It’s Memorial Day – Write a Song About That!

Every Monday on the Instagram account for the “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast I post a quote from a guest on a past episode.  Three weeks ago today the entry that came up in the rotation was Episode 115 three years ago with Pacific northwest-based duo Gypsy Soul.

While it wasn’t what got used for Instagram, one quote I’ve never forgotten from that episode was Roman Morykit saying, “I think the classic 60s and 70s protest songs, I think those are not as prevalent as they used to be and that’s, I think that’s the job of an artist is to comment on things that are going on in the world and get people thinking about them.”

I’m always a little caught off guard when I’m in church and a song is sung that isn’t a traditional church song (and by that I don’t mean I’m taken aback by Contemporary Christian songs).  For example, yesterday morning the national anthem was sung before Mass started, and then the closing song was “God Bless America.”  Okay, sure, the first word of that song title makes it seem appropriate for church, but you get the idea.

And that brings us to today being Memorial Day.

How come the first (only?) song that comes to mind today for me is Lee Greenwood singing, “Proud to be an American”?  Am I writing this blog too early this morning that I’m not allowing the fog to lift from my brain and think of many others that might be out there?  Or, is it that, in truth, there really aren’t a whole lot of patriotic songs that aren’t in the national anthem / “God Bless America” / “My Country Tis of Thee” realm?

If you listen to “Now Hear This Entertainment” regularly, you hear me asking guests about their songwriting style and where they get their inspiration and their song ideas from.

Sometimes when I am doing a speaking engagement I’ll reference the episode of “Seinfeld” where they’re trying to write the pilot and the classic, “What’d you do today?” “Nothing.”  “That’s a show!” dialogue took place.  (In fact, the video on SpeakerBruceW.com shows that in the scene from an experienced writers retreat that I spoke at in Las Vegas.)

So, if you’re a songwriter and are scratching your head looking for inspiration, trying to figure out something to write about, ta da!  There are what I call gimmick songs, or novelty songs, where the songwriter gets kind of corny (silly corny, not love-song-sappy-corny).  I’m not talking about that type of ‘novelty’ song.  Look no further than the holiday we’re observing today.  Write a song appropriate for Memorial Day!

My thanks to everyone who reads this blog (and/or listens to “Now Hear This Entertainment”) every week.  As you can see by today’s entry, I don’t take a break for the holiday.  So, yes, I will ‘talk’ to you on Wednesday (with another episode of NHTE).

Did I miss one or more songs besides the Lee Greenwood song?  Have you tried writing something patriotic?  Talk about this blog in our Facebook group.