Fred McKinney the Song Man

         (that’s me with the facial hair and big grin)

After my fifty year high school class reunion at the end of August I found myself wondering about high school classes in general, and mine in particular.  And whether mine was still “cliquey?”

[My American Heritage College Dictionary defines clique as a "small exclusive (Italics mine) group of friends or associates."  I believe the exclusivity is what gives the word is negative connotations.]

I have no doubts that there were cliques back in the late ’50′s when I was in high school.  There were economic “haves” and “have-nots.”  There were town kids and country kids or farmers(some were in FFA and wore the blue jackets.)  And there were “jocks,” “non-jocks,” “brains” and those not so brainy.  Lots of groups.

And there was another group I’ll call the “jet set,” that cut across lines and included some from every group but the jocks.  This group smoked and drank beer and stayed out late at night.

I was economically in the “have not” group, but was a good athlete and student and was in the band. I was not a “jet setter.”

Years later some fellow students insist that cliques are a thing of the past, but I wonder.  I know there are those who refuse to come to reunions because of cliques and I’ve always been sure of the existence of cliques.

Fifty years removed from high school I like to think I’m wiser, and have begun to see that people naturally break off into groups.  Some of them are groups (cliques?) that have existed since their school days, and certainly we’re more likely to talk with old friends, but there is also the camaraderie of getting together with people you shared time with, whether you were in their group/clique or not.

So maybe they’re not really “cliques” but just “groups.”  What do you think?

I first heard/saw James McMurtry jamesmcmurtry.com in an MTV video around 1990, performing Painting by Numbers from his Too Long in the Wasteland album.  I bought the cassette and listened to it and I’ve loved his stuff ever since. My teenaged son, Colin, was watching TV before going to school in the morning, and though he wasn’t impressed at the time he has come to appreciate McMurtry’s music.  I figured out the chords to Song for a Deckhand’s Daughter from the same album, and my son and I sang it as a duet when he visited recently.

Yeserday I listened (yet again) to his Childish Things cd from 2005. We Can’t Make it Here (along with the title track, Childish Things) really stood out; it’s the old story of jobs going south and west out of America.  But the narrator doesn’t blame those people doing the jobs now: “…I hate the men sent the jobs away…” he says.  And the verses end with the refrain “…can’t make it here anymore.” 

I’m working on a new song that contrasts a man who’s retired from a big company and living in luxury with some folks who aren’t so fortunate.  McMurty’s songwriting abilities are a little intimidating, but the high standard motivates me to do my best.

“Influence” can be defined as: “the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others” while a “favorite” is a “a person or thing regarded with special favor or preference,” according to www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/influence.

I’ve been writing “profiles” lately in various promotional efforts, and found one of the most difficult ones to be that of personal influences.  Is a given songwriter an influence or a favorite, and how do you tell the difference?  Hope you’re not looking for a definitive answer because I’m still sorting it out.

It seems safe to say that Tom Russell, www.tomrussell.com is a favorite (his website is one of my Internet Explorer favorites) and an influence, too.  I bought his Borderland cd several years ago (copywrite 2001) and have played it hundreds of times.  I’m sure he’s an influence because a couple of his songs–Down the Rio Grande(with Dave Alvin) and The Sante Fe at Midnight–led directly to the writing of a couple of my songs: Ever Think About Me? (on my High Water cd) and Whistle Blow (not recorded.)

Similarities between songwriters are another sign of influence.  Tom Russell and I both write of people and places, though his people live in the southwest and mine in the midwest.  We both write about causes and about finding and losing love.  I think I can safely say Tom Russell is an influence, and certainly I can say he’s a favorite.

There’s a saying that goes something like “writing is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.”  Denise Hunter www.girlswriteout.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html attributes the saying to Thomas Edison’s applying it to “success.”  I guess you could apply the saying to most any kind of endeavor, but I’m using it for songwriting.  So writing is hard work; there is an element of “inspiration” but afterward it takes some elbow grease. 

Many writers say they stay out of their left brain when “creating” something and only use it for revision and editing.  A friend of mine said a writer he knew would whistle “Funiculi, Funicula” while walking to occupy his left brain when looking for new ideas.  Bob Franke www.bobfranke.com  said in a songwriting workshop I attended that a writer should keep a dream journal, and use the dreams as a source of new material.

Once the idea is captured it’s time to go to work.  The entire song may or may not come in one lump; furthur right brain sourcing may be necessary, but at some point rewriting is required.  At the last Wednesday night Songwriters’ Workshop at the Espresso Yourself Music Cafe www.espressoyourselfmusiccafe.com the homework assignment was to use the comments received on a song you performed, rewrite the song, and bring copies from “before” and “after” the rewrite.  Emphasis here is that even a song you’ve been performing may profit from reworking.

So, “inspiration” proves to be only the beginning of a new song; “perspiration” is involved in finishing it.