Mama, Where Do Songs Come From?
"Son, turn off the television and start practicing your guitar..."
In thinking about how I’ve come to write new songs, they usually spring from equal parts inspiration and perspiration. More than a few have been ‘works for hire,’ songs I was asked to write or paid to create in service to a campaign or cause, usually on a deadline. Still others have been sonic ‘gifts’ written for special people.
This series begins with a ‘gift’ song I wrote at the request of my mother, the late Rev. Mary Alice Thompson Brown. Mom’s favorite music was the Country & Western music she heard as a youth via her crystal radio in Kansas City of the 1930’s. When I became a professional musician, no matter where I was playing or who I was playing with, Mom would always ask: “Have you written a country-western song for me yet?”
Well a few years later (while I was in the midst of teaching a high school music class), the inspiration for her song came through loud and clear.
Songwriting is always something special for me. My appreciation for the skill and art of it increases every day. Regardless of style, or instrumentation, the act of creating a sonic “still life” and sharing it with others is always a thrill.
[As a former news reporter, I do feel as if the fundamentals I learned about how to winnow and wrestle raw reporting into an actual story are also key aspects of my songwriting engine.]
It’s all about getting to the the essence of a situation to imagine a framework around which to build a musical statement.
So here’s one for the best Mother anyone ever had.
Momma Likes Country Music -
Key of G
Mama likes country music
it's the only kind of music that was real to her
simple, heartfelt country music
soothed this Kansas City girl
(spoken verse..)
She grew up in the heartland
but she traveled far and wide
Danced to Spanish music, & some Irish too
She heard Charlie Parker, saw Elvis swivel but to Mama..
That was all just drivel…
Country music was the only one for her.
CHORUS
Mama loves country music
From old Hank Williams and Willie Nelson too
As long as you can tap your feet and hear that steel guitar, She'd say:
"Play a country western song for me”
©2005 music and lyrics - dartanyan brown - mayorisha music (ascap)
Next in the Series
(or: The Age When I Began to See How Smart My Parents had Become)
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
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IOWA WRITERS’ COLLABORATIVE
The Roster of Writers
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup
Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Daniel Finney, Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia
Iowa Capital Dispatch, an alliance with IWC
Dana James: Black Iowa News, Iowa
Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Letters from Iowans, Iowa
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Steve Semken, The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Jason Walsmith, The Racontourist, Earlham
Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
The Iowa Writers Collaborative is also proud to ally with Iowa Capital Dispatch.
A classic for sure.....Mama is smiling!