Walter Ehresman

"Reduction" beautifully moving work Walter. Totally impressed. Lots luv from So. Fla * Patricia ♥

CD Baby: Tell Us About Your Songwriting (Part I) http://stabbingwidget.com/yamidoo/2010/11/tell-us-about-your-songwriting/ November 17, 2010 at 2:08 pm I’ve been a songwriter in Austin, Tx for about 30 years, and hope to be getting better at it all the time. Seeing some of my favorite artists of the 70s trudge on for further decades after their songwriting well has dried up is a frightening thing. Does the well go dry for all songwriters? I sure hope not. So far, between living this live and having to stomach Republicans and the citizens that vote for them, I still feel lots of songs coming on. 1. What does your songwriting process look like? What are a few of the more common ways in which you compose a song? –typically, but not always, I’ll get “the flash” and immediately feel compelled to write the lyrics and music, non-stop, until it’s done. Typically this happens really fast…..about an hour, tops. I’m luck in that I find I rarely have to do much polishing to those initial lyrics. If I’m not physically able to grab a guitar at the moment when the idea hits, I’ll write all the lyrics down and put notes to myself all around the margins about how I hear the music in my head, with the various tracks, instruments, intros, outros, etc. Then just hope that I can remember it in the time it takes me to get to a guitar or keyboard. 2. Think of your favorite songs. What do they do to or for you? What is it about the song (technically, emotionally, thematically) that moves you? –when I listen to music, it’s all about picking something that matches my mood at the time. Deep emotional impact, whatever the emotion may be, is what I look for….and that can come from lyrics, music, or the combination of both. 3. What are your common frustrations with songwriting? What are the ways in which you get stuck? –being a self-taught musician, I sometimes feel like my knowledge, licks, etc. are limited and that I’ve used them all up already on past songs. I’ve written and recorded about 175 songs and the more I write, the more I’m succeptable to that feeling. That’s from the playing-side. Lyrically, I’m lucky in that I don’t generally get stuck (knock wood). 4. How do you overcome the frustration? How do you get un-stuck? –In those types of situations, I’ll either shelve the idea (sometimes for years) or else I’ll try something radical on the music side that is totally unlike the initial musical direction I had for the song. I might get out the 10-string bouzouki, say, and tune it to some crazy tuning made up in the moment, and try to write the music for the song on that. 5. Do you envision an audience or outside listener when you write? If so, how would you describe that audience? What effect does this have on the writing process? –never. I’m writing because something inside me compells me to write that song or instrumental piece of music. It wells up and demands to be written. I’m just the vehicle, at that point. I’ve had some songs that I’ve dreamed, and woken up and they’re done and I have to drag my ass out of bed and try to write it down. I’ve lost some good songs by being too lazy, sometimes, to get up at 4am and do it.

(Tell Us About Your Songwriting, Part II) 6. Do you collaborate or enlist outside opinions during the writing process? What effect does that have on the writing process? –I would say that 99.99% of the songs I’ve written have been done alone, and I never preview the material or seek outside input. I’m pretty hermetically sealed during the process, channelling that idea and trying to shepherd it to a recorded version….scared to death the whole time that I’ll forget all or some of it, as it moves around in my head, before the recording is done. 7. Songwriters are known for loving most of their “babies” equally. This is why artistic coaches have the mantra “Kill Your Babies!” How can you tell when one of your own song is really good? How can you tell when one is bad or misbehaving? –Sometimes I can tell right off that something is going to be good (or at least, “good” by what I like). Other times, it’s in the recording process that the song really comes alive and I get that big smile. On the other hand, I’ve definitely spent time writing a song with long lyrics, making notes on how the music should go, then put it down for a few days….then, going back to it, realizing that it wasn’t going to make the cut and just throwing it away. Not that often, but sometimes (as recently as a month ago, too). I think some songs need to be written as a cathartic thing for the writer than really don’t need to be kept once the catharsis of the writing is done. 8. What do you get out of being a songwriter? Do you imagine you’ll write songs forever? –I’ve always felt like I have to write these songs and instrumentals…that it’s a necessity for me and that I might explode if I dont’. Some are obvious coping mechanisms that stem directly from trauma in my life, and some are less overt and direct. But I think songwriting is just a big part of who I am, and for that reason I think I’ll always write songs. I never, ever say “well, it’s time to write another one.” Instead, they well up from my nether-brain and demand to be written. When I have 70 minutes worth recorded, that’s a new album, and so on. If songs quit welling up, that’s probably a signal that I’m about to croak. Hopefully, then, I’ll have just enough time to come up with a good one-liner for my final words (something like “Does the embassy know I’m here??”). 9. What roles do “inspiration” and “perspiration” play in your writing process? –it all starts with inspiration with me. Even when I’ve written “project” material (like pieces I’ve agreed to write, record and donate for use in giant multi-media projects at the Burning Man festival in Nevada), it starts with that flash. Then once I’ve got it all mapped out, the perspiration begins–especially since I usually play all the instruments on my recordings myself. I have no conception of time when I’m holed up in the studio. I can go for hours and hours…..too long, if I’m not careful. 10. Imagine the greatest song you’ve haven’t written yet. Describe it. –Wow! Hard-core question. Let’s see…..It will have a dynamite musical intro lick that really hooks the listener, with a one-two punch of first two lines of lyrics that lays people out….that is simply devastating. And the song will grow in intensity throughout, with this avalanche-feeling of inevitable crescendo and unstoppable energy. The lyrics will be ones that I wouldn’t change a thing on, even years later, and same goes for the music and the recording. It’ll be a song that represents all that I am, somehow, and can function as my epitaph. Hopefully some people will get a little water in their eye when they listen to it, and remember me for a moment.