Knock some cute out of it

My Nashville apartment rental was up near the end of August and, since I was sans bike, my original plan to spend early September riding and camping around Tennessee was kyboshed. So I snipped the tail off the trip and found a cheapish flight back to Toronto.

The day before I left, I went to a quarterly audition for the Bluebird Café Sunday writers’ night. Successfuls get to play three songs in front of the most attentive packed house in North America while the evening’s headliner warms up out back. You get graded on your first Sunday night performance and then could get invited into the regular shuffle of evening shows. It’s a foot in the door of the mini music meca that is the Bluebird. 

I arrived super early and lined up behind about 20 even earlier birds to spend a couple hours waiting in the sweltering sun. Doors opened at 11:00 and we played in order of arrival. No preambles, no long musical intros—just your name, the song title, a verse, a chorus and a thank you m’am. Lemme tell ya, that all goes by pretty quick.

I was still in a brace and couldn’t play guitar. The cast had come off a couple weeks before but the wrist wasn’t up to much of anything except basking in the glorious daily sprinkle of hot shower water that it’d missed for the previous six weeks. So my Airbnb landlord backed me up on guitar. He’d also lent me his car to get there that morning, scootering over later to meet me once the doors opened. He was in and out like a six-string superman. Left me looking around for the phone booth.

I reckon there were about 80 hopefuls. The organizer’s intro said that, on average, about 10% of people get the nod. That meant, 70 or so of us would be getting rejection emails a few weeks later—if this was a good day. I sang and played tamborine and an egg shaker. It felt fun. I chose an upbeat little love song.

I listened intently to everybody before and after me until the break about an hour later (I had to split and get the borrowed car back, after all). There was a wide mix of talent and proficiency. There were drinking songs, love songs, heartbreak songs, Christian songs, inspirational dream songs, even a comedic tune. Most people seemed pretty comfortable, but there were a few nervous wrecks and fretboard fumblers. I admired them even more for getting up there.

There were some good guitarists, a few really good singers, and a bunch of really nice lines scattered here and there. But no whole song that really jumped out and made me wish I’d written it. I figured there were three or four of us within nod territory and, I must admit, I was feeling pretty confident about my song, performance and chances. But still... only 10% on a good day. Hmm... I wondered did anyone else have a mental list of probables? Was I on it?

The Bluebird folks said we’d hear back in three weeks.

Nearly two months went by. I couldn’t write very well on audition day because of the brace, so I had other people putting my name and email on the various lists. Had I paid enough attention to their dictation? I checked in with a few people who were at my table that day. Nobody’d heard yet. A week later, the mystery was revealed. A shake, not a nod. On my birthday, no less.

You saw it coming, didn’t you?

I must admit, I was surprised and pretty bummed out. The email was very matter-of-fact, which I totally respect. I hope to impress people, but I don’t want to be coddled if I don’t. A snippet:

"Though we do not give specific evaluations, here are some general observations about the auditions... redundancy, too many clichés, didn’t make sense, boring, trite, been done already, etc. These comments may not have been about your song, but it’s possible that your song might fall into one of these categories."

I can honestly say my lyrics weren’t redundant. The story moves along with a very clear beginning, middle and end. Point #2: Yeah, the title is a cliché, although I haven’t heard of a song with that title before, and I thought I put a pretty cool spin on it. But still, a cliché. Did it make sense? I’m confident in saying it’s a clear story, and I’ve had it reviewed by a number of people at NSAI, SOCAN, other songwriters, etc, at various stages of the multiple edits it’s been through. Was it boring? That of course is in the ear of the beholder but I honestly didn’t think so. Good story, only real repetition of words was in the hook and there were plenty of other lines between them in the chorus. Nice melody, upbeat. Was it trite/done already? The story is of a lifelong pair of friends who end up as a couple because it’s the only love that mattered their whole lives. Like they were born for each other. That’s probably a story that’s been told a bunch of times, but in different words, different characters. Hell, I dunno. Then I got this feeling in my gut that maybe it was just too cute, which could extrapolate into not all that realistic or everyday which is a pretty strong foundation in country music.

Well, anyway, the song didn’t get me a Bluebird show, but I still play it and enjoy it. I think it’s a got a great rhythm, kind of a shuffle, and nice original yet easy to follow melody lines. The chord progression is dynamic and strong. I love the chorus lyrics. Who knows, maybe I’ll rewrite everything else and see if I can knock some cute out of it.