Why I write songs

Joni Mitchell wrote a line in her song, A Case of You, that says in part, "Love is touching souls." Of course that's true, but for me so is writing songs.

A song gets into you like no other art form that I know. First, it works on several levels. There is the movement of pitch, the passage of rhythm and time, the intellectual exercise of language, and the emotional content--a marriage of music and message.

I've never been able to walk down the street humming a novel, a play, a sculpture, a photograph or a painting. Okay, maybe I've recited a few lines of poetry to myself--but it isn’t the same. It doesn't stick in my head all day long. A song impacts mood, lifts us up when we’re down, commiserates with us when we can’t get up, creates an anthem for our cause, and eases loneliness--usually in a healthy way.

I want to do that for people. I want them to think, have fun, be comforted. Where I can reach out and physically put a comforting hand on a person's shoulder, I can do that for thousands of people with a song.

The other reason I write is more self-indulgent. Songs are an outlet too. The next line Joni wrote was "Surely you touched mine, 'Cause part of you pours out of me, In these lines from time to time."

Been hanging out with me lately? Listen to the words…you’re in there.