Also turn off the person that can hear the bum notes and the digital clipping... Instead, just listen like a stranger would - look for the good bits, enjoy the things as they are, somebody did their best to create these things for you to listen to, for you to take them or leave them as you want.... Try to pretend you're me or anyone else who isn't you - DO NOT let "you" do the listening like you always do...

... and then give yourself a great big hug and get on with creating something else even better

[Oldrottenhead]

andy,
 i have always felt a bit of distance from your own songs, lets you see them as they really are. when writing and recording you can get too close to the wood to see the trees. fret over every nuance, hear only the faults etc. but then when a song of yours comes up on the on this day player, you can hear the song. my problem is my poor musical skills mean most of my songs will be like rough sketches or ideas. i can never recreate the sounds i have in my head (that's a plug in i would buy).

then there is the other side of the coin, you have just finished a song and you think to yourself "hey that's pretty cool" then a year later it comes up on the on this day player and you want to delete it. haha.

but every now and again i do something that moves another human being aside from myself. i think perhaps that is a major motivation for most of us.

[Hilary]

when my song makes someone cry

You're the only Songcrafter that's made me cry to date Jim and we are talking uncontrollable sobbing!

I don't really think it matters whether someone else likes your songs, it's what you think that counts - there will always be people out there that like it and those that don't but once it's out there you've got to live with it (approximate quote from Annie Lennox). Whether it's popular/commercial or not, well that's a whole different ball game.

This site is rammed to the rafters with people who have no idea how seriously talented they are.

[Oldrottenhead]

 ive actually made a few people cry now. 

i think this one might have made a few folk scream https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=7175.0 

[AndyR]

This site is rammed to the rafters with people who have no idea how seriously talented they are.

A big +1 to that

[Hilary]

This site is rammed to the rafters with people who have no idea how seriously talented they are.

A big +1 to that

You're included in that one btw

[AndyR]

And you!!

[suburban behemoth]

... when someone hums it in the elevator .. 

GUILTY!

[bruno]

I'm a great believer in pleasing yourself first, and if anyone else likes its, then its a bonus.  How do I know if a song is good? Well, if I think its good and I enjoying listening to it many times, and it make me smile and I'm proud of it - then that's a good song for me.

Sometime's you post something that you think is good, and get no reaction, zilcho. That doesn't mean it not a good song, just means your tastes don't align or people haven't given it a chance. Sometime great songs require many listens for you to realise that yo like them - sometime a song doesn't grab you immediately, On this site, with so many to listen it real hard to do that.

You can write to people's tastes, to produce instantly like-able songs - but I love the creative process, trying to produce something different or unique (now that is difficult).

So - to answer the question - how do YOU know that your song is good. The one phrase that spring to mind, was the singer in my old band - who said a good song is one that 'moved' people - not necessarily made them cry (which is included), but made them laugh, cry, be happy, be angry etc - and that is the best definition of a good song in my mind. If you think its good, then some else will also thinks it's good also - that may be one or many.

Will it be 'successful', now that is a different question :-)

B.