Lucinda Williams on great songwriting advice
Lucinda Williams is a singer, songwriter, and artist with a storied solo career. She achieved success on the country charts when Mary Chapin Carpenter covered “Passionate Kisses”. Her latest is Blessed.
What was the best piece of advice your father ever gave you?
LUCINDA: Dad stressed the importance of the economics of writing. Clean it up, edit, edit, revise! Above all, the listener should be able to understand the poem or the song, not be forced to unravel a complicated, self-indulgent puzzle. Offer your art up to the whole world, not just an elite few. He was supportive and his suggestions brilliant, even if it only meant changing one word. For example, in my song “Drunken Angel,” there is the line “Blood spilled out from the hole in your heart.” Originally I had written, “Blood spilled out from a hole in your heart.” Dad suggested I use “the” in place of “a”. Beautiful!
From this interview