Songwriting with the richest Beatle

My father in-law is a master songwriter. 

He has written #1 charting songs in his niche. 

Royalties from past songs are a huge part of his income. 

In short, he’s mastered songwriting. 

And to an aspiring songwriter (me), it’s mega intimidating.

So much so, that it squashed my songwriting aspirations for YEARS.

• “I’m never going to be that good, why should I even try?”

• “It’s really hard to write a GREAT song”

• “I can’t put in the time it takes to be truly exceptional”

And so on. 

Then one day in 2021, a documentary dropped on Disney+. A Peter Jackson documentary. An 8-hour long documentary. 

A documentary about the Beatles. 

I watched it all in 1 sitting. It was all amazing.

But there was a particular scene that caught my attention. 

About halfway through, Paul McCartney is sitting in the rehearsal space by himself, noodling on the guitar. 

He starts playing a riff, then humming a simple melody while gently stomping his feet. 

To myself: “Hey, I’ve heard that before…”

In amazement, I start to realize that I’m watching the birth of the song “Get Back.” A song I’ve heard my whole life. Paul is making up a timelessly classic song EFFORTLESSLY. Almost as an afterthought.

He wasn’t overthinking it. Heck, he was barely thinking at all, from the outside looking in.

The ole inspiration flame clicked on in my psyche like a pilot flame for an internal hot water tank of creativity. 

And that night, I wrote my first song. 

Now, granted, it sucked. But it got the spigot flowing. And, I’ve written over 10 by now. That makes me exponentially closer to writing a hit song than I would have before I started. 

All it took was giving myself permission to try. It didn’t have to be a big production. It didn’t take hours of planning. I just had to sit down with a guitar and start humming.

Here’s the point: there are so many excuses NOT to do something…

• “I don’t have enough time”

• “There isn’t enough information yet”

• “I wasn’t born with that talent”

Hogwash! (Appalachian for bullsh*t)

These are all beliefs. And if you keep saying them out loud (believing them), then it’s true. 

You can do it all. You just have to believe first.

Now go do that thing and make me proud.

Cheers,

Swanagan 

P.S., if you are getting good vibes from these emails, send it to 5 friends and I’ll send you a sick t-shirt.