How many songs do you reckon you have written in your lifetime?

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Sort of inspired by a thread on ILE...

Total number only, not titles...

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 09:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh oh I can do this one!!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Written in head: 248
Recorded on 4-track: 117
Made public: 86

Any good: 6

― Marcel Gallingez (Marcel Gallingez), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 09:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Between 0 to 10 : 5
Between 11 and 16: 30
Between 17 and 21: 60
Between 22 and 30: 40
Between 31 and now: 5 with around 10 buzzing in me 'ed.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 09:48 (twenty-one years ago)

over a hundred, of which around 50 were any good, and nearly 40 of which have been / will be released.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 09:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Over 150 released. Over a thousand written. But whther you'd call them songs is another question.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, a lot of them are just a punding rhythm and a sound effect that goes nowhere.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 10:05 (twenty-one years ago)

aha! does noodling and leaving a cassette recorder running count as writing songs then? in which case, me = lots

― zebedee (zebedee), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 10:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I sort of meant, words on a sheet of paper. But, hey, it's whatever your definition is...

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 10:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Jesus... I couldn't even begin to count. It's in the hundreds, though. At least. I should count them (if possible) and try to project if I've hit the thousand mark yet.

Released? Maybe about 50.

That sucks. I need a less harsh editor that isn't me.

― Super-Kate (kate), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, when I think about it, my total is way under. I missed out loads unrecorded, or recorded as demos not given to the band I was part of at the time.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 10:42 (twenty-one years ago)

One. A Christmas carol when I was in my first year at senior school. It was about angels.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 10:44 (twenty-one years ago)

No clue how many. Hundreds I guess, but I can only remember a select, wonderful* few.

* - actual product may or may not be wonderful

― dleone (dleone), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:01 (twenty-one years ago)

About 15.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:27 (twenty-one years ago)

OK, this is going to drive me crazy, because I no longer have a lot of the notebooks/4-track tapes, etc. to actually count. I just went and counted from old set lists, and extrapolated that I probably write (meaning string together melody and words, not necessarily demo or bring to a band) about 50 songs a year. Thinking about that, one a week sounds pretty conservative, but hey, it tends to happen in fits and starts, where I'll write five songs in a row then nothing for a month. I've been writing songs for about 18 years now.

Which would equal an estimate of... 900 songs.

Holy f*cking sh*t. That can't be right. I didn't know that there were actually 900 different chord/melody combinations.

I was thinking it would be closer to about 500 songs. I'm shocked.

― Super-Kate (kate), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I did sit down and write out all the song titles I had when I was 24 or so. Some of them were daft silly noise things but I counted 100 then.

It's like you say. When you really think, it's My God really?

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Half-ideas - maybe 30 or so. Of those, maybe 5-10 are kind of ok and more than 50% complete.

― Ally C (Ally C), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Talk about the law of dimishing returns:

Written: several hundred, at least
Published: about 30
Recorded by myself/other artsists: about 16

― Ian Grey (Ian_G), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)

less than 50
more than 25

― pheNAM (pheNAM), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been writing songs for about 18 years now. Which would equal an estimate of... 900 songs.

Kate, you ARE Robert Pollard and I claim my prize.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe 10 (words/music); 25 (words)

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Three to five, depending on the definition.

― Orange, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Somewhere between 600 and 800 since '95. Probably closer to 800 if we count instrumentals too. I'm not counting songs like "Hot Rod" and "Heart Attack" that I wrote by singing into a boombox when I was 8.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Between 98 and 00 I wrote & recorded about two-thirds of the songs I've written in my lifetime. Sometimes as many as 3 or 4 a day. It's been downhill ever since.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:04 (twenty-one years ago)

hundreds.
can count the ones i could bare to listen to again on one hand.
oh i've wasted my life!

― zappi (joni), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Um, 1 1/2. Although if you count "songs" consisting of only percussion, then plenty.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

2 songs in full.

― scott m (mcd), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

oh god...possibly 200. Ugh. And a lot of them were lost forever when my old cassette four-track crapped out and I eventually taped over the stuff.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Between 10 and 15.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Hot Rod and Heart Attack sound like awesome songs, nick.

― astroblaster (astroblaster), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 17:18 (twenty-one years ago)

about 25 as part of a band writing together

about 7 by myself with four-track and playing everything.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe 50-100, depending on what counts as a song.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 17:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Over 80 thousands of songs! Gimme a C - a bouncy C!

So you want to write a song, well here's how it's done/Just say what you feel and then you've begun/Whether you're young or one hundred and one/And it can be fun...Da da da, dee dee dee, whatever the hell you want, it writes itself.

― Irving Cohen (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmm...interesting. Coincidentally, I was going over my notebooks just now to see what songs I would consider recording and releasing as part of my upcoming mini-album project thingie. I'd say I've written over 75 (just an estimate) half-decent songs in the 3+ yrs I've been songwriting. Not that any of them are any good, mind you, but I'm sure there must be a masterpiece or two in there somewhere. :)

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I am writing a song right now about the 'ostranenie of the hassidim'.

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

A song in soft penicil?

― Bubba, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Erase that..

A song in soft pencil?

― Bubba, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Sort of toilet paper lilac, with Barney Sumner wahwah riffing.

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I sort of meant, words on a sheet of paper.
-- mark grout

Oh. In that case my count goes down to zero. Unless you're counting lyrics?

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

It's whatever you think it is.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 07:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I wrote another song this morning walking over Blackfriars Bridge.

So make that 901 songs...

― Super-Kate (kate), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 07:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I would say at ages...

14-16: 10
17-21: 150
22-25: 50
25-28 3/4: 25

All either purely sequencer wrote songs, live recordings or a combination.

Amount I'm ever happy with: 1 (the one I'm currently working on)

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 08:09 (twenty-one years ago)

You're happy with the one you are working on?

Does that mean, when you are not happy, that's when you are finished?

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 08:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Picasso said something about paintings never being finished, just abandoned. That was an interesting point of view.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 08:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Started writing songs in my head when I was about 8, and there's about 20 of those. Started writing using instruments around 14, bouncing down using 2 tape recorders, there's around 150 of them at least (and some are really trite, too). Bought a four track in '92, there's another 50 recorded songs, then formed the Cloud Minders, who had a reportoire of about 30 songs, then started using a PC for recording, have written plenty more since then but managed to completely record a grand total of none. So as technology and my technical options have progressed and increased my creative instincts have dried up. I've got bits and pieces all over my PC, bits on Fruity Loops, Cubase, Samplitude, but nothing constituting a whole real song from start to finish. I recall the days of bouncing down using two tape decks, a Casio, my brother's guitar and a Roland mono synth quite fondly now.

― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 08:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, me too.

You know, I might have a go tonight. Shall let you know what happens.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 08:39 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe about 50. there'd be another hundred that got binned.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 08:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I am writing a song right now about the 'ostranenie of the hassidim'.

Momus beaten to first use of Ostranenie in song by Nurse With Wound shockah!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 08:49 (twenty-one years ago)

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