It's all about me, Writing 101

Writing 101, Day Three: 3 songs & Commit to a Writing Practice

Writing 101, Day Three: Commit to a Writing Practice

Write about the three most important songs in your life — what do they mean to you? … Today’s twist: You’ll commit to a writing practice. …

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I’m as close to committing to a writing practice as I’m going to get. And I don’t see how writing about three songs has anything to do with the committment to writing for fifteen minutes a day. A twist of the imagination? [added later – oh yes, talking blogging writing habit ]

First song, my all time favourite is America’s “A Horse With No Name”.

I was a young mother with two very young children when this song came out. Though who knows, it could have been out for ages before it filtered on the 3HA’s playlist. (Hamilton, Victoria) It resonated with me, particularly the line ‘for there aint no-one to give you no pain’. At the time I was deep in denial that I had made a big mistake by getting married. I kept telling myself just as well I never acted on my instinct to run away before the big day. I would have looked very foolish when I later discovered I was pregnant. Two weeks, by my reckoning, on the big day. I don’t think I would have been able to bring myself to have an abortion, but I probably would have. We had lots of girls going through the Mt Gambier hospital for D & C’s, took me some time to realise what was going on! But then I have always been naïve. It’s taken me decades to work some things through in my head, to find what happened was different to what I thought was happening at the time. I don’t know if that makes sense. [sigh]

My second song is more recent. I fell in love with “Miss Murder” by AFI. I think the film clip influenced me – I KNOW the film clip influenced me. I just loved the whole drama of it. My favourite line is when he (Billy? Davey) sings about reaching for the golden ring that was promised and sings something like, “Will he let you get your filthy hands upon it”, which I take to mean will God let you get what you want. On second thought, I might love the growl in his throat during the rabbit scene. In the  cd the prelude and Miss Murder are separate tracks, the video long version has both. (see at end for the video)

And I just cannot think of a third favourite song, my music tastes are diverse. I can say I love certain songs, but if I don’t have the record then I don’t love them enough … oh, gee, how could I forget …  Meatloaf  and ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ the title track. I was introduced to Meatloaf and Alice Cooper, both, during a party at the home of Mr Ex’s close friend. (The one I came too close to myself, eventually)  [oops, wrong party]

Many years later, my Mr R and I saw Alice Cooper in concert in Melbourne at the tennis centre, and when I first saw him I surprised myself by leaping to my feet and screaming! It came from no-where and was completely unexpected, never happened at Bob Dylan or even Tex Perkins. Most of the concert I think I had my mouth hanging open, but I can’t really say I love Alice Cooper’s songs over any of the others I have named, especially this Meatloaf.

I haven’t been watching the time, but who cares. I have written this out pretty quick without really thinking about the three choices I made. Now I will polish up, and track down utube films to embed, etc. You can choose if you listen, or not. Oh, I will also check the lyrics on the lines I’ve quoted, for accuracy. Don’t want to look too stupid.

And then I’m going to pop my Miss Murder single in the player, watch the video and blast my eardrums. I think it’s my favourite. You know, I have no idea what I said at number one now [scrolls up] oh yes, …. ummmm…

Long version

Yes, Miss Murder is my favourite.  🙂

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12 thoughts on “Writing 101, Day Three: 3 songs & Commit to a Writing Practice”

  1. I really, REALLY enjoyed this post. Not for the music clips as much as the stories they prompted. Thank you!

    In reply to your statement, “I don’t know if that makes sense. [sigh]” I say, “Perfectly.” I cannot tell you how often I’ve had these mini epiphanies – lightbulb moments when I finally “get it” – something that happened years ago and was interpreted as such and so, but now? *BAM* Clarity. Followed immediately by embarrassment that it took so long to get here.

    By the way, I had a wedding day impulse, similar to your “instinct to run away before the big day.” Mine, however, came during consummation of the marriage. To make connections where perhaps there aren’t any: this was my first marriage, to The Cowboy – speaking of horses and such.

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    • Gee thanks Maggie. I’ve got a rather graphic imagine in my head for your wedding night, talking cowboys and horses, right! On mine, I ended up sooking on the floor of the motel room, my first night of official bliss cut short by alcohol induced sleep after a quickie. I don’t know what I expected, unbridled passion all night? whispered sweet nothings? And I wasn’t even a Mills and Boon girl. Ahh well, I had only just turned 18 and despite how mature I thought I was, I didn’t actually grow up until the 1990s, 🙂 Those epiphanies are water under the bridge now, where they belong. 🙂

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  2. Carol Ann says:

    interesting…I am totally out of my element here. My favorite is the very sensuous, ‘Peel me a Grape’ by Diana Krall. (…sorry no im-bedding talent, yet.) I am more Mary Black and jazz artist Diana Krall (married to Elvis Costello, another great jazz artist who was nominated for an academy award for Best Music, Original Song, Cold Mountain (2003) Shared with:T Bone Burnett For the song “Scarlet Tide”.) I also love Russian Cossack music and the Singing Nuns…rather eclectic, huh?

    Oh, i do like Iron Butterfly…my husband introduced me to that, but he really preferred classicaland listened continually….We had many wonderful moments around music and when I write my memoir, i will include the magic that revolved around our mountain home in the form of clouds wafting in tempo to the Appocolypse of The Animals, a totally synthesized piece only available on a 78 for audiophiles. Sigh!

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    • The Singing Nuns were grouse, I’ve heard at least one song on the radio. I don’t mind a bit of Elvis Costello and I went to a Russian Cossack concert once – so clever and stirring. My husband loves jazz and blues, pop and rock. We have music going all day, fitted to his mood, until the telly comes on. He has a big collection of cds, but only plays one or two a day now since we have a MOG subscription, streams music of his choice non-stop from his computer to our old sound system. Like a kid in a lolly shop, he is.

      Adding a clip from utube is only a matter of pasting the url into your post. This is the first time I have done it from utube. I thought it was harder from Flicker, Tumblr,but it might have just been me being new at it. You can’t add videos directly without a video upgrade of some sort, they have to be linked from elsewhere.

      I’ll check out your songs Carol Ann. Iron Butterfly rings a bell, the name sounds on the heavier side. I love Twisted Sister and Whitesnake, which aren’t heavy metal by todays standards. AFI who did Miss Murder are normally the headbanging type I would dismiss in a heartbeat, too much growling, but a heartbeat was all it took to love Miss Murder. When Davey opens his eyes all a sudden and the music swirls in, I’m always captivated just like the very first time I saw it. 🙂

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    • That Diana Krull song is smoking hot! Iron Butterfly has a very interesting sound (I was probably thinking of Iron Maiden), I enjoyed listening to the nuns sing Dominique,

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    • Hi Barbara, I haven’t posted much the last few days, so just the grevillea photo for the reader. I’ve caught up on my reader at last and all the emails about posts/comments. So many wonderful people to meet.

      I’ve been working on another of these Writing 101 assignments, but I think I might be overdoing it, as I do. It will go up later this morning. I have to write about where I lived at 12 years old. It’s been fun. 🙂

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      • Carol Ann says:

        Has it affected your dream pattern? I find that I sometimes accomplish more in my sleep than I do awake when it comes to trying to hard to remember.

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        • The whole blog thing has affected my awaking dreams. I used to wake up thinking of my novel and seeing my characters. Now I’m composing blog posts before my eyes are opened! These childhood memories come easily. Ask me what happened thirty years ago and I might not remember. 😀

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