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Wild Bill O’Halloran

s the old line music industry disintegrated, large numbers of experienced pro’s were
Areplaced by smaller numbers of young, computer-savvy. and frankly cheaper folks
who allegedly had their ears to the ground on what was happening now. The high salaried
boomers they supplanted became an army of online advice givers. We’ve all heard from them.
When I worked for Michael Jackson, I would tell him ‘Michael, you need to be yourself’ etc.,
etc.

Some of these are of more value than others ( I’m sure a LOT of people worked for Michael
Jackson, and I doubt he needed advice on being individualistic, but whatever) but a common

theme for all of them relates to our songwriting. Frequently, a theme runs like this: Don’t try
to chase a current fad.. don’t try to write a Paul McCartney song,write something central to
your innermost being, because there’s only one of you.

Despite the fact that so many of the advice givers parrot this same advice, I think this has
merit. In fact, let me sharpen the point a bit on that theme: As a new face on the scene, we
can safely assume that the innermost being of you is completely fresh territory to the
audience. and that can be your greatest advantage! But does that mean you should blurt out
the weirdest nerdy crap you can think of? Not necessarily. If you were on a first date, there
would be a fine line between being interesting and being a weirdo, specializing in the dreaded
TMI (too much information).

On a second date, perhaps some individual quirks would be worthwhile topics of
conversation.. the other party can find out the horrible things later, perhaps after you’re
married. but we’re veering off course. Let me spring this variation on what you’ve been told:
It’s not write what you know. it’s write what you are sincerely interested in.

Going back to our biggest advantage. the audience already knows that Paul McCartney writes
silly love songs, they know that Bruce Springsteen writes about steel mills, and John Fogarty
writes about bayous.wait for it... and it bothers them very little that Bruce has never set foot in

a steel mill, nor John on a bayou because they made those things interesting and immediate,
even if much of it came from their vivid little imaginations. The audience has very few
preconceptions about a NEW songwriter. If you can write vivid, interesting verses about
Dodgeball with Juggling Robots, maybe you should go for it! That will be YOU as far as they
know.

The caveat is, that will quickly become a trap if you don’t know. or care.very much about
juggling Robots. So remember the second date rule, the listener wants you to reveal a piece of
your uniqueness/interest’s not a full on psychological pathology.

p.s. on my new album, I have a song about the powerful word But, and a song about the word

If (you knew I was interested in words, right?) also I hit cliche’s (They Told Me), phonies
(you’ve got more faces than a deck of cards) etc Does it work? Tell me what you think.you
can check it out at
www.wildcatohalloran.com

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