# Be willing to write a bad song ![[Every artist was at first an amateur]] ![[It's just the fun of doing it that's important —Fred Rogers]] ![[I enjoy it too much —Black Francis]] ![[Anything worth doing is worth doing badly]] ![[Practicing art ... is a way to make your soul grow —Kurt Vonnegut]] ![[That's all any of us are —Charlie Chaplin]] Not knowing how to do something is a poor excuse not to try, says Jeff Tweedy. But despite writing hundreds of songs, he says he still struggles with this thought. He goes on to advise us to appreciate the gifts of failure: it will also help us deal with rejection, and no one's judgment will hurt very long if you love your art and your art loves you.[^1] [[Start with a bad idea]]. At least when you write something bad, you're writing. Intentionally writing something bad requires just as much intention in your craft, but with less pressure.[^2] Leonard Cohen says writing a bad verse is just as hard as writing a good verse.[^3] So just write and reserve your judgments. [[Don't try to create and analyze at the same time]]. [[Finish a song before you judge it]]. Use "dummy lyrics." These are just place holders that fit the [[Prosody]] for now.[^4] ![[You can only write regularly if you're willing to write badly]] Ed Cray writes that Woody Guthrie wrote a song almost everyday, and some were "barely a cut about doggerel."[^5] If you're stuck, ask [[What is the worst idea]]? Embrace the suck.[^6] Maybe you'll even be able to [[Compost that shit]]. ![[To get myself ready, I do warm-ups]] Jeff Tweedy says similarly, ![[I don't like every song I write, but I like that I wrote it]] If you feel a little uncomfortable or even embarrassed singing your words, you're on the right track, says Jeff Tweedy.[^1] Mary Gauthier said in the [[Saved by a Song Seminar]] that she knows it's about to get good when she starts getting scared. Scare yourself enough that your voice shakes. Lynda Barry asks, "Good or bad: is one always in exchange for the other? Is there something missing in both?"[^7] ![[Intimacy with the flaw —Leonard Cohen]] ![[Fear loves you more than anyone]] It's normal to feel uncertain about a new song. [[What we think is good is rather just familiar enough]]. Let it sit for a bit. [[When you have an insight, don't share it right away]]. [[Don't worry about sense]]. ![[Some writers confuse authenticity … with originality —W. H. Auden]] ![[Everyone should just write something]] [^1]: [[How to Write One Song]] [^2]: [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U52QVZu9O8) [^3]: [[Songwriters on Songwriting]] pg. 337 [^4]: [Kill Your Darlings - Gabriel Kahane: Words & Music](https://gabrielkahane.substack.com/p/kill-your-darlings?utm_source=pocket_mylist) [^5]: [[Woody Guthrie L.A.]] pg. 9 [^6]: [[Find Your Artistic Voice]] pg. 85 [^7]: [[What It Is]] pg. 74