I've been following this thread out of curiosity.


I'm not sure how to phrase this delicately so I won't. Some comments....wow....


What it boils down to is this.


It really doesn't matter whether the song is a real life experience or not. It doesn't matter if you have lived it, if you have seen others live it, or if you fabricated the entire thing in your creative mind. If you can write a good song from it, that's all that matters. Folks who say they have to live it to write it and put the emotion into it, well, most of that is an excuse for not writing, as I see it.

In fact I think that if you rely on your personal experiences only, as the source for your songwriting grist, you will have a harder time becoming a good writer because there's generally not enough personal experience material to choose from to write a wide variety of songs.

I've never been a cowboy...I don't care to be one.... but I could set down and think about the ones I have known.... we used to play in some cowboy bars, I listened to the stories that they told and from that.... I wrote "Where does a cowboy go".... didn't need to live it or experience it first hand...... but I can write a convincing song about it.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.