> A lesson I learned not that long ago was to constantly critical analyse my work. Does it hold the audiences interest? is it too long? too short? Compare it wi

> A lesson I learned not that long ago was to constantly critical analyse my work. Does it hold the audiences interest? is it too long? too short? Compare it with hit songs, what makes them a hit? What’s good about it? what’s good/bad about your idea in comparison? I disagree with this. Do self-indulge. If you don't write a song for yourself first and foremost, why write it? > Love, Religion, War, Peace, Politics, People, Family, pick any theme you like, but DO pick a theme, otherwise you’ll have nothing to write about and the song will be aimless. I disagree with this even more. If the theme didn't pick you, if the lyrics aren't like a child you have to give birth to, no matter who may find it ugly or dumb, maybe keep it in your private folder, but keep looking, because as long as you're writing something where you can put the pen down, it's still not it. Make it so good and real that it doesn't matter who likes it, but rather whom it likes. > Look at Pink Floyd’s concept album, “The Wall” as an exercise of using related fictional/non-fictional themes to drive a whole album. I think The Wall was born out of very deep experiences. I would believe the writers if they said they "picked a theme" and such, but until then I'll think they just let it out, and the patterns emerged naturally. I certainly notice this in my stuff, I don't care about being consistent or poetic, I care about being correct. I get carried away and then I question myself. If it withstands questioning, or makes me grin like the cat that ate the canary, I keep it (in my public folder so to speak), and then I often find parallels after the fact. As some guy said, the great advantage of telling the truth is you don't have to remember what you said. One time I took good bits from all sorts of song attempts that didn't quite strike me, and put them together, adding some glue and changing some things. Now I can't even tell where the "seams" were, it all seems like it's meant to be that way... but I bet if I changed the order around some, it would also seem that way. Don't analyze too much, it's a fool's errand -- play and listen from your heart. > Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. -- C. S. Lewis