Why do I write songs?

At the Peggy Seeger workshop Saturday, she started with that question. And, since I came in right at the start time, I got stuck in the chair just to her left, so she also started with me.

You'd think, after doing this for fifteen years, i would have a better answer. I don't, especially not without time to plan.

My standard answer--which I'm not terribly proud of--is that the short form of the song is just the right size to get my head around. I don't have time to pound out the novel in my head (someday I'll tell you about it). Most of the time I even really don't have time to do much long-form blogging. (Full disclosure--I don't even really have time for songwriting, either.)

Now, that doesn't mean that I don't think songwriting is as hard or as challenging as fiction or even blogging. It is, and its demands are very precise and, in many ways, more challenging than prose.

So why do I do it? I can't say I know for sure. That's going to be my challenge this week.