Welcome to The Good Song Project!

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” 

- Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

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 Music is an incredible thing. It only takes one song to bring forth many emotions. A song can make our day or bring us down like nothing else. A song can offer hope in times of trouble or remind you why you should be miserable. It can revive happy memories. It can create great new ones. Music has a way of knowing how you feel without anyone involved in its creation ever meeting you. It transcends any one person's vision or mindset and assimilates itself into everything around you.

Simply put, music evokes.

The power music holds has been well-acknowledged by many people before me. Books upon books have been written about everything from what Celine Dion says about a person's taste to how ska became a world-conquering phenomenon. It doesn't matter who you are: you can't say you've heard a song that made you feel nothing. Every song has a story to tell; how successfully the song tells that story is up to the listener.

The evoking power of music has led to some of the best writing I've ever read, and that's why I've decided to start up the Good Song Project. I and (hopefully) other writers will contribute pieces about songs we particularly enjoy and why. I, myself, will formally kick off the blog with a post on Soul Coughing's "Screenwriters Blues." But what comes after that?

That's where you - yes, you! - come in. Everyone has a story to tell about a song they particularly enjoy, whether they're a construction worker from Schenectady or a radio DJ from Manchester. If you have a song you'd like to talk about, email me at carolknewman@gmail.com (the username's a long story...). No professional writing experience necessary! I might edit them a bit, but as long as you have an interesting story to tell about a piece of music you enjoy, I'm happy to give them a look.

Because, in the end, the overall goal of the Good Song Project is to add a bit of positivity to the internet. In such a trying and complicated time, where negativity prevails so much, I think it can sometimes take something as simple as a song to remind people that sometimes, good still exists in this crazy world. It will never die, just so long as we don't let it die.

Submissions for after next week are highly encouraged - after all, I literally can't continue without them. So whether it's mainstream or something so obscure even you haven't heard of it, I'm happy to get your perspective. Have fun!

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"I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring."

- David Bowie