AnneS Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Never crossed my mind before, but I read yesterday about the bi-monthly (I think) American Songwriter amateur lyric contest and started cogitating about it. And (gulp!) I do believe I'll send in an entry or two --it's a lyrics-only thing, so why not, right? Best foot forward and all that. The contest info Anyway, any new nerve I'm finding is thanks in large part to the friendly support and feedback you all have been regularly sending my way. So I wanted to thank you for that-- As nice as it is to dream of taking first (SJ200 TV!!!!!), my victory is, truly, in the entering. And now, I have to go make a Sophie's Choice or two. How I love my j100, from which things like this keep coming... Child in the Night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 good luck anne ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Do it, girl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ol fred Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 And why shouldn't one of the best songwriters here enter? +10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danner Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Cogitate, nice use of the English language. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Can't argue with your philosophy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buc McMaster Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Wow. I saw the same thing last night and entered four of mine! Yer right - ya can't win if ya don't enter! Good luck to you......and me! If I win the J200TV.....wtf?!? Don't suppose I'll get to choose a lefthanded one. Sounds like trade bait to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Wow. I saw the same thing last night and entered four of mine! Yer right - ya can't win if ya don't enter! Good luck to you......and me! Go get'um Buc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhanners623 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I've gotten an "honorable mention" a couple of times, including the most recent contest. I hope you (or anyone else here who enters) does well. Be forewarned, though, that some of the "winners" have really been unimpressive as songs, at least in the opinion of this gentle herald. Maybe it is just sour grapes. Maybe it is having lived in Texas, where great songwriters seem to grow on mesquite trees. But I've read the lyrics to some of the winners and thought they sucked, frankly. There have been letters to the editor complaining that it is mostly a poetry contest; indeed, some of the winners I've seen aren't even musicians. They just write poetry. While it is really nice when a good song translates well to good poetry (think Townes Van Zandt) that's not always the case. Actually, a song can be great and suck as poetry. And the name of the magazine is "American Songwriter" and all the articles in it are about songwriters and musicians, not poets. I don't know who the judges are, but I'm sure they know more about the music business than I do and have probably even made a living off it. I'm not sure what their standards are. But a lot of the winning songs I've seen have been bad or undeveloped ideas, or tired concepts that weren't expressed very well. I've also noticed that a number of people who have placed in the past couple of years have written songs about being songwriters or musicians and the "tough" life of a musician. (Yawn.) For example, the title of this edition's winning song is "Dear Jimmy Buffett" and it is a song about trying to get Jimmy Buffett to pay this guy some attention because they're from the same background and they're both songwriters. Maybe that appeals to someone and maybe it is commercial, but I wasn't bowled over by the lyrics. But that's just me. That said, none of the above has stopped me from entering, nor should it stop you. I hope you do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneS Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 I've gotten an "honorable mention" a couple of times, including the most recent contest. I hope you (or anyone else here who enters) does well. Be forewarned, though, that some of the "winners" have really been unimpressive as songs, at least in the opinion of this gentle herald. Maybe it is just sour grapes. Maybe it is having lived in Texas, where great songwriters seem to grow on mesquite trees. But I've read the lyrics to some of the winners and thought they sucked, frankly. There have been letters to the editor complaining that it is mostly a poetry contest; indeed, some of the winners I've seen aren't even musicians. They just write poetry. While it is really nice when a good song translates well to good poetry (think Townes Van Zandt) that's not always the case. Actually, a song can be great and suck as poetry. And the name of the magazine is "American Songwriter" and all the articles in it are about songwriters and musicians, not poets. I don't know who the judges are, but I'm sure they know more about the music business than I do and have probably even made a living off it. I'm not sure what their standards are. But a lot of the winning songs I've seen have been bad or undeveloped ideas, or tired concepts that weren't expressed very well. I've also noticed that a number of people who have placed in the past couple of years have written songs about being songwriters or musicians and the "tough" life of a musician. (Yawn.) For example, the title of this edition's winning song is "Dear Jimmy Buffett" and it is a song about trying to get Jimmy Buffett to pay this guy some attention because they're from the same background and they're both songwriters. Maybe that appeals to someone and maybe it is commercial, but I wasn't bowled over by the lyrics. But that's just me. That said, none of the above has stopped me from entering, nor should it stop you. I hope you do well. Great insight here, thanks... I have a couple of friends "reading" for me, to help decide what to enter this first time, -but this is very helpful, too. Gotta love the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I'm sorry but to me it was a foregone conclusion that you entered every contest! Enter. Also do some work on a 'copyright package' to cover yourself. (Put copies of all your demos and lyrics in an envelope and send it to yourself to get a date stamp.). Then when some little %$%$#$ wins the contest, send some of these to song publishers and start hustling the boards! BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McDuff Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I went ahead and submitted a single song. Doubt I'll win but for $12 I can at least say I am trying eh? Good luck folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhanners623 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Well, I hope you do well. One of the things you have to keep in mind, though, is that despite the fact it is a competition, songwriting is still a very subjective art form. I may see something that I love and you might think it sucks, and vice versa. While I've seen a few of the winning entries and thought, "Damn, I wish I'd written that," that is a very small percentage. Most of them just don't ring my bell. I don't claim to be God's gift to songwriting, but I have won the Minnesota Folk Festival's "New Folk" competition last year I was a finalist in the Big Top Chautauqua songwriting competition and the Great River Folk Festival competition. It's just tough to know what the judges go for and, like I said, some lyrics read really well and some don't. The other day, I looked up the lyrics to Journey's "When the Lights Go Down in the City" (a songwriter friend pointed out a rhyming peculiarity in it) and I was kind of stunned by how bad the lyrics were. Yet whoever wrote that song probably made more money off it than I ever will in my day job, and his checks are probably still rolling in from that one song. And it is a great song. It's just that the lyrics suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sboiir Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 You got it. Can't win if you don't enter. Go for it, nothin' to lose. Best of luck, your stuff is always fun to listen to. Also want to say Hello to the only other J100 owner I know of on this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneS Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 You got it. Can't win if you don't enter. Go for it, nothin' to lose. Best of luck, your stuff is always fun to listen to. Also want to say Hello to the only other J100 owner I know of on this forum. The deed is done. I threw four of 'em into the mix; we'll see if anything sticks. If not, it's been a good exercise, and I'll likely try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 The deed is done. I threw four of 'em into the mix; we'll see if anything sticks. If not, it's been a good exercise, and I'll likely try again. Keep on keepin' on....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McDuff Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Don't know if it is appropriate to necro the thread but I got my shoot down letter today from this contest. Anyone still in the mix or get better news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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