In his own words:

” I’ve gone through a number of artistic formats over the years, from play-writing to poetry through most memorably for a few months, pottery.

But writing, putting ideas into words, creating images and sounds, trying to find the best way to express a particular emotion, this was an activity I quickly fell in love with. And as all of us who use this site would agree, songs are a magical and unique medium. They can make us cheerful or sad, want to dance and sing in a way that no other art form is capable of doing. All encapsulated within generally a three to five minute period.

I’m not usually someone who writes directly about personal experiences. I have so much admiration for writers who can do that, it’s an amazing gift but sadly for me, not one I have. For me the inspiration, the drive to write is triggered by outside influences. A rhythm or melody on a song which will make me think, that’s a genre style that I would like to try. Sometimes it’s an emotion or an expression that a friend might express that I’ll think is interesting. Or a documentary or political show which has a cultural reference that I’ll connect with. How people are being effected by the environment they find themselves in.

Though with the most recent batch of lyrics I’ve uploaded to Songbay I’ve been trying to write more straightforward, ‘relationship’ lyrics. The timeless variety that we can all connect with. With a ‘catchy’ melody. Hopefully. That’s the rainbow somewhere out there on the horizon that I’m searching for. But variety is what I love.

Following on from that it will not be a surprise if I say that while my love of music listening came from being an ‘80’s child’ and hearing the songs of the time. The ‘popular’ acts like Prince, Madness, Led Zeppelin, it was the folk/pop singer-song-writers like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen etc who got me interested in writing my own song lyrics a few years back. The idea being that I would completely capture the human condition, helping to end through the power of words: war, famine and hardship everywhere. The:

‘And I assure the public that this will be achieved by the end of the decade’

…….kind of idea. Lol

But even after realism sunk in, (strangely enough I haven’t yet inspired a peace march or a single gun to be laid down), I continued on writing less grandiose songs and found I still enjoyed it. Songs more from an individual’s perspective. ‘Everyday’ people dealing with ‘everyday’ life.

I love the feeling of creating, when I settle down with an idea of what I want to say and the words flow. A great feeling of calmness, completeness and achievement envelops me.  Especially since this doesn’t happen with the regularity I would like, it’s often a case of sitting down hoping for an ‘inspiration muse’ to happen by as I stare at a blank page or screen! But when it does come together, I’m in my own personal oasis. Then sharing the piece with people I know and over the last few years, uploading them to this site is a journey I’ve come to enjoy. Sadly, I haven’t had many sales, which of course I would like, but I do get a lot of personal enjoyment from writing anyway.

The feedback and encouragement I’ve got from Songbay, both from other members and the guys who run the site has been great. I tend not to write with other artists so when I finish a piece, no one else has seen a single word and I’m always disappointed with the final song. Sometimes what I envisioned is close to what I’ve put down in words, other times it looks like I’ve just thrown random scrabble block letters onto a page. But the members here understand and are always supportive. I don’t know whether I should extend this comment out to everyone but, if I’m a typical example:

‘Artists are a terribly insecure bunch of people. We can never be reassured too much……!’

Thanks for all the claps on the back. ”

 Mark Downey