Songwriting is like meditation

Jeff Tweedy says teaching songwriting is like teaching someone how to think or have ideas. No one writes songs, they write one song and then another. Songwriting is about not trying to do anything or be anything anymore. That happens only in the present process of making one song.¹ This echoes [[ How to Sit ]], mainly [[ Doing nothing ]].

Jeff tells the story of the ego getting in the way of a performance. This has happened to me too. The observing ego can get in the way of writing a song. That’s why process is important: it is the way by which we get into flow state. Jeff calls this “disappearing.”

This has two benefits:

1. The visibility of one’s own human frailty is what makes works feel real and relatable.
2. Getting my ego out of the way, I can listen to myself with some objectivity.² (See also [[ Parts work ]].)

Jeff says learning how to disappear is the best way to make his true self appear before himself and others.² This reminds me again of Mary Gauthier on The Working Songwriter. This also reminds me of the [[ Self in Jungian psychology ]]. Creative flow leads to ego death.