the AMP Issue 30

“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control." 
― Julia Cameron

In This Issue... [13 pages, less than 18 minutes to read] You'll Get...

• RECOMMENDS— a Great Ted Talk. Give Yourself Permission To Be Creative 

• the 100 GREATEST SINGER SONGWRITERS of All Time— Ray Davies (of the  Kinks) 

Fun Feature 
• MONDEGREEN— This one from a Taylor Swift song  

• COACHING— On Creativity and Dealing with Criticism, both by Julia Cameron

• SNAPSHOT— the GROWING Global Music Streaming Subscription Market 

• PS from PS— 5 Keys to Handling Criticism 

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Here’s the playlist

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• RECOMMENDS— a Great TED Talk: Give Yourself Permission To Be Creative by Ethan Hawke 

Ethan Hawke: Give Yourself Permission To Be Creative 

Reflecting on moments that shaped his life, actor Ethan Hawke examines how courageous expression promotes healing and connection with one another— and invites you to discover your own unabashed creativity. "There is no path till you walk it," he says. 

In this TED Talk, Ethan Hawke— American actor, director, and writer known for his work in both film and theater who first gained fame in the late 1980s with his role in the movie Dead Poets Society— delves into the concept of creativity and its essential role in human life. He begins by recounting a story about poet Allen Ginsberg, who dared to be foolish and disrupt the norm, emphasizing that the pursuit of creativity often involves taking risks and challenging conventional wisdom. Hawke argues that creativity isn't just a luxury, but a vital necessity for understanding and coping with the human condition—whether we're experiencing grief, love, or any profound emotion. 

His TED video touches on the impermanence of life and how most people are not truly spending their time doing what matters to them. He points out that children embody the essence of creativity as they engage in activities without concern for judgment or excellence; they are naturally creative because they are uninhibited. For adults, tapping into this childlike wonder is not just "nice" but vital for healing and establishing a sense of shared humanity. 

Hawke urges us to express ourselves by following what we love. He insists that the journey of creativity doesn't have a predefined path and often requires one to "play the fool" to discover one's true self. By embracing what you love and taking risks, even if they seem foolish, you engage in a dialogue that enriches both you and your community. Therefore, creativity isn't just about art or talent; it's a conduit for understanding,  sharing, and healing. 

• If you haven't already, tap the title link above to watch the short (9 mins) video.

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• the 100 GREATEST SINGER SONGWRITERS of All Time— Ray Davies 

"Wickedly satirical, wryly observant, and fiercely independent, [Ray Davies and...] the  Kinks ran counter even to the counterculture. While other major Sixties bands were on drug-fueled psychedelic jam sessions, the Kinks kept their focus close to home. They dissected England with witty, literate lyrics set to pop-rock that gained them a cult following that only grows." 
— Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 

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from Paul: Ray was the guy who wrote the song Lola and got it played on the BBC. Released in 1970, the song contained the line, 'walked like a woman but talked like a man' and the BBC banned it. Why? Because it mentioned Coca-Cola, and the BBC demanded that in order to be played it couldn't reference a brand name like that. Their rule was 'No Advertising!' They wanted it changed to 'Cherry Cola.' Well, guess what? Amazing! 

So many great songs in his mega-extensive catalog, including the first record I ever bought, You Really Got Me, back in 1964. 

Sir Raymond Douglas Davies CBE (Commander of the British Empire), born on 21 June  1944, is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary songwriter for the rock band The Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing vocals. He has also acted in, directed, and produced shows for theater and television. Known for focusing his lyrics on rock bands, English culture, nostalgia, and social satire, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Britpop", though he disputes this title. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Kinks in 1990. After the dissolution of the Kinks in 1996, he embarked on a solo career. 

Davies was an art student at Hornsey College of Art in London in 1962–63. In late 1962 he became increasingly interested in music. At a Hornsey College Christmas dance, he sought advice from Alexis Korner who was playing at the dance with Blues Incorporated and Korner introduced him to Giorgio Gomelsky, a promoter and future manager of the Yardbirds. Gomelsky arranged for Davies to play at his Piccadilly Club with the Dave Hunt Rhythm & Blues Band, and on New Year's Eve, the Ray Davies Quartet opened for Cyril Stapleton at the Lyceum Ballroom. A few days later he became the permanent guitarist for the Dave Hunt Band, an engagement that would only last about six weeks.  

The band were the house band at Gomelsky's new venture, the Crawdaddy  Club in Richmond-upon-Thames. When the Dave Hunt band were snowed in during the coldest winter since 1740, Gomelsky offered a gig to a new band called the Rolling Stones, who had previously supported Hunt at the Piccadilly and would take over the residency. Davies then joined the Hamilton King Band until June 1963. The Kinks (then known as the Ramrods) spent the summer supporting Rick Wayne on a tour of US airbases. 

After the Kinks obtained a recording contract in early 1964, Davies emerged as the chief songwriter and de facto leader of the band, especially after the band's breakthrough success with his early composition You Really Got Me, which was released as the band's third single in August of that year. Davies led the Kinks through a period of musical experimentation between 1966 and 1975, with notable artistic achievements and commercial success. 

The Kinks' early recordings of 1964 ranged from covers of R&B standards like  Long Tall Sally and Got Love If You Want It to the chiming, melodic beat music of Ray Davies's earliest original compositions for the band, You Still Want Me and Something Better Beginning, to the more influential proto-metal, protopunk, power chord-based hard rock of the band's first two hit singles, You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night. 

However, by 1965, this raucous, hard-driving early style had gradually given way to the softer and more introspective sound of Tired of Waiting for You, Nothin' in the World  Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl, Set Me Free, I Go to Sleep and Ring the Bells. With the eerie, droning See My Friends— inspired by the untimely death of the Davies brothers' older sister Rene in June 1957— the band began to show signs of expanding their musical palette even further. A rare foray into early psychedelic rock, See My Friends is credited by Jonathan Bellman as the first Western pop song to integrate  Indian raga sounds—released six months before the Beatles' Norwegian Wood (This  Bird Has Flown) 

Beginning with A Well Respected Man and Where Have All the Good Times Gone (both recorded in the summer of 1965), Davies's lyrics assumed a new sociological character. He began to explore the aspirations and frustrations of common working-class people, with particular emphasis on the psychological effects of the British class system. Face to Face (1966), the first Kinks album composed solely of original material, was a creative breakthrough. As the band began to experiment with theatrical sound effects and baroque musical arrangements (Nicky Hopkins played harpsichord on several tracks), Davies's songwriting fully acquired its distinctive elements of narrative, observation, and wry social commentary. His topical songs took aim at the complacency and indolence of wealthy playboys and the upper class, the heedless ostentation of a self-indulgent spendthrift nouveau riche, and even the mercenary nature of the music business itself. 

The Kinks have been called "the most adamantly British of the Brit Invasion bands" on account of Ray Davies's abiding fascination with England's imperial past and his tender, bittersweet evocations of "a vanishing, romanticized world of village greens, pubs, and public schools". During the band's mid-period, he wrote many cheerfully eccentric— and often ironic— celebrations of traditional English culture and living: Village Green (1966), Afternoon Tea and Autumn Almanac (both 1967), The Last of the Steam Powered Trains (1968), Victoria (1969), and many (many) more. 

Davies's mid-period work for the Kinks also showed signs of an emerging social conscience. For example, Holiday in Waikiki, God's Children and Apeman, and the songs 20th Century Man, Complicated Life, and Here Come the People in Grey. 

A definitive testament to Davies's reputation as a songwriter of insight, empathy, and wit can be heard on the Kinks' landmark 1969 album Arthur. The Kinks followed up Arthur with Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970), a satirical take on the travails of the recording industry. This album proved to be another critical achievement as well as a commercial hit, spawning Lola, their first US Top Ten single since Tired of Waiting for You in 1965. 

AND... there more. And more, and more and more, and... the AMP simply doesn't have the space to accommodate all the more. So, we're sending you to Sir Ray's Wikipedia page. You'll learn about this singularly remarkable Singer Songwriter, his life, and work. Have fun. (Just tap the link.)

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To visit on the MusicThisDay.com website, tap the link: The 100 Greatest Songwriters Of All Time. 

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• MONDEGREEN— (Another one) This one is from a Taylor Swift song. First... 

Wait! What's a Mondegreen? 

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Most people have probably listened to a song and, unable to clearly hear a lyric, replaced the correct words with something that sounds similar, whether it makes much sense or not. This is known as a mondegreen. The Dictionary definition reads, "a  word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung."  

Children are a particularly rich source of mondegreens. In America, it's not uncommon for school kids to butcher the National Anthem: "José, can you see..." Or even the Lord's Prayer: "And lead us not into Penn Station." 

Adults are also accomplished in the art of mondegreening. For example...  Blank Space by Taylor Swift 

Original Lyric:  

Got a long list of ex-lovers 

Mondegreen:  

Got a lot of Starbucks lovers 

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• COACHING— On Creativity and Dealing With Criticism 
both excerpted from The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron,   

Basic Principles of Creativity 

1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy. 

2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life— including ourselves. 

3. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator's creativity within us and our lives. 

4. We are ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves. 

5. Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.

6. The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature. 

7. When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good orderly direction. 

8. As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected. 

9. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity. 

10. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.” 

Excerpted from the Introduction to The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (p 3). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

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Dealing with Criticism 

It is important to be able to sort useful criticism from the other kind. Often we need to do the sorting out for ourselves, without the benefit of a public vindication. As artists, we are far more able to do this sorting than people might suspect. Pointed criticism, if accurate, often gives the artist an inner sense of relief: "Ah, hah! So that’s what was wrong with it." Useful criticism ultimately leaves us with one more puzzle piece for our work.  

The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels. 
— Hazrat Inayat Khan 

Useless criticism, on the other hand, leaves us with a feeling of being bludgeoned. As a rule, it is withering and shaming in tone; ambiguous in content; personal, inaccurate, or blanket in its condemnations. There is nothing to be gleaned from irresponsible criticism.  

You are dealing with an inner child. Artistic child abuse creates rebellion creates block. All that can be done with abusive criticism is to heal from it.  

There are certain rules of the road useful in dealing with any form of criticism.  

1. Receive the criticism all the way through and get it over with.  

2. Jot down notes to yourself on what concepts or phrases bother you.

3. Jot down notes on what concepts or phrases seem useful.  

4. Do something very nurturing for yourself— read an old good review or recall a compliment.  

5. Remember that even if you have made a truly rotten piece of art, it may be a necessary stepping-stone to your next work. Art matures spasmodically and requires ugly-duckling growth stages.  

6. Look at the criticism again. Does it remind you of any criticism from your past— particularly shaming childhood criticism? Acknowledge to yourself that the current criticism is triggering grief over a long-standing wound.  

7. Write a letter to the critic— not to be mailed, most probably. Defend your work and acknowledge what was helpful, if anything, in the criticism proffered. 

8. Get back on the horse. Make an immediate commitment to do something creative. 

9. Do it. Creativity is the only cure for criticism  

Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything. 
— Eugene Delacroix 

Excerpted from The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (pp. 72-73). Penguin Publishing  Group. Kindle Edition. 

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Both of the above excerpts are from Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Julia Cameron is a prolific writer, artist, and teacher who has inspired millions with her books on creativity. The Artist's Way, first published in 1992, is a seminal work that introduces readers to a twelve-week program designed to unlock their creative potential. The book blends spiritual and practical advice, encouraging readers to recover from creative blocks and harness their creative talents as a natural part of life.  

We first recommended The Artist's Way back in Issue 27 of the Amp.

For Singer Songwriters, this book offers a path to rediscover their authentic creative voice, free from the constraints of critical judgment and industry pressures. It’s a guide to higher creativity, not just as an artist, but as a holistic being, making it a must-read for anyone looking to deepen their creative practice and personal growth. Available wherever books are sold. 

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• SNAPSHOT— the GROWING Global Music Streaming Subscription Market

As of Q3 2023, there were 713.4 million music subscribers globally, which was 90  million up on the 623.4 million one year earlier in Q3 2022.  

The 90 million subscribers added in the 12 months to Q3 2023 was more, yes more(!), than the 83.5 million added one year earlier. In fact, the number added was nearly as many as those added in 2020. Not bad for a maturing category with key markets hitting near-saturation... 

The full article is worth the read. Tap here to go there: MIDiA Research 

in partnership with SongTown On Songwriting 

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• PS from PS— 5 Keys to Handling Criticism 

Being criticized can be challenging. Especially for Singer Songwriters because most take it personally. The first issue is to get past the idea that being criticized is a bad thing. No one who is successful in any endeavor can please everyone. The key is how you react to it. How you turn criticism to your advantage. 

In working with Singer Songwriters over the years, I've come up with 5 key points for making sure criticism serves you. 

1. Embrace the criticism as constructive.  

Not all criticism is negative. As I said, you can't please everyone. If you do your song will sound vanilla and bland. So find your authentic voice. Constructive criticism can provide valuable feedback and help you improve your skills. Listen objectively and consider how you can use it to grow. Incorporate changes that fit with your sense of the song. Don't just make changes for change's sake. Stay true to the story you're telling.  

2. Develop a strong sense of self. 

Remember that everyone has different tastes and opinions. Stay true to your artistic vision and believe in your work. Be aware of who is offering those critical opinions. Do the criticisms truly fit the audience you're seeking to reach? Having confidence in yourself and your abilities can help you handle criticism more effectively— especially when the critical voice is close to you, such as a family member or close friend. 

3. Seek support from trusted sources. 

Surround yourself with a supportive network of friends, family, and fellow musicians who believe in you and your talent. Build a network, a community around you of people who care about you and the path you taking. They can encourage and help you navigate through any negative feedback. 

4. Focus on the positive. 

Instead of dwelling on negative criticism from harsh critics, focus on positive feedback. Celebrate your accomplishments and the impact your music has on your audience. Build relationships with your fans and develop those connections. They'll help you to overcome the self-doubt that critical comments can create. This lets you maintain a positive, energy-building mindset and keep your motivation high. 

5. Use criticism as motivation. 

Use criticism as fuel to prove your critics wrong. Let the critics inspire you to work harder, improve your skills, and continue growing as a Singer Songwriter. Channel that energy into your music and use it as a driving force for success.  

Do you think Bob Dylan worried about the people who told him he couldn't sing? Or Neil Young, who was told by many not to play guitar. No way. They focused and channeled their energy into their craft and became the artists we know today. Stay on your path and go for it. 

Everyday as a Singer Songwriter you'll face critics who'll offer up their negative opinions. The key is how you deal with them and how you rise above the bad and sad feelings that matter. Focus on why you became a Singer Songwriter. Use criticism to continue to grow and develop and ensure that you're doing your best. Make sure to be truly authentic, as this will enable you to rise and overcome any and all obstacles. 

Until we speak again... 

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Thank You our True Fans for reading the AMP. Give us your feedback.  And PLEASE, if you've got any Singer Songwriter friends, pass the AMP on, because... It's Time... for a Change. Big Time. Past Time. 

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