Interesting Chris Wallin Post

[ontariolightning]

if you guys think thats amusing like me then you should see where the second battle took placehttp://www.the9513.com/kenny-chesney-dont-blink/

[matthoggard]

After reading that, Id say Mr. Wallin is rather arrogant. I prefer sucessful people to be humble.And remember, to get where he is you have to have ALOT of luck also. You can have the greatest songs in the world but if you dont have them in the right hands at the right time it doesnt matter.M~

[jwebbinspired]

This was an amazing read. In both good and bad ways. Thanks for posting that Cam. Thanks for your addition Ontario.Andy

[ontariolightning]

np, quite frankly i am sick of these advice songs and them southern/ country man girl songs , yuck

[erandall]

"a rose by any other name smells as sweet" Wm. Shakespeare, I think"a rose, is a rose, is a rose" Gertrude Stein, I think"if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, etc." not sure where that came fromANYWAY, substitute a**hole and that's what I think the whole thread is all about. (No pun intended.) Chris Wallin may be a great writer, I have no idea, although in the greater scheme of things I doubt it. Great writer or not, that's not all he is. Yuck. Makes me sad. So far, I haven't seen that kind of arrogant, aggressive insecurity in this forum. Blah. I think commercial success can inflate egos way beyond the point of popping. There are plenty out there who's commercial success has nothing to do with their so called "abilities" but they are led to believe that it is, because they are commodities and other people stoke the fire to make money. Can't blame the young ones. This whole line is giving me the creeps. The insincerity and smarminess conflicts with the honesty inherent in the art of songwriting. Please, "we gotta get him a woman." Todd Rundgren, I think

[jwebbinspired]

Well thankfully, the Taxi board is a very forgiving, encouraging place. I am very inspired by the folks I've met here on Taxi. I have yet to encounter one person here that showed a fraction of the arrogance I witnessed there.Maybe that's because none us are hitting songwriters.....? Maybe writing a hit song morphs you into an a** hole...? I dunno.Andy

[cameron]

Jan 16, 2009, 8:57pm, jwebbinspired wrote:Maybe that's because none us are hitting songwriters.....? Maybe writing a hit song morphs you into an a** hole...? I dunno.AndyI've a songwriter who has been hit. Does that count? Oh yeah, I'm an a***ole, so it must!Cam

[jwebbinspired]

I think that counts Cam!!

[mojobone]

Yeah, not the first time I've seen the thread, it was more fun before a lot of folks deleted their posts, thereby making Chris look rather vindictive. (and I'm not defending him just because he's one of my MySpace friends, lol) Doesn't every songwriter get told, "You'll never make it."? Seems to me it's arrogant to keep writing songs after you've heard that from everyone of your family, friends, business associates, etc. Maybe it's bad form, but I guess it's natural to want to say, "I told you so.", after you've proven everybody wrong.I think the "walks like a duck" thing was Casey Stengel. Here's some Chris Wallin; don't click if you're squeamish, please.http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... d=28738284

[gburgess]

I am not a Chris Wallin fan. So whatever I share here has not been flavored by the rose colored spectacles of a fan. Having said that, his intentions seem pretty clear to me—if his comments are trustworthy (I have no reason to believe they are not).1. Chris says, "This was just an experiment about critiquing and about how people listen with different ears when they hear a song by a new writer."This is an exercise in establishing the nature of human behavior and how easily we can be biased toward one another’s creative endeavors. How the word “new” or “inexperienced” can wrongly flavor our perception of a fellow songwriters song.In a sense, I believe he is encouraging others to judge the song solely on the merit of the song itself and don’t allow labels such as “new” wrongly impact our judgment.In a sense I believe he is trying to help others better understand that we all have predispositions that flavors the way we respond to things. In this case if you're a new songwriter you're work is going to be viewed with a more critical eye than if you are a hit songwriter. People are going to find wrong with your song simply because you’re “new”, even if it has hit potential.2. "Anything that makes you look at your song in a better light is a good thing."I do not believe Chris was striving to encourage songwriters without hits or fame not to share their feelings about a fellow songwriters song. It seems he believes it to be a helpful thing even for his own work.I believe his main point was to encourage newer songwriters to make certain that they don’t give up too quickly on something they believe in. But if several people are pointing out the same weakness, then you may want to consider taking their advice.3. "The truth is that its all opinions. This town was built on opinions! There is no such thing as a perfect song because its someone’s opinion of it."Lastly, he points out that when push comes to shove, be it small time songwriters on a forum, or mighty Nashville herself (“This town”) peoples personal opinions are at the center of it all. And as always, there is a level of subjectivity involved when it comes to personal opinions.Clearly many of you were upset by what Chris did. My opinion—I thought it was very cool to have a big name writer take the time to visit “our” world and lay an upcoming hit on us.If the guy were that stuck on himself, he would not have even considered taking the time to do what he did.Personally speaking, I think folks should be a little more forgiving, and a lot more welcoming to writers like Chris when they visit your “neighborhood.” You never know what doors your kindness may open one day.My 2 cents.Cameron, thank you very much for sharing this with us. I don't have lots of time to visit many forums, so apart from your post I would never had heard of this.GB