I have recently been reminded of something that we as songwriters tend to forget: If we were to follow the advice we so candidly and unwittingly give ourselves and others, some of our best songs would never be written! What is this horrible advice? It a little four word saying: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. Sometimes, it is worded differently, for instance in my last article: You can’t write it if you don’t live it. While these sayings may be somewhat useful, they tend to be restricting, and more often than not the saying is understood to mean, ONLY WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. That is very bad advice.
What if we really did follow our own misguided-advice? The world would never hear many amazing songs! So what can you do? Write what you feel. Emotions are a universal language, everyone has felt angry, sad exhilarated, depressed, Put those things in your songs and everyone will be able to identify with them. No matter what you write about, if you can feel it, if you can put feeling into it, your song will be ten times better than it would have been without emotion.
It’s feeling, not knowledge, that will touch people’s hearts, no matter if they’ve ever experienced the things you’re writing about, You can be assured that they have felt what you’re writing about! How many times have you listened to those old Flatt CD’s, or even been to a festival and heard a newer song, and said, “ I know that, I’ve done that, I’ve been there!”? The song may or may not have had anything in common with YOUR life, nothing that is, except the emotion, but that is exactly what you identified with!. When you write with feeling instead of “writing what you know”…
1. There will be no limit to what you can write about!
2. You’re writing skills and imagination will be strengthened.
