It's always such a lift for me when somebody comes up and
quotes some of my lyrics that they found memorable or amusing. It happened the other day and the fellow quoted
some lines from "Bulletproof", my song about Kathi MacDonald…"A
floor-length leather coat and stilettos is a bad combination"…He loved
that image but I often wondered if people were listening to the words when I
was singing tunes about my colleagues or the state of the world or whatever.
A couple of nights ago I played a tune I wrote especially for
the Scott Cushnie Celebration. I was on
pretty early and most of the crowd was schmoozing in the other room but it
seemed even the folks that were in the "Great Hall" (as it's called)
were not really listening. And I had
written this tune about Scott and my time with him but… Anyway, some people were listening because
they made a special effort to come out and tell me they liked the tune…and then
as I was packing up, one guy came up and said he played in the band I was
singing about –with Pete Traynor, Robbie Robertson and Scott.
So I've come to accept that even if it's only one or two
people who hear your song (and listen to the lyrics), it's worth the
effort. Others might have enjoyed it as a
groovy tune, or danced to it. I must
admit it's not too often that lyrics jump out at me as I listen to others'
music, but that doesn't lessen my enjoyment. But I feel for the guy who wrote
the words.