Songwriter Envy

by John Urban

People frequently ask me to describe the level difficulty experienced in writing a book. Often, I tell them to think of this challenge in terms of keeping someone’s attention for a continuous span of 12 to 14 hours. Getting someone’s immediate attention is one thing, keeping that interest from page 1 to page 300 is many times more difficult – a fact well known to readers, if less so to authors.

In that respect, I envy songwriters. How I would love to focus on a writing genre that requires an audience attention span of 3-5 minutes.

There is, however, something very different about songs. We might read our favorite stories a second, or sometimes even a third, time. Yet, in the case of music, we’re quite pleased to listen to a good song again and again and again.

Science might provide an explanation. Neuro-scientists talk about the brain anticipating the next note, then finding satisfaction when we guess the right beat. If you listen to the song Southern Cross a few times, you may well get a sense of what these neuro-scientists are talking about.

Then again, let’s drop the science and just focus on the story. For example, listen to the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. How is it that Gordon Lightfoot was able to collapse a novel-length tale into one song?

Or Jimmy Buffett’s Son of a Son of a Sailor. After thirty-plus years this song still rings true today for many of us who call the water our home. (Although given the time that has passed we might add another generation to the title – maybe even add some gender equity with “Daughter of A Son of A Son of A Sailor.”)

Sailing by Christopher Cross? It’s easy to criticize this song as being too pop, too 70’s. But if you love sailing and enjoy being on the water, you’ll find Sailing a valuable substitute for those days when you are stuck on land.

Yes, I envy these songwriters who need to capture their audience’s attention for only a matter of minutes. But I envy them even more in that they kept this short-term attention going for decades and decades.

I think I’ll just take a few listens to the music and enjoy. When you have the time, I hope you will, too.

Southern Cross – Crosby Stills & Nash

Gordon Lightfoot – Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Son of a Son of a Sailor

Sailing – Christopher Cross

(with lyric subtitles in Spanish)

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