Merry Christmas - From Gary Ewer

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

It’s been a tough year for us all, there’s no doubt about that. And at holiday times we’re used to looking forward to being with friends and family, and we usually take great joy in that. This year a lot of “being with friends” is going to happen virtually. For many, it’s going to be […]

Songwriter

What Role Does ‘Vision’ Play In Your Songwriting Process?

You encounter the word vision a lot in the creative arts. Actually, you encounter it in lots of other areas, too. Who can forget former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s cringy support of “developers”, who are the ones who flesh-out corporate or industry ideas, giving consumers a product that is the result of someone’s initial vision? […]

Adele

Finessing the Love Song

After all these years, love songs still work. You’d think songwriters would have run out of original things to say about the topic. If you expand the category a little more and consider the songs that are more generally about relationships, the majority of the songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at any given time […]

Piano and guitar - songwriter

The Unfinished Song: Turning Frustration Into Success

These days you might be listening to Handel’s “Messiah,” and even if you don’t know that work, you no doubt know his “Hallelujah Chorus” which ends the second part of the oratorio. “Messiah” is a lengthy work consisting of fifty-three movements, and listening to the entire piece will take you more than two hours. (Most […]

Paul Simon

Weaving Lyrics Together With a Simple Metaphor: Paul Simon’s “Kathy’s Song”

The best lyrics are the ones that sound conversational when you read them. By sounding conversational, the ideas you’re conveying are going to have the best chance for touching the heart of the listener. Conversational lyrics touch the heart because they’re more likely to use simple, everyday words, the kind that are usually the most […]