Simply The Best (better than all the rest)

Sometimes when I listen to the greatest songs ever I am both inspired and depressed.

What is it like to be a Salieri in the time of Mozart? Or a good painter in the time of Picasso, a great footballer in the days of Pele, a good songwriter in the time of the Beatles and Beach Boys? This is the world I’m in.

It’s such a crazy thing to want to be the best at something. If you want to be the fastest One hundred meter runner ever then there’s a reasonably simple test- break the world record.
 
How do you judge the best songwriter? The most record sales? The most recorded cover versions of a song they’ve written? The most number ones? The writer who broke the mould? Came up with the best lyrics, the most whistle-able melodies? Music is subjective. Conquering a mountain or running really fast isn’t. You either reach the summit, break the world record or not.

The world I’m in means that I write some songs in the hope that they will get on people’s albums. The problem is that every time I write a song with this aim in mind I know that all over the world there are incredibly successful talented writers also trying to get on the same record. There are shadowy figures writing to the same brief I am. Hell, I don’t even know what Dianne Warren looks like but I know she’s one of the most successful writers ever.  That’s who I’m up against-a super crack team of the greatest pop writers of the century. It’s a bit like learning to play football and finding out that every game is the World Cup final. Why do I bother?

I suppose one reason is in the foolish and misguided hope that inside me there’s a ‘Yesterday’ or a ‘God Only Knows’. To be honest though I’d be happy with a ‘Rhythm Of The Night’ (DeBarge), and by that I mean a fun song with a catchy melody that lasts. I wonder what would make me happier, a number one hit single or a song that topped the critic’s list of ‘best songs’? As I haven’t got either its all conjecture but I guess that whichever one I had would make me crave the other even more. There’s nothing for it, I would have to have both.

The other reason I write is that writing a song is the happiest I ever am.
I think psychologists have said that to find happiness we need to do something that absorbs us so completely that we ‘lose time’. I have found songwriting and the only pursuit that really fulfils this for me. What is it for you? My friends have cited; cooking, reading, running and listening to music.

It’s funny to me to know that all over the world there are people who are ‘the best’ at something. Even if it’s someone who’s the best at ‘making an espresso’ or ‘reminding people about that thing they had to do’ we all have a skill. I find comfort in the fact that if I don’t end up being ‘the best’ at songwriting, I make damn good cheese on toast.