Beyond MP3: The Truth About Songwriting

Allow me to share a personal story with you. Yesterday I went to the wedding reception of a collaborator/friend of mine. A woman approached me, saying she remembered me from a workshop we had taken together five or six years ago. I was embarrassed to admit I didn't remember her. However, she was gracious enough to tell me that not only did she remember me, she remembered a specific song I had brought to the workshop. It was a song I had written with a collaborator in order to help her confront an early memory of sexual abuse -- not exactly an easy or commercial subject. The woman at the wedding told me that when she heard that song, it touched her in a way that made her realize there was a place in the world for her own truths. As she handed me her CD when I was leaving the wedding, she said, "I didn't really realize it until I saw you, but it was that night - that song - that led me to write this CD." Apparently, after that night, the journey of her writing took a different, braver turn. She began to write more songs that she really wanted to write, using her "voice." I felt honored to dare think my writing had encouraged one other person so intimately. It resounded in me as loudly and richly as a stadium full of people.

I believe every writer, most likely, has a similar story, whether he or she knows it or not. I didn't know I had one.

Her sharing of that fact came to me at a time when I needed the encouragement for my own reasons. So in a way, she returned the favor, reminding me of the very thing she had gleaned from me years before: that songwriting is primarily about the sharing of truths. At its best, it is a generous, heartfelt endeavor, whether it reaches one person or millions.

We all have the power to inspire each other.

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