Keeping the pen out of your hand as much as possible is the best way to write a song, in my estimation. But the pen must come in to tighten it up.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.
I started putting down my own pen and spending some time searching for the best songs out there possible. It doesn't matter if I wrote them or not.
If I try to write a song, I will completely fail to write a song. But if I'm just holding my guitar and I just start humming, then I'll have a song in an hour.
If I could write directly on a typewriter or a computer, I would do it. But keyboards have always intimidated me. I've never been able to think clearly with my fingers in that position. A pen is a much more primitive instrument. You feel that the words are coming out of your body and then you dig the words into the page.
Before I could even hold a pen I was singing.
There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.
The fun thing about song writing is that it's just creative. It can be whatever you want it to be. For me, I'm really protective of that. I'm not going to write something because I feel like it fits here or it fits there - I just want to write music that feels good to me, you know?
It's never easy to write a song. It's the most difficult thing I do.
I've always written by hand. Mostly with a fountain pen, but sometimes with a pencil - especially for corrections.
Writing a song is actually quite easy. Writing a good one is very, very difficult.