One of the good – or I guess bad things – about releasing a horrible album like Songs for Sheep, is it is the perfect fuel for getting the “good stuff” done and out there.
If I got eaten by a bear tomorrow, I’d be horrified that the only music I ever got out there in the world was something so terrible.
And that’s the thing with life – you don’t know how long you will be here.
Bad is Better than Nothing
Putting really bad stuff out there is the perfect fuel to get as much stuff released out in the world as best and as fast as you can – whether or not it’s perfect, whether or not it’s any good – it’s better to have something that nothing!
Recently I ventured into my parent’s attic to retrieve all of their old cassette tapes.
My parents are actually really good and talented musicians and so a lot of those cassette tapes are of their own original songs. My mom has 2 complete albums ready to properly record + release to the world on cassette tape.
Then there’s all the cassette tapes of 30 years of playing weddings and even some sing-a-longs they recorded to send to my Dad’s uncles to listen to and sing along with.
And when I say my parents are good, I’m not exaggerating. Listen to them! Every time I am going through the old cassette tapes I play what I call the game of “Is This My Mom Singing Or Karen Carpenter/Anne Murray/Carly Simon?” It’s a hard game!
Both of the cassette tapes my mom recorded needs to become a real album. They deserves being released properly – but at the same time, I’m terrified that by the time we get around to recording and editing and polishing it up – what if none of us are still here able to do that?
We’re busy. We’re tired. We’ve already got one million bazillion too many other things to do.
If you’ve listened to my song Everybody Knows and read the story behind it, you’ll understand a lot more about why it’s so important for me to get bad stuff out there rather than striving for perfection – and also a big part of the story on why the music sat so lonely in the attic all these years.
Where Do I Even Start? How Do I Share These Things With the World?
I have so much stuff I want to release – I don’t even know where to start. My to-do list is never ending. So it was very timely this morning on Facebook to see my friend Paul shared a link to this video by Jordan Raynor.
I bought his book Redeeming Time, because this Bible verse really spoke to me:
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Mathew 5:37
Hopefully I’ll figure out by chapter 2 what I’m saying yes to, and what I’m saying no to, because juggling too many things at once and wearing 10,000 different hats is exhausting – and I’m not helping or serving any one that way.
My grandma always used to say “The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” and I think that’s part of why this spoke to me so much. We can’t just intend to do something – we have do it. And if you’re not going to do something, don’t say you will.
So, I will do all the things I’m saying yes to – and they will probably be done badly. But getting these “open loops” as Jordan calls them closed, will be better for all of us. Something done badly is better than not doing it at all.
Anyways, that’s all I can write for today, but that’s where my thoughts are, and I’m writing like nobody is watching anyways. 🙂