The process and the product.

Once the adventure was in getting there and the journey was the adventure. If you look at the prospect of heading to a new destination, today the journey is something to be avoided. Time not spent well. Toiling from airport terminal to terminal is as fatal as it sounds. Endless busy, noisy rooms and metal tubes of manufactured pusedo-comfort. What ever happened to the kids singing “Bingo” in the back seat of the station wagon as the miles rolled happily along?

I can mostly relate to the process being more important than the product via songwriting. And although it’s not the thing I think I do best, it is the thing I do that somehow matters the most. And although I have had a bit of a dry spell for the last couple of months, it still is a central point of my minds eye.

Writing a great song, the best song, the elusive song is such a good mark to shoot for. And once that song is birthed and lives as its own and even evolves into changed songs it certainly is a wonderful thing hold in your hand or on your ear. But I’m coming to believe that the truth of the mater is that the process of writing that song is actually the most important aspect of the song. The doing is the thing. If you follow the process you will find the heart of the song in the doing. Picking up the pen and guitar begins the journey of the song. And without taking that first step, nothing else will ever come. Be it shit or Shineola.

I’m not even sure I completely understand why I believe this concept is true, I just know in my heart that it is. I need to really chew on this for a while and come to terms with how I know this to be true. Yet I do believe in my heart of hearts that the process of creating is the point and the song is the flower that is opened. The process is the song. The writing becomes that song. The hand and string and finger and bone and wood and whistle is the song. The doing is the thing and the thing is in the doing.