Stones and Kisses

What makes a song live? What makes the listener care about the characters or about you, for that matter, if it’s written in the first person? Melody matters. Rhythm matters. But for me, lyrics are also crucial. Lots of contemporary songs are “mixed” in recording studios in such a way that the vocals are buried in the accompaniment. Fine, if you have nothing to say. But not fine if you actually want to communicate more than a mood. And just like relationships with other people, not everyone can have a relationship with your song.

About three years ago, I was quite taken with the title, “Stones and Kisses.” I was very hurt by and angry with someone I loved, and I tried to write about it. But the subject matter was too close. Two musician friends of mine looked at the song, and declared it sounded more like a journal entry. Much later, after I was over the disappointment and rage generated by the situation, I rewrote the song in a completely different way. The topic changed. The protagonists changed. It turned into a love song about rejection and longing. The woman in the song isn’t me. But I could reach into similar feelings I had had in other situations. I could also think of the many psychotherapy clients I had worked with for over forty years and recall the struggles. Personal suffering is very informative, if one is to write music about heartbreak. In fact, personal suffering can be helpful in term of having any real empathy for people  and their struggles, which almost certainly have similarities to your own.

Stones and Kisses