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Songwriter

A man sat strumming the guitar in my neighbor's balcony. J was out playing with some other neighborhood kids and I had stepped out to fetch her for dinner. My neighbor invited me to sit down a while and listen to the man sing and so we did. He had a nice voice but he introduced himself as a songwriter and went on to add "I don't sing anything I haven't written".

What a shame I thought as I listened to some of his work. With a voice like that, he may have gone places if he picked good lyrics set to a decent tune. There were many popular songs I could think of that would have sounded perfect in his voice. My neighbor requested a 70s number despite his earlier disclaimer about what he will and will not sing.

He sang a few bars but clearly he wanted us to listen to "this thing I wrote about growing up on a farm at the end of a dirt road". Replete with clichéd lines and a completely pointless tune, we felt sorry for a really talented singer who fancied himself to be a songwriter. This guy reminded me of The Would Be Gentleman by Moliere where the protagonist
M. Jourdain, a middle class man to create and air of nobility about himself goes remarkable lengths to emulate the aristocratic classes. The results like this guys songs is nothing short of hilarious.

Comments

Musings.. said…
You are right; one of our biggest strengths is to recognise our owm (and others') strenghts and weaknesses!!

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