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Song seeds
Jan. 25th, 2012 07:35 pmI'm going to put up another Alice Day post, but Kip's using the laptop the lyrics are saved on, and I don't feel like chucking him off even though it is entirely my right because it's my laptop, but anyway. Plus I still have to record the mp3, so it won't be tonight.
In the meantime I was just thinking about song seeds. I wrote a song about this a long time ago--Nuts From The Hazel Tree, but that was mostly about how songs can be inspired by other songs and stories. Which is totally true, and which I find very satisfying both when my song was a prompt (Under the Gripping Beast and Wings both pop to mind) or when my song was a response (Wedding Dance and SwanMay are examples.)
But if songs always came from other songs and stories, the whole community risks becoming--self referential? So wrapped up in responding to existing ideas that new ideas and directions get overlooked. Not that I think there's much risk of that in filk. Because there are song seeds all over the place. They're like weeds. Something comes up in conversation (All YouR SongZ R BeLOnG 2 US, or If The Last Spaceship Leaves On Time). Or a dog looks up at me and I suddenly remember again why they are so appealing (Good Dog) or I paddle out from a week long canoe camping trip thinking that if somebody handed me a fresh week's worth of food and another camping permit I would turn around and paddle back in without a second thought, shower and soft bed be damned (Quetico.)
Or a mouse has gnawed deeply into my Very Last Candy Bar. Which I will totally put up soon. But not today.
Where do you find song seeds?
In the meantime I was just thinking about song seeds. I wrote a song about this a long time ago--Nuts From The Hazel Tree, but that was mostly about how songs can be inspired by other songs and stories. Which is totally true, and which I find very satisfying both when my song was a prompt (Under the Gripping Beast and Wings both pop to mind) or when my song was a response (Wedding Dance and SwanMay are examples.)
But if songs always came from other songs and stories, the whole community risks becoming--self referential? So wrapped up in responding to existing ideas that new ideas and directions get overlooked. Not that I think there's much risk of that in filk. Because there are song seeds all over the place. They're like weeds. Something comes up in conversation (All YouR SongZ R BeLOnG 2 US, or If The Last Spaceship Leaves On Time). Or a dog looks up at me and I suddenly remember again why they are so appealing (Good Dog) or I paddle out from a week long canoe camping trip thinking that if somebody handed me a fresh week's worth of food and another camping permit I would turn around and paddle back in without a second thought, shower and soft bed be damned (Quetico.)
Or a mouse has gnawed deeply into my Very Last Candy Bar. Which I will totally put up soon. But not today.
Where do you find song seeds?
