We Remember The Words

When we’re singing along.

As long as the music is playing, we know all the words.

But if we had to sit in a quiet room and write down the lyrics to even some of our favorite songs…it would be tough.

The context of the music, the breath of the singer, the way the hook drops into the verse…it all reminds us. And the biggest one…the way we can hear a nano-second of a lyric and then jump on it as though we knew it all along.

The hard thing about writing new material is there’s no music. No one to sing along with. No hook guiding us back into a verse. No lyrics to remember. None of it is there…yet.

Once it’s all there it will be powerful enough to let the audience think they have it memorized even when they don’t.

»» Which might even be a greater super power than actual memorization.

»» I’m a day behind on the Hum Love playlist. Comin at you tomorrow.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Cabins And Skyscrapers

If you want a skyscraper but have the design plans for a log cabin…it’s unlikely you’ll stumble your way into a sky scraper.

Similarly, if you have the design plans for a skyscraper but have the parts for a log cabin…you won’t end up with a skyscraper.

Your design plan needs to match the parts.

If they don’t match, change them.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

You Max You Out

You can only be so efficient.

You can only perform so well.

You can only work so hard.

The real leap is being the person who can get others to be efficient, perform well and work hard.

If you only focus on you, you will max you out.

If you focus on others, there will always be more.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

No One Complained

A big major car dealership in downtown Nashville closed a few months ago and will be replace with condos and retail space.

No one complained.

It turns out being around for decades doesn’t always equate to much of a connection with the customer…and I don’t think connection with the customer was ever what the car dealership was really going for.

We want to be missed. We want people to complain or be sad or upset or wistful when we have to close the shop. If that’s really what we want, we have to start building it now. And if we build it good enough maybe we’ll never have to close the shop.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Running Its Course

Things don’t run their course. The band, the relationship, the project.

We simply decide to stop putting the necessary energy into it to keep them going.

Things don’t have an inherent course of their own. And things don’t have an opinion or get tired or burnt out or lazy or lose interest or get a new dream or desire.

People do.

So when the thing is over let’s be honest about why it’s over. It isn’t the thing’s or the course’s decision.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Enjoyable To Listen To

There’s infinitely more music that is fulfilling to play and sing than there is music that is enjoyable to listen to.

That’s probably the way it should be…and it probably tells us something important about what music is for.

Music is a gift to the maker of the music. First and foremost.

Every musician has spent countless hours being deeply moved, inspired and fulfilled by music played behind their closed doors. Music and moments that no one else in the world will ever hear…or ever needs to hear. It feels amazing in the moment and that’s enough. It doesn’t need to be good enough to share with the entire world.

But if you want a career in this stuff…that’s the hard part. It feels good to play and sing but does it feel good to listen to?

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple