reply to post by Ptenjakin
I haven't checked the link yet, but I have a comment to make which you may find useful anyway. Literature (and I include song lyrics for the purposes
of this statement) is something you
make up. It is based on your own experiences—'write what you know' is standard advice to authors—but
it should not be too specific about those experiences. If a song is too obviously autobiographical, it loses its power. The power of a lyric lies in
its personal meaning to the
listener.
You need to have some of yourself in there to make it real and help you focus your own creative and emotive energy on it, but if you get too personal,
detailed or specific, you've blown it. Strike the right balance between fact and fiction and you are no longer vulnerable.
Anyway, you should have the courage to bleed in public. Most of the time people don't notice; the listener is thinking about himself, not about you.
To put it bluntly: to you, the songwriter, the 'I' in the song is yourself. But for anyone else listening to the song (or singing it for that
matter), the 'I' in it is
themelves. They don't really care about you.
There you go. One of the most important secrets of real art, yours for no charge.