My voice… not my voice but my VOICE

Would you like to know the difference between a journeyman songwriter and a real live songwriter? A real songwriter has a voice. Not the voice they sing with, but a stylistic signature that clearly identifies the song as the work of the author. This transcends musical style, and even the performers voice. While Dylan’s singing voice is quite distinct, when the Grateful dead cover his songs they still sound like Dylan songs.

A great example of a Second Life artist with a distinct voice as a songwriter would be (wait for it) POL Arida. For a while he was “The Hammer guitar guy”. But now he’s playing more “Strummy” song. The amazing thing is how the songs are still quite powerful, dramatic, and stank to high heaven of POL’s personal style.

Another great Second life example is… well me. My songs run the gambit in style, technique, time signature, and even tuning. Yet they all have the stamp of my style indelibly etched into them.

Having your own voice is the primary goal of the songwriter as an artist. There are people that write songs for profit, and their job is to make songs that have no visible signature on them. These people are not artist, they are craftsmen. Some prize the craft of songwriting above all else. These people usually view music as “Product”, and I hate those people.

Let me tell you a story.

A While back I got a recording deal offer from a woman for a band project I was in. The band was an art rock/pop project. The deal had a profanity clause in it, so that queered the deal.

About a month later, the same woman contacted me concerning a record deal for the band I was in previously. She was unaware I was the same person in the art rock/pop project she had contacted a month prior. The band she was interested in at the moment was a Jam/Jam grass band. A very different style, but the voice apparently connected with her.

Songwriting becomes art when it bears the signature of an artist.