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DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE . . . that might be a good strategy in football, but it really shouldn't apply in songwriting. Yet that is the approach that many writers take when pitching their songs. I am convinced that songwriters are the most defensive people on the planet. When I was working for a full time publisher, I had to deal with a lot of unknown writers. When I heard a song that I liked by a new writer, I would usually contact them by phone. I could tell a lot in the first few minutes of speaking to a writer as to whether or not I was going to want to do business with that person.
I would always start out by telling the person what I liked about the song that they had sent to me. This part of the conversation always went well. It usually made their day. But the next part of the conversation was the most important part. I would then proceed to tell them about things that I thought could use improvement. This is where I would begin to find out what kind of a writer that I had on the phone. If they accepted critique as well as they did the compliments, then I might be able to work with them. But if the Defense line took the field, I knew that I was probably not going to be able to work with this individual.
No one ever had trouble accepting the compliments. But about 90% of the people I had on the phone could not accept criticism of any kind, big or small, when it came to their writing. It was as if their songs were written on stone tablets like the Ten Commandments, and the last one read, THOU SHALT NOT CHANGE MY SONG, EVER!
Now there had to be something good about the tune I was looking at, or I would have never called them. But in the two years I worked for that company, listening to new song demos everyday, I seldom found one that was a grand slam home run, ready to be recorded. Most writers, with talent, need some professional guidance to make their songs stand up in a competitive market. I was looking for songs to pitch to major recording artists, who would also be listening to new songs from the top professional writers in the business. I could not send songs that were of lesser quality, just because the writer didn't want to make changes.
Now I must admit, that accepting that criticism can be very difficult. I remember in 1981 when I gathered up enough courage, after being prodded by family and friends, to send my songs to a professional publisher. So I got out my Singing News and looked at who was publishing the hits. I found a reputable publisher and sent them a demo. A few weeks later I got a very kind letter that expressed how they liked my writing, but they felt that I needed to work on my lyrics a bit.
I took this very well. Well, if you call wanting to book a flight to Nashville and burn down their building taking it well, then I took it quite well. I was as mad as a hornet. Didn't they know how well my songs went over when I sang them in church? All my family and friends loved my writing. No one had ever said a criticizing word about my music. Why couldn't those Nashville people see that! I didn't know how to take it.
But after about a month went by, I had an interesting thought. Maybe that publisher in Nashville was right. After all, they look at songs everyday, and they pick songs that get recorded and charted. So I finally started working on my attitude, and my lyrics just as they had suggested. It wasn't too long after taking their advice, that I had my first song published. I am so glad that my first demo was not accepted, or I might have never learned the lesson I needed to learn about professionalism and flexibility as a writer.
I do hope that some of those writers that were angry with me when I suggested changes to their songs, have gone on to learn that same lesson. Songs are not our children. But sometimes we treat them as if they are. They are actually inanimate objects.
Yes, we need to be passionate about what we write. It doesn't hurt anything to be tied to a song emotionally. But we need to learn balance also and make appropriate changes to a song until it is the absolute best that it can be.
If a professional industry person contacts you about a song you have written, and suggests changes, don't just change whatever they say, just because they said so. But don't disregard what they say either. Take it and consider it, pray about it. Ask God if this is the breakthrough you've been waiting for, or if you should keep pursuing other options with your music. But most of all, don't get angry at the person who has contacted you. And above all, don't start defending your song. If your song has to be defended from a professional publisher, producer, record company, or artist, then just maybe something is wrong with the song.
Until next time, keep on writing
Daryl Williams
http://www.darylwilliamstrio.net
Reader Comments
And besides, not everyone has a 'well respected song critic' in their church or knows one personally that they have a relationship with to get wise council.
Do you have one you can spare? lol -
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Written: 10/31/2005 
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The Songwriter
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