Songwriting
Corey Stewart – “Shadows”
“Shadows” was written after the breakup of a pretty messy relationship, a relationship which was characterized by me having to walk on eggshells for most of it.
In the song I try to conceptualize the feelings of nervousness and anxiety I was going through at the time.
Having your words and actions questioned by your partner all the time was not a pleasant situation to be in however, in saying that I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process.
Here is the song for your listening pleasure…
Shadows
© C. Stewart 1999
It’s only one word
That’s all that I ask of you
I don’t ask for much
But it seems like that I’ve asked for the world
You say that it’s okay
And everythings forgiven now
But no matter what you say
It never fits with what’s in my mind
I’m walking away, walking in circles
Looking through windows
A prisoner of my own mind
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
I’m trapped in this lifetime, it’s never-ending
Due to my sorrow
Shadows and lifetimes
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
My smile has disappeared
It’s been replaced by all my fears
Fears I’d thought were gone
But now have come to haunt me again
I dare to say a word
Just in case you hear me wrong
It’s still the common thing
Even though we are apart
I’m walking away, walking in circles
Looking through windows
A prisoner of my own mind
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
I’m trapped in this lifetime, it’s never-ending
Due to my sorrow
Shadows and lifetimes
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
**************************************************
Of course, any comments or feedback is most welcomed.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, corey stewart
Corey Stewart – “Honey Child”
The last originals band I put together was a funk/groove outfit called Orangutang back in 2004 (hence the name of my business Orangutang Music).
The music we played wasn’t the acoustic singer/songwriter stuff that you can listen to on my Music page however, this song demonstrates how one idea and a bassline can be transformed into something special with the right players at your disposal.
And I must say, I’ve been very fortunate to have played with some really talented players. The kind of players that you learn things from every time you jam with them.
Orangutang existed between 2004-2006 and was comprised of:
- CS – Bass, Vocals
- Ross Neilsen – Guitar
- Leo Auri – Keys
- Jarrad Payne – Drums
Honey Child
(C.Stewart) © 2005
You are the one that makes my heartbeat race
You make my mind go all over the place
You are the one that makes my life complete
I love you baby from your head to your feet
I’m mesmerized by your eyes of blue
You know that I’ll do anything for you
I like the way you look I like your style
You got a body that just drives me wild
You’re my honey child
Honey Child
You’re my honey child
Honey Child
I feel obliged to absolutely say
I think about each and every day
And every time you come home at night
I wanna be there just to treat you right
I’m a better man for being with you
You give me all the strength to do what I do
How many times can I show you my love?
I wanna let you know that once is never enough
Chorus
Instrumental
One and one is two I know
The good and bad go with the flow
My life is yours and yours is mine
Together ’till the end of time
One and one is two I know
The good and bad go with the flow
My life is yours and yours is mine
Together ’till the end of time
Chorus
**************************************************
Have a listen, give feedback if you so desire, let me know what you think but most importantly… Enjoy!
Until next time, happy writing
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, songwriting zen, corey stewart
Corey Stewart – “Billboard Angel”
I know, I know. Some of you are thinking “…when is that Corey Stewart guy gonna put up more of his songs?”
Well, I’ve been going through my songwriting archives and old demo recordings and I’ve found some songs to put up on Songwriting Zen. This is the first of many.
The song is called “Billboard Angel” and I wrote it with a good friend of mine Jeff Smith. The song focuses on a guy in love with a woman on a billboard and his struggles with his emotional connection to her.
This song is a great example of collaboration at work. I came up with the musical idea and a bit of a melody but the “guy falling in love with a billboard angel” was Jeff all over.
Even though we wrote it in 2002 it’s still one of my favourite songs to play live.
Enjoy…
Billboard Angel
(C.Stewart/J. Smith) © 2002
I always look to you when I’m feeling down
And you’re eyes follow mine as I move through town
It’s hard not to notice when your thirty foot high
It doesn’t worry me if you’re selling a lie
Some people think that you have the answer
To every single need
Others say that you’re an intrusion
But they don’t understand, can’t you see
You’re a particular kind of lady
Who’s not at all afraid to show her wares
To anyone who is passing
A user-friendly product with drams to share
I feel like that I know all about you
I read it in the papers and magazines
Of your holidays in Majorca
I see it so clearly in my sleep
When I’m home at the end of the day
And the lights go out at night
I caress the very thought of you
I know it sounds wrong but it feels so right
Chorus
You overlook this city, like an angel
I know you’re watching over me
One day I’ll reach the stars, and touch you on the way
I like to think its destiny
I wonder how long you’ll be up there
Before you’re replaced by another girl
I know I can’t buy what I’m feeling
Even with all the money in the world
**************************************************
Feel free to critique, give feedback or post comments.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, songwriting zen, corey stewart
I’m Back!
Hi everybody. It’s me, Corey from Songwriting Zen. Remember me?
I know it’s been a long time between drinks and for that I sincerely apologise. I had to take some time off because I just burnt myself out and I couldn’t physically keep up with all the demands I was putting on myself.
You see, I have a problem with saying “no” to things and because of this, I stretch myself and my resources to the very limit and burn out to an inch of my life in the process. My two month “break” was the end result of one of these episodes.
How could this happen? Well, in my case I didn’t know I was burning out until I was in the middle of it. I’m not very good at catching myself out early enough, but I am learning.
Boy, am I learning!
The reason why I’m telling you this is that, because of what has happened I’m forever reminded that being a songwriter is more than just being able to write songs. It’s also about being able to function as a whole creative being.
Having a healthy mind, a healthy body and a healthy creative space goes a very long way in having healthy, creative outcomes. Being able to balance your creative life between work, family, partner, friends and is vital in maintaining some sense of clarity of purpose and sanity.
Sadly, I was lacking in all of these areas and I suffered for it.
I have spent the last couple of months purging a lot of activities from my life and/or finishing up some projects in which I had inadvertently bitten off more than I could chew. I’m happy to say that I’m feeling a lot better now and I’m feeling like writing again.
I did miss posting to Songwriting Zen over the last couple of months but at the same time I just couldn’t bring myself to do so. Until now.
I have learnt a lot of lessons of late and I’ll be posting them here from time to time. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt is that I can’t be all things to all people. It’s ok to say NO.
As songwriters, we need to be true to ourselves in what we do and that means if we have to say NO to something in order to maintain that truth then, so be it.
Don’t do what I did and wait until it’s too late.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, writing, songwriting zen, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart
Songwriting – The More You Know, The More You Need To Learn
To master the craft of songwriting you must first embrace the fact that there’s always something to learn about it.
The more you know the more you need to learn.
I know of some songwriters that are either bored or restless with their craft. They complain that everything that they do all sounds the same. They feel that they’re not expanding and growing as songwriters.
In life, there are people that do things and people that don’t do things. Which category a songwriter falls into is not determined by genetics, it’s all determined by attitude.
As a songwriter, it’s determined by you and you alone.
One of my goals for 2008 is getting advanced musical theory and guitar lessons. I’ve mentioned this to a number of friends and they all ask me “why?”
My reply to this question is “why not!”
I have been playing music and writing songs since I was 12 (I’m 37 now) and besides learning clarinet and studying music theory and composition in high school I have not had any tuition in my life.
I am mostly a self taught musician.
It would be arrogant of me to think that I have nothing else to learn so I’m going to find out where my learning gaps are and I’m then going to fill them in with new knowledge.
Doing this can only make me a better songwriter and musician in general.
My advice to anyone regarding learning an instrument to help you with your songwriting is threefold:
1. If you’ve ever considered learning an instrument. Consider no more, start learning.
2. If you already play an instrument consider getting lessons for it no matter how proficiant you are. The more proficiant you are at your instrument the more important your choice of tutor will be.
3. If you already get lessons, make more of an effort to practise, find the time to do it. Challenge yourself with the lessons, try to feel your mind expand with the knowledge you gain from it.
Seek out books on songwriting, buy them and read them. Take notes and do what is needed to assimilate the new knowledge into your songwriting process.
Go onto the web and sign up to songwriting resources, forums, and communities. Ask lots and lots of questions.
In your research you’ll come across people you feel comfortable communicating with, keep in contact with them. Network and expand your relationships.
If you want to contact me and ask questions feel free to do so, just contact me through this blog and I will get back to you.
In short, get out of your comfort zone.
If you feel you have been spending precious energy complaining and not enough energy doing then stop, re-evaluate and change your attitude towards your songwriting.
It can be done, I know because I have done this for myself.
Reward yourself (and your songwriting) by embracing new knowledge and you will never, ever look back.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, writing, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting technique, songwriting blog, songwriting idea, corey stewart
Songwriting – What Comes First? Words Or Music?
If I asked 100 songwriters that question I reckon I would get 100 different answers.
I can’t speak for all songwriters but I would like to share with you my personal answer to what I feel to be the most commonly asked question in songwriting.
First of all lets look at the definition of what makes up a song. I am an Australian so my songs are registered with an organisation called APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) and I have adopted my definition from theirs.
According to APRA (I am sure every other royalty collecting society around the world has a similar definition) a song is comprised of two components:
1. Lyrics
2. Melody
Everything else is just the musical arrangement. It took me many years to figure that out.
What defines a song is not the chords you play on guitar but the words and how you sing it.
More often then not if a well known song has been covered by another artist, the arrangement would have been changed but the integrity of the melody and (especially) the lyrics are kept intact.
It’s very important not to mess around too much with these two components because the covered song still needs to be recognised by the listener. If the listener sings the words and hums the tune then the song has a better chance of being remembered.
The same goes for a song that you write yourself. Generally the listener doesn’t care if there was a Gmaj7 chord in the arrangement or not.
For me, songwriting and the guitar go hand in hand but I always used to write complete arrangements and then try to fit lyrics and a melody to it. I personally feel that its the hardest way of doing things.
Nowadays I fit my guitar arrangements around a melody which was inspired by words (or the rhythm of those words). With this in mind I’m finding I’m writing much more than I used to.
The question of whether music or words should be written first will never be answered but as songwriters we need not concern ourselves with such trivial matters.
Most of the time for me the words (generally a song title in the first instance) come first now and the melody second then the arrangement last however, as soon as I try to make a rule out of this an exception comes along.
Just concentrate on the activity of writing and with the more songs you write the more you will work how you will do things.
No matter how you look at it, writing songs is a personal experience for the songwriter and the process of how one writes is as many and varied as the amount of songwriters in the world.
Thank goodness for that.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting zen, corey stewart
Songwriting – What Is It Really?
“Whoa!!” You maybe saying to yourself.
To a songwriter that question is like asking a philosopher “what is the meaning of life?”
The reason why I’m asking is that I feel that we as songwriters generally overlook the most important aspects of what we do. WRITING!
Lets look at the word SONGWRITING. The dictionary.com meaning is:
“Writing the music and words of songs.”
That definition sort of gives us a clue but I reckon it doesnt go deep enough. I propose the meaning should be something like this:
“The process in which a song is created using words and melody”
The word SONGWRITING is comprised of two words, song and writing. It seems pretty obvious but the song is the end result of a process and the writing part is the process.
Get it!! Without the writing there is no song.
It’s a simple concept isn’t it? But it’s amazing how many songs aren’t written rather than the ones that are.
You see, you can talk all you like about verses, choruses, middle-eights, bridges, pre-choruses, the length of the intro and hooks and so on but without the physical activity of writing all of that theory is meaningless.
Personally songwriting is much, much more than the song itself. To me its a whole process. It’s a discipline, a meditation, a way of life really. Without the song writing process the end result (the song) would not exist.
In later posts I will be discussing about how you can adopt your own songwriting process and take action over your writing rather than waiting for inspiration to come your way.
But until then, happy writing
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting zen, corey stewart
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