Actually the question shouldn't be "How do you write a love song?" We think it should be "Why should I write a love song?" And that's where the trouble starts.
Writing a love song is easy. Writing a good love song is nigh on impossible. The pitfalls are many and some of such consequence that lives can easily be ruined.
Any songwriter worth his, or her salt, has to have one or two of these in their repertoire, but frankly, it's best left as soil untouched.
The main problem about the love song is the subject matter. Not love itself, but the object of it's affections. You can't name them, because one day soon they may not be the love of your life. Even if they really are the love of your life there's absolutely no guarantee that you are going to remain the love of theirs. And there's nothing sadder than singing a love song to an old girlfriend. And there's nothing more dangerous than singing a love song to an old girlfriend when the new girlfriend is around.
You can't use a different name, a pseudonym, because that will almost certainly guarantee that you won't remain the love of their lives. Your love will never be convinced that any reference you make to someone of a different name is innocent. Frankly even specifying a gender in a love song is potentially unwise. Hair colour, eye colour, accent, pitch of voice, sexual preferences or favourite places, movies, songs, books and brand of tea are equally dodgy.
About all you can say in a love song is that you love someone, and you will love them forever. You might also get away with saying that you'll do anything for them (especially if it's impossible), but even here you have to be careful. If you carelessly let slip the contents of your first draft you might just find yourself obliged to compete in a triathlon immediately after having built a castle on Everest, by the hand you just self-amputated. If you're a girl you might just find yourself re-populating the world single handed.
So why should anyone try this daunting task? Honestly, it's a mystery. The best I can come up with is that it could be as an attempt to cure the writers block that invariably comes with the contentment of a new relationship. Once the rose tinted spectacles start to get dirty one inevitably starts to look for something you used to have before the relationship but seemd to have got cleaned out along with the colour faded underwear.
The second best I can come up with is that it could be an attempt to display that one is a sensitive and emotionally grown-up person. Of course it will probably fail to show sensitivity and almost certainly fail to sound grown up. However, it might be worth a try.
It might be the only way you get laid whether it's in a bed or a coffin. Only time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment