BE WILLING TO SUCK AT SONGWRITING & YOU’LL EVENTUALLY GET BETTER

Stanton West
Feb 20, 2020
2 min read

The First Song I Ever Wrote Sucked!

The first song I ever wrote sucked, but I didn’t care. I wrote with purpose. I had a muse. I had something to say. I started with the first two chords I learned on guitar were A & E. It was called “Angie, which starts with A and ends with E. It went something like this:

Angie… starts with A and Ends with E

Apple. starts with A and Ends with E

Ale, starts with A and Ends with E

Articulate, starts with A and Ends with E

Approachable, starts with A and Ends with E

Appreciative, starts with A and Ends with E

Aardvark… does not start with A and End with E

Awesome, starts with A and Ends with E

Angie is Awesome, starts with A and Ends with E

Are you going to the store? Will you pick me up something nice?

starts with A and Ends with E

Asshole, starts with A and Ends with E

Angie’s not an asshole, starts with A and Ends with E

Over time I would go on to write more songs about Angie, the love of my life. Each one got a little better. Until over time I wrote a song that people really connected with.

(Side Note: I was banned from playing in a brewpub in Oregon for playing this song)

There is one thing that every great songwriter in the history of the world has in common. One great secret that once they mastered it; they became magnificent. I call that secret, “The Art of Not Caring” or “The Art of Being Willing to Suck”. Once they realized they had something to share they just put it all out there for the world to see. They didn’t care wether they sucked or not. If they did care, they overcame it and shared it anyway. The fact is, you need to suck so that you can get better. Nobody starts out instantly perfect. It takes practice and dedication. You need to write one-hundred bad songs before you get one good one.

(PHOTO: Angie) (PHOTO: Yoda)