Wow - thought this was going to be a technical thread. Everyone who has posted has written so poetically - it is obvious you would all write wonderful songs!

The issue of songwriting came up for me recently. A friend asked me to contribute one song to a CD project of lots of individuals performing a song of their choice. I've decided it would be cheating to sing someone else's song, so I've set myself the task of writing the definitive song of myself (with apologies to Walt!).

When performing, if you sing someone else's song - which you have already screened for good writing/goodmusic/likely to be appreciated by the listeners, there's really not much you can do to get it wrong (except sing off key etc!). The CHALLENGE is to sing something of your own, and maybe give even just one listener in the room a different perspective on life.

Having said that, my songwriting output in the past 10 years has been zilch, so of course I am relying on the rich and wonderful music that's already out there. But I know what I'd RATHER be singing.

Amos: I have seen one of Whitman's poems "The Great City" set to music. It's in four parts, with just chords written, so that it can be sung like a chant to the natural rhythm of speech. A worthy experiment, but it had us rolling around on the floor clutching our sides when we tried it!

--Callie