The New York Sun writes about songwriter Regina Spektor

A song a week. A couple weeks ago we talked about Jonathan Coulton’s amazing songwriting project where he set a goal to write 1 song per week for a year. Well, according to his site, he has finished up his 52nd song. Amazing! And he went out with a bang. His final song was a cover of Queens “We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions”, and he used hand claps submitted by fans for the percussion. Talk about a cool group project. You can listen to the song and get his reflections of the past year at his site. (Link) Also, Corey Stewart offers his take on the project.

Speaking of group projects, you oughtta think about contributing a tip to the Blogging Muses Songwriting Tips Group Project.

Songwriting as brain surgery. CNN has an AP article on John Mayer. Some great songwriting insights:

Q: The lyrics to the first single, “Waiting On The World To Change,” speaks to political and social issues — a first for you. Were you hesitant to do that in the past?

JOHN MAYER: I think so, for two reasons. No. 1, politics weren’t that much a part of lifestyle when I first started writing music. You cannot avoid war in life, you cannot avoid the fear of terrorism, you cannot avoid those things now, they are a part of everyday demeanor. So in that sense it’s become more of an acceptable thing to comment on because it’s just so much of a white elephant.

Also, I think as a writer you have to gain trust … You’re not going to just start a fire just for effect. I have chosen my words on this record incredibly carefully. There’s a song on this record called “Belief” — it took two years to choose my words correctly. I’ve never finessed the lyric in a song more.

Q: But in interviews, you speak candidly. Why are you so careful with your songs?

MAYER: Well, the song is where it counts for me. When you do an interview with me, you’re talking to a cheap imitation of the person that I really am. There’s no magic in my words, it’s just me talking. Where it matters is the magic of making music, you have that unbelievable effect, you are really almost doing open heart surgery on people through a stereo system. That’s really delicate stuff. Where a song goes in someone’s heart is a completely different destination than a quote from a magazine goes. And I am respectively careful and careless in that regard. If I had two years to think of this interview answer, I would have the amazing answers of all time. (Link)

International Songwriting Competition. All About Jazz reminds us the deadline for ISC is quickly approaching, so enter your songs now! Entries must be postmarked on or before October 16, 2006. (Link | More info on the International Songwriting Competition)

Love him or hate him, we are going to be getting another James Blunt album. Sounds like it will be less folky and more band oriented. Thoughts? (Link)