A lot of "singer songwriter" material comes under the rubric my Sidekick Pete Kraemer calls, "I Feel, I Feel" songs -- they're about the emotions of the singer (or whatever persona he/she has put into the song, though most of them are about the singer/writer). To that end, Pete, Joan Sprung and I concocted this (which is a lot like the "Song of Me" posted in a link above).


I Feel, I Feel


I feel I should tell you how I feel, I feel it's important to you.
I'd like to share my inner self; you must listen while I do.
My ruminations solipsistic
You might perceive as narcissistic,
But I think they're mystic   
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?
   Of course you do.

I feel the pain of every bite, and I feel you should, too.
I bear the stain of every slight -- I'll show them all to you.
These deliberations so dramatic
From my hidden-horrored mental attic
I prefer to spoken social static   
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?
   Of course you do.

[Bridge]
Oh, I have so much to say, I cannot think of a better way
Than to offer you my song today, and tomorrow, too.
I really feel you'll understand, it's all within a master plan,
You can believe, I know you can, and feel the way I do
....Be do be do...

I feel so in touch with my feelings at last; come walk a mile in my shoes.
I'll show you the place where I keep my face, in a case with a trace of the blues.
I bring these thoughts to you tonight,
My intellect is my delight,
I think I'm captivating, quite!
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?
   Of course you do.

[Bridge again, of course]
Oh, I have so much to say, I cannot think of a better way
Than to offer you my song today, and tomorrow, too.
I really feel you'll understand, we're all part of a mystic plan,
So reach out for my grasping hand, and feel the way I do
.... Be do be do...

Since childhood days I knew I had the strongest tendency
Toward tuning in the universe, and sensitivity --
These gifts I know are very rare,
I think I've got so much to share --
And modesty beyond compare,
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?
-- Of course you do!


Copyright ©1996, Bob Clayton, Pete Kraemer, Joan Sprung.

The tune is as monotonous as we could get away with, and the chord structure starts with CM7 / FM7 / CM7 ... and the melody note is the open 1st string. Some parts are intoned in the style of a well-known singer-songwriter with the initials of B.D., and the end of the bridge is as hokey as it looks.

Surprisingly, the song has not become a hit on the singer-songwriter circuit. I wonder why.

What it comes down to is style -- one can write a song and sing it (and for most of us, if we don't sing it, it don't get sung) -- and you're a 'singer-songwriter' if the style is distinguishable from traditional folksong. For example, Woody Guthrie was a singer and songwriter, but not a 'singer-songwriter,' while Tom Petty is a rock singer who writes his own songs, but is also not a 'singer-songwriter' to any great degree. Is Burt Bachrach a 'singwriter' (I got tired of writing it out, so I'm coining a new term)? How about Tom Lehrer?

Essentially, there is a style of music that is simple, folk-like-but-not-traditional, and personal (with an emphasis on the latter term) and not closely linked to rock or pop, that people call 'singwriter' music. The term is broad enough to be confused with 'folksong,' in the same way that people used to consider a 'solo performer with acoustic guitar' = 'folksinger". Cultural labels combined with business labels and even record labels means that terms such as 'singwriter' get tossed around whenever someone doesn't want to get more specific or doesn't know enough to get more specific.

So we have the term, and you'll hear it used many different, and often in diametrically opposed, ways. "Live with it," sez I.

Bob