Let go of the line to make room for the song

Matthew Linderman at Signal vs. Noise points to an interesting article on one of my all time favorites, Tom Waits.

In the article, Waits offers some songwriting advice that seems pretty applicable to just about anything we try.

Waits did offer one piece of songwriting advice that he tries when he finds himself stuck. "Take out your favorite line," he says. "It's hard to do. What you're doing is, you've only got one line and you're trying to hang everything on it. What you need is a better line."

How many times have you been trying to hold on to something - maybe a cherished habit, an expectation, or a preconceived notion of how things "need to be" - and find yourself coming up against a wall as you try to make something new happen? Then you finally say, "I have to let this go," and whoosh! The floodgates open and things start to happen.

What do you need to let go of that will unplug that channel and let the song through? What are you holding on to that is keeping you stuck? What might a "better line" be?

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

Comments

[Mary Beth Goodman]

oh my. oh my. That is so completely mind-blowingly big. Thanks for giving me this to think about.

[Jo]

Cool. I like that.