The Enneagram: Day 6 + 7

ARGH!

My music sucks. I suck. You suck. The world sucks. Everything sucks.

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little bit frustrated.

I'm having so much trouble writing songs. No matter how much I play around with my guitar or fool around with lyrics, I keep getting stuck.

Not wanting to get behind though, I recorded my Type 3 song.

Type 3 by Ellen Cooper

I'm so confused, I don't even know how to state my issues. So please ignore the fact that this post is completely incoherent.

I'm having trouble thinking of good lyrics. Since I'm trying to express a type, I always feel like writing stories told from a first person point of view that state the obvious.

Let me try to work through my lyrics. Perhaps I can figure out where my confusion is leading from, or maybe one of you guys can figure it out.

This is how the verse starts.

I play guitar

So I can be

Like a real musician

I wear my hair

Over my eyes

So I seem indifferent

This seems pretty decent to me. After this of course, I got stuck so I started putting what fit for stereotypical 3s.

I'll play that part

Whatever you want

Is what I do

Now, I like "I'll play that part". The rest I'm not so hot about.

Would you put that gold star on my neck?

My strange form of symbolism. Since 3s view achievements as love and kissing someone's neck is a very romantic gesture, I thought it'd be clever. Maybe?

Kisses sterling gold

Show me the prize

Show me your love

I don't like the way "Kisses sterling gold" flows. I tried to follow the idea of the above phrase, but I'm not sure how well it works in this context. The next two lines work, and I think I like them.

Do do do do do

Do do do do do do

This is "I don't know what to put, and I don't care enough to find words, and I'm just going to hum it." 

Next comes the guitar solo.

Back to the second verse.

I speak loudly 

So I can be

Like a broadway star

Dress so pretty

It's a pity

So I play the part

"Dress so pretty, it's a pity" makes no sense to me, but it seemed like the best I could do.

Now that I'm out of my basement listening to the recording, I'm realizing hey, this isn't as bad as I thought. It's actually kind of catchy. I kind of like it.

I don't know how to word myself. Which is funny, because wording myself is something I do constantly. Maybe if I make a list of what I think I'm doing wrong.

• When I try to use metaphor or poetic language, it silly, and not quite right
• I try to keep my chords simple, but quickly they seem repetitive. Maybe I'm not making good melody lines?
• I still don't know how to flow sections into one another. I steal from songs, but I'm trying to find the line between being inspired and ripping off a song completely. The problem is, stealing bits and pieces doesn't make a whole. Thus, I have many sections that don't flow.
• Even when I start out/steal good rhythms, I end up in plain old 4/4,

After a while, I get so disheartened, I just end up playing Cold War Kids songs, because they're so much freaking better than mine and I have so much more fun singing them.

Can I just make covers of Cold War Kids songs for my project? No! I can't give up. All I need is a good night's sleep. Then, I can come at this with a fresh start, and maybe I'll feel better.