Pam Rose, a songwriter with Love Wheel Music, was on the Songwriters' Panel at this year's NSAI Symposium on February 18. Pam, who has written several chart hits, includig "I'll Still Be Loving You," was asked the question "How difficult was it for you to get started in the music business?" I liked her reply.
She said that she wrote a lot of poor songs in her early years of writing and that it wasn't until she began "getting a grasp on my strengths" that she was able to get her first cuts by major artists.
Panm's remark drives home what most of us who write songs are already aware of: It doesn't often happen overnight and we may have to rely on co-writers at times to fill in the music, lyric or a portion of the song that is not up to hit potential.
I think all songwriters have written poor songs. (I've written a mess of them myself.) However, many songwriters here in Louisville have improved their skills, and I think if we work hard enough at it, we just might get a grasp on our strengths and get a cut by a major artist one of these days.