Over the years I’ve saved articles that apply to Capturing the Soul. One article is a blog by Rosanne Cash that was in the New York Times May 22, 2008, “Measure for Measure, How to Write a Song and Other Mysteries–The Ear of the Beholder“.
Rosanne Writes:
The “truth” (or “honesty”) and the “facts” are not necessarily the same, they are not necessarily equal and one often requires the suspension of the other. This may not be the case in higher math or on Wall Street (or, actually, it may work there as well, but I’m clueless about that) but it is an immutable “truth” in art and music that facts are not necessarily the best indicators of the deepest human experience….
But in the space where truth and fact diverge, a larger question arises: if the facts don’t lead us to meaning, what does? Perhaps a willingness to live with questions, not answers, and the confidence to ascribe meaning where we find it, with our own instincts as guide. I should approach my writing as if I am meeting someone for the first time, and have no idea what he will say or what kind of mood he is in. If you already know entirely what you want to say, and want to document an “honest” rehash of what happened and why, then I still maintain that you are better off taking up jurisprudence.
I appreciate my readers’ instinct to protect my songwriting students and their attempts to stay honest, but in songwriting, as in painting, photo-realism is only one style; it is not the litmus test for everything else. In many great songs a larger, universal modicum of truth is revealed and resonates on a personal level with the listener, even when the facts make no sense at all. Sometimes especially when the facts make no sense at all.
Not only is Rosanne talented (and spells her name correctly), but she understands the fine line between truth, honesty, and facts. By staying with intuition and sensing the experience allows us to move beyond the facts–to move out of our heads and into a deeper experience. That’s why we cry when we hear a song or see a movie that deeply touches our experience. That is when we really sense the truth–it is beyond the facts and doesn’t pertain to the “honesty” that’s associated with those facts. That is what truly captures us and touches our souls.
Here’s the link to the song April 5th that she discusses in the article, written and performed with Elvis Costello and Kris Kristofferson.
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