Dan Tindall: Home

Yes, time to write some new songs, revisit a few old songs, and generally get it together...

The sun is shining, the world seems a better place; ignore the news and the daily cycle of material life, and there is perhaps a little inner peace for everyone. Pick up a guitar in a sweet open tuning, play some pick and slide combo, relax in the warm surround of sound - ahh, heaven!

You often hear people ask the question how do you write a song? - but rarely do they question why they should do it. That might seem like a crazy thing to say, but often it appears there is no accepted good reason to write a song. Music can obviously exist without lyrics, and certainly without meaningful lyrics. So why do it?

Songs exist for a reason - the first musical instrument was (probably) the voice. Music made by voices is more interesting with words, and more memorable if they have a story and maybe a rhyme scheme. And if you have no written language, that makes song a good way to pass on stories and information. It is an effective way to express an idea in a simple way.

Music nowadays (at least in modern westernised cultures) seems to be more a commodity than oral history. Occasionally it has been an art form. But still the song remains the most effective way to write down what you see or hear or think, and lift it above dry academic prose and mere sophistry.

Why write a song? I can't think of a reason not to do so!