A second interview with a songwriter who attempted, and completed, the 50/90 songwriting challenge: A gentleman named T.C. Elliot, or Pig Farmer Jr, whichever you prefer… Here’s his website

1. 50 songs….. how on earth did you manage that?

Having an understanding family. On Saturdays my wife works and I am off, so except for some running around for the kids I had between 6 and 8 hours to devote to songwriting, recording and posting. Additionally, I was able to squeak out between one and three hours on Tuesday and Thursday nights for the majority of the challenge. I wrote and recorded at other times as time allowed but it was hit and miss at best.
In a way only having three specific times to write was a blessing. It caused me to unconsciously organize my ideas so that when the time came I just started writing. I didn’t prepare, get in the mood, worry or spend my energy on anything other than writing. So I became very productive. The vast majority of my songs were written and posted within an hour each. I really learned how to follow through. In fact, if I didn’t complete a song in one sitting it generally didn’t get completed at all. I found that when I get an idea and I get stuck, I have to fight through it, keep at it and do the hard work it takes to finish the song at that time of creation or else it sits and often stays incomplete.
I work 40-50 hours a week, coach my daughter’s in-line hockey team and both of my daughters and I are within a belt of testing for our Black Belt in ATA Tae Kwon Do. We have classes between 2 and 5 times a week. If I can find the time to write 50 songs anyone can find the time to write 50 songs.

2. Which of your 50/90 songs are you most proud of? What musical characteristics do you think made it successful?

I have narrowed my list of “keepers” down to thirteen songs. Out of those thirteen there are a handful I’m fairly proud of. If I had to choose only one I’d have to say the song “I’m Sorry” It still needs a little editing on the lyric, but it is a sad story with a semi-twist that relates the emotion of being sorry in relation to a loved one. The music is fairly simple, the lyric is somewhat repetitive… all the things you try to avoid in good songwriting. But somehow it speaks to me. This was one of those songs that just kind of wrote itself down and came out pretty much the way it should have. I like the melody and the simple chordal strumming fits without being to simple sounding.

Download I’m Sorry (demo recording).

Other songs I’m proud of are “Oh Lord Take Me Home” a country-gospel song right out of that tradition. It’s old school country, not this new stuff. “Down that Road Again” is a cool melody/chord progression. I don’t do a lot of quick changing chords and this one turned out well. “Heaven’s Gonna Have To Wait” is a good song in the tradition of “Precious Jewel”, traditional folk/country death ballads. A song for one’s wife or husband that has passed. It isn’t quite as old fashioned as it could have been. I really seldom write in that old traditional vein, but I’m beginning to see I have a knack for it.

Download Oh Lord Take Me Home (demo recording).

3. Thought or feeling – how much do you think about the nuts and bolts of your songwriting, how much is emotion, instinct and experience?

I’d say that every song (with very few exceptions) begin with feeling or intuition. I sometimes get a melody in my head and just start singing or playing along until something bubbles out of my subconscious and I write it down. Sometimes I have a phrase, or a title, or a chord progression, or a little riff… something to get me started. I almost always write a lyric after I have a melody or at least a chord progression, even an incomplete one. So for me starting the song is usually instinct or feel. But once I get the first verse or the chorus done, then I use my brain to finish the song. Sometimes the song will write itself down beginning to end and requires just a bit of editing, but normally I have to work at meter and rhyme scheme and different ways of saying what I want to say in order to complete the song. A lot of times I’ll come up with a cool idea that takes the song in a different direction which will have me re-order the verses, or write new
verses or edit verses already written in order to make a more cohesive song. Or maybe just a phrase will pop out that becomes a focal point.
The song “Dead and Gone” was started just as a sappy break up song, fawning after a lost love. But somehow my brain decided it would be cool to have a twist at the end. And it also turned out really well. I still haven’t been able to play that one the way I heard it when I wrote it, but I think it is another that deserves a lot of attention. It is a keeper for sure.

4. Are there any songwriting clichés you try to avoid (eg. particular chord progressions, rhymes etc.)

Well, I don’t want to sound like anything that’s already been written. At least not to the point where someone would hear it and say, “that sounds like such and such song.” It’s cool if someone comments that they can hear the influence of another song, often one I haven’t even thought of. But there is a distinct line there that I try not to cross. I also enjoy singing and playing with the blues and blues structures. But I shy away from using certain cliches such as “baby.” Although I admit I have done it in the past.
So really there is definitely a few things I shy away from, but mostly it shows up as I’m writing. If it sounds hokey, or ripped off, or cheesy I try to change it up or else make it seem intentional. But basically there isn’t anything I go into my songwriting refusing to use, but I think subconsciously there is a mental understanding that some things just don’t work for me.

5. And to finish, an easy one  - What makes a catchy melody?

I don’t know. I just know when one I hear or write is good or when it isn’t. I think most of us subconsciously know when a melody is too cheesy or fit for a “kid” song. But that doesn’t keep us from writing them sometimes. Although it is fun to do things like invert the intervals or reverse the intervals or change the melody rhythmically but keep it the same melodically…. I admit I rarely do this, but it is fun to try new or crazy strategies when you can’t get it to work properly.

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