# Best practices for sad songwriting Don't just write sad songs. Mary Gauthier said at Folk Alliance International 2023 that songwriters sometimes think they've just got a 6-pack, or worse, a 4-pack of sad crayons, when in fact we've got the whole emotional palette to choose from. On one panel, she said that vulnerability doesn't just mean sadness, but it could mean telling someone you love them. Paul Simon says not every song is about turmoil.[^1] Bob Dylan says you don't have to be in turmoil to write a song, but you do need to take on an outsider's perspective, as an observer.[^2] David Graeber wondered, 'Why is it that artists have so often been drawn to revolutionary politics?' and said it 'must have something to do with alienation.'[^12] Poet Veronica Esposito says therapy opened her up to being able to write about new themes and with new tones, saying, "the texture of my poems is now lighter and more introspective in an exploratory way, rather than focusing on the brutality that I felt."[^3] ![[A little bit of happiness … to let the form be felt]] Sad songwriting can't be merely self-involved. Then it's an act of attention-seeking, not of service. [[Sharing your story is important]], and your story is likely connected to a larger issue. Mary Gauthier says the deeply personal connects each of us to the universal.[^4] David Byrne says, regarding the mysterious origin of great songwriting, "I tend to believe that it comes from something within myself. But *I* comes from the collective unconscious, from a part of myself that's also very similar to other people, so it becomes a part of myself that's no longer me."[^5] [[Do research on your song subject]]. Again at FAI 2023, Leyla McCalla shared that her song Heavy as Lead is about lead contamination in Flint. Her daughter had had high levels of lead in her bloodstream. She realized the problem is systemic. (This is a great, classic example of [[Exigence]].) In this way, getting personal can activate people. People get into activism often for personal and emotional reasons.[^6] Susan Cain says, "if we realize that all humans know—or will know—loss and suffering, we can turn toward each other."[^7] Nick Cage says, "The utility of suffering, then, is the opportunity it affords us to become better human beings," therefore sad songs are an opportunity to bear this out.[^8] Mary Gauthier says, "Songwriting as a spiritual practice is rooted in a constant effort to be more charitable."[^9] Part of the job of the creator is to [[Create things for love of others]]. Artist rep, songwriter, and publisher Ralph Murphy says it's not your job to sing listeners their diary—you must sing them theirs. The songs we love, we love them because they touch us, in his words, "They gave you you."[^10] These songs contain good [[Illusion in literature|Illusion]]. [[Why do we like sad songs?]] A song in service of others must have some hope in it. A hopeless song is easy to write. ![[The logic of despair isn't for me —James Baldwin]] ![[The purpose of being a serious writer is to keep people from despair]] ![[About all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine —Woody Guthrie]] ![[My painting ... is a counter-offensive —René Magritte]] Writing a despairing song is fashionable. Sad sells. We rubberneck at the story of the artist addict. An immature songwriting habit is to present oneself pitifully, overplaying one's sadness. Turns out, [[Wellness and goodness doesn't preclude great art]]. A good sad song doesn't need to overdo it. [[Simplicity is hard-won]]. When we write autobiographical songs, we, as Mary Gauthier says, become the narrator instead of the narrated.[^11] We don't have to play the victim. ![[The artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs —G. K. Chesterton]] ![[Leave them something to imagine —Laurence Stern]] Rilke cautions new poets against tackling the big subjects, like love and death. They're hard to write about well. [^1]: [[Songwriters on Songwriting]] pg. 111 [^2]: [[Songwriters on Songwriting]] pg. 79 [^3]: [On the Uncertain Border Between Writing and Therapy ‹ Literary Hub](https://lithub.com/on-the-uncertain-border-between-writing-and-therapy/) [^4]: [[Saved by a Song]] pg. 125 [^5]: [[Songwriters on Songwriting]] pg. 496 [^6]: [[The Art of Activism]] pg. 17 [^7]: [[Bittersweet]] pg. xxv [^8]: [Nick Cave - The Red Hand Files - Issue #147](https://www.theredhandfiles.com/utility-of-suffering/) [^9]: [[Saved by a Song]] pg. 209 [^10]: [[Saved by a Song]] pg. 73 [^11]: [[Saved by a Song]] pg. 216 [^12]: [Anarchism and Art | The Anarchist Library](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mark-mattern-anarchism-and-art)