20% Time: Discovery Update 1

This week, as I have researched for sources regarding my project, "how to write a song," I found a blog post on Bob Dylan's thoughts about songwriting. The post draws from a Dylan's interview with Paul Zollo, for his book Songwriters on Songwriting.

In short, Dylan offers his opinions on the best conditions for songwriting, his mental approach, and whether songwriting is a viable pursuit for others. Here are some choice statements:

• The best songs to me — my best songs — are songs which were written very quickly. Yeah, very, very quickly. Just about as much time as it takes to write it down is about as long as it takes to write it.

• First of all, there’s two kinds of thoughts in your mind: there’s good thoughts and evil thoughts. Both come through your mind. Some people are more loaded down with one than another. Nevertheless, they come through. And you have to be able to sort them out. . .You must get rid of all that baggage. You ought to be able to sort out those thoughts, because they don’t mean anything, they’re just pulling you around, too. 

• The world don’t need any more songs… As a matter of fact, if nobody wrote any songs from this day on, the world ain’t gonna suffer for it. Nobody cares. There’s enough songs for people to listen to, if they want to listen to songs. For every man, woman and child on earth, they could be sent, probably, each of them, a hundred songs, and never be repeated. There’s enough songs. Unless someone’s gonna come along with a pure heart and has something to say. That’s a different story.

I already knew that Dylan is an opinionated guy, and his thoughts in this interview bear it out. I am surprised by his comment regarding the quick nature of songwriting. I have yet to read what other songwriters say; however, I have read insights by other artists regarding their creative processes. Most of them talk about the laborious nature of making something. In our culture, there is a sense that art is a result of a moment of inspiration. While inspiration could be important for locating an idea, artists typically describe the creative process as work. Dylan seems to undermine this when he says that the "best songs are. . .written very quickly." I don't think I could possibly work this way. In my limited experience creating, I need time to reflect and play with possibilities. Perhaps he means the ideas come quickly, but crafting takes more time.

On a different note, I need to keep in mind that his statement that, "the world don't need any more songs." It is wonderfully ironic, since I  am working on a project to create another song. Then again, I don't think he necessarily has somebody like me in mind. In any case, I think this could work as a hilarious line in a song.

Here's a question for further research: what role does inspiration play in songwriting?

Popova, Maria. "Bob Dylan on Sacrifice, the Unconscious Mind, and How to Cultivate the Perfect Environment for Creative Work." Web log post. Brainpickings. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2015.