Things I Don't Know How to Do
Vol. XXXIX
On the perils of songwriting

Sometimes the process of refining a tune in your head is indistinguishable from taking a melody that comes to you and gradually turning it from one you created into one that already exists. Which is kind of depressing. Tweaking and repeating a tune until it becomes "Bringing in the Sheaves" or "Lola." Or whatever. The process is also complicated by the fact that a good song often sounds like you might have heard it before just because it's good; also, most every song has actually been written already; also, there's nothing new under the sun; also, the human brain is thirsty and traitorous and brings up things from the back that seem new but are just in dusty storage. It's still fun, though: songwriting.