Who forgets their own songs?

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Jim Lad
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 10:53 AM

I've screwed up my own songs, on stage, more times than I care to remember. Thanks yous! I won't bother getting tested now.
Good Morning All,
From the drizzly Highlands.
Jim

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 06:18 PM

I only forget my own work. Songs, dialogue, stories. I almost never forget other songs.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 01:22 AM

Oddly eonough, I tend not to revise my songs much... which might explain a few things... so the version you hear me sing is usually the version I wrote first.

I have been known to start writing a song at the beginning of the morning session and sing it at the end.. twice now that's happened, they're both songs I've been asked to repeat or share with other singers and they're the ones I have least trouble in remembering.

Perhaps that's the key. By overworking a lyric, we take out the spontenaety, the very thing that made it worth singing about in the first place. It's the bits that we remember that are worth remembering. If you have trouble recalling the revision, then maybe it's because the revision isn't the right one yet. I can remember odd lines I wrote 20 years ago that have not yet made it into a song, because I can't find a way of working them in. Still they persist in my memory banks, just waiting for the right place to bust out and join in.

LTS

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: alanabit
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 03:44 AM

I sometimes forget the words. Sometimes another band member reminds me. The other trick, as someone mentioned above, is to slip in a line from another verse. The third way is to just improvise something. The improvised lines are usually just banal or cliched. However, most audiences are so used to lines like that, they don't really stick out!
The more striking a line is, the easier it is to remember. I think the better a song lyric is, the easier it is to learn. Story songs are easier to remember, because you have the narrative thrust to drive the song forward.

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: InOBU
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 06:08 AM

Oh do I ever... both find songs I forgot in drawers, on napkins... or worse, new and topical songs... standing there on the stage of the Theater for the New City... looking out at the audience, calm as could be... open me gob and... how the hell does that song I wrote last week start? Awful feeling, or like Phil Oches in Vancouver, in the middle of one of my old favs, I wrote a long time ago and sing often, but not often enough, comes a hole in the song...

ah well, imperfection...

lorcan

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 10:57 AM

Hello,

I think Alanabit has a good idea there. If I forget the words I make some up to fill the gap. Most of the time the audience don't notice unless things are greatly awry...then it just adds to the fun! :0)

Songs are living things and they alter from the day you start to learn them or they are born. I think Liz is right....if you keep on refining your words then your subconscious gets confused! Something to do with neural pathways I expect!
   
Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 12:48 PM

I never forget lyrics. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Mike

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 01:03 PM

Yeah Mike, and I'm a size Zero!

LTS

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 01:54 PM

I am about to right now..going to a Parks Department workshop on local songs...I have the words if I need them but I think I have onen megatune that all my songs want to go into..mg

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Jim Lad
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 02:06 PM

Who started this thread, anyway?

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Big Mick
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 03:11 PM

What was your name again???

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Jim Lad
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 03:13 PM

You, I remember!

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Sugwash
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 03:21 PM

I forget three types of song:

Those I've just learnt (including one's I've written)

Those I've been singing for years (I put it down to my mind wandering)

Those songs without a strong narrative element.

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Jim Lad
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 03:22 PM

Are you sure that's all you forget?

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Jeri
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 03:25 PM

Do you guys need a ruler?

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Jim Lad
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 06:42 PM

The English tried that. Didn't work!

I liken singing a song to driving a car. If I really had to think about it, I'd forget lines all over the place. My mind is usually on the next set or intro, how many customers are actually drinking?, can I get away with singing something nice?, did I already sing The Wild Rover set and if so, how many times, and so-on.

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Sugwash
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 07:10 PM

There was something else...I forget what it was.

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Bert
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 10:47 PM

...but it's SOOO annoying to forget a song you wrote yourself...

Ah Squeaks, but sometimes it's a blessing.

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: goodbar
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 11:16 PM

i don't even bother to memorize most of my songs.

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Celtaddict
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 12:28 AM

I think there is definitely something to the 'mental recording' idea; I have heard many singers forget their own songs particularly if they have not sung them in a while, but not only do they remember other people's songs more readily, they also seem to remember their own songs which other people sing, or on which people reliably sing along with them. Of course, that may also reflect a bit of the 'remember the memorable' idea, if the songs that other people take up to sing are a writer's best work, but that can't be all; I have heard songwriters forget some truly wonderful works. I wonder if composing on tape and singing along with oneself over and over would make the song stick better than composing/recording the words on paper.

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 07:17 AM

I can't remember forgetting a song.

Subject: RE: Who forgets their own songs?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 07:23 AM

What's a blessing Bert? I forgot the question!

LTS