Steve Pavey thoughts: On a songwriters forum on here, the question was asked if drugs were necessary for good songs. I was surprised at the number of people who said that they were! I’ve written a lot of songs over the years, none under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Songwriting is both art and craft. Some writers can only write what they experience. They also tend to have to wait for inspiration to strike, and when it evaporates, they have to hope it comes back.
Craftsmen don’t have to wait for inspiration. They know how to create it. They can write on demand – give them a phrase, title or concept and within 20-30 minutes, they’ll have the bones of a song ready to be fleshed out through arrangement. Obviously, they don’t require drugs to accomplish that.
I am part of that school. I can write on demand, having literally trained my brain to hear a song in anything. My bandmates have learned this about me!
I’d make the argument that the writers who have used drugs made music in spite of that, not because of it. And you never want to confuse the finished product after producers and arrangers worked on it with the original work product.
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