Collaborating With The Enemy

To those of us who write songs alone the idea of cosying up with somebody else to…collaborate… can be terrifying and intimidating.

Anyway, isn’t collaborating something that traitors do?

I’m stubborn when it comes to my songwriting, and those collaborations are undoubtedly a threat to the “purity” of my own musical vision. My way of doing things. I’d rather go undercover, alone, hidden away in a dark room, with a glass of something red, quietly listening in on all those voices of the enemy in my head, trying to decipher what they might mean, and if they’re a threat to western civilisation.

Sorry, losing myself in a dodgy analogy there. Or possibly going mad.

Which is, perhaps, a good reason for taking the opportunities I do get to make music with other people. Because even us loners can do with a bit of company now and then. It’s good for the soul.

And strange things can happen when two or more people get together to create new music. Unique song babies do get born, that can look a wee bit like both parents.

And often, miraculously, in a good way.