Blume - Inside songwriting: getting to the heart of creativity

This book is dedicated with much gratitude to Michael Hollandsworth, who believed in my talent and used tough love to teach me how to be the best songwriter I could be.

Its also dedicated to the memory of my father, Ned Blume, who encouraged me to make up stories to go with the music he played for me. I know hes playing his mandolin every night in heaven and giving pennies to the angels who can name that tune.

I spent more than eleven years dreaming of becoming a successful songwriter and doing everything in my power to make that dream come true. During much of that time it felt as though the success I wanted so desperately was impossible to attainas though I were separated from my goal by an invisible, impenetrable wall.

It felt as if those lucky people who wrote the hits must have had magic dust sprinkled on them, while I was waiting in the wrong line. But I was mistaken. There were tools and techniques that I needed to master before Id be able to write the kind of songs that would earn me the acclaim I so very much wanted.

You might say my journey officially began in August 1979, when I announced to my family and friends that I had resigned from my job as a psychiatric aide in a Philadelphia hospital and was moving to Los Angeles to become a famous singer and songwriter. I loaded all of my possessions that could be crammed into my little Datsun Honeybee. If it didnt fit, it got left behind.

I had a total of $400 to pay for the food and gas it would take to get me cross-country; and this was long before I acquired a collection of credit cards. Since I didnt have enough money for hotels, I bought a little one-man pup tent that would become my home, either in a campground or park, each night after a long days drive. To save money on restaurants, I brought along a cooler filled with foodsummer sausage, yogurt, dried fruit, and scrambled eggs that Id frozen. I didnt know where I would stay when I reached California, but I was young and much too excited to be as worried as I probably should have been.

I remember pulling away as my family and closest friends waved goodbye. On some level I think I knew Id never live close by again. Ive never been someone who cries easily, but I sobbed uncontrollably for almost an hour as I watched life as Id known it disappear in my rearview mirror.

After twelve hours of driving, I pulled off the road that first night at a campground in Ohio. Surrounded by huge RVs, I was the only camper in a tent. Before drifting off to sleep, I used my flashlight to read a book about making it in the music business. Someone had given it to me as a going-away present.

Around 5:00 a.m., I woke up drenched, lying in several inches of water. It was pouring and I hadnt spent the extra money to buy a waterproof tent. I decided to thaw out my scrambled eggs over a can of Sterno before hitting the road. When I opened my cooler, it appeared to be alive, overflowing with maggots. The cooler went into the dumpster and I hit the interstate. This trip was not getting off to a good start.

Except for a brief encounter with a snake, the remaining twenty-four hundred miles were relatively uneventful, until I crossed the Rocky Mountains. Stretched across the Colorado sky, I saw something I had never seen beforea spectacular double rainbow. I took it as a sign, an omen that I was on the right path and that my dreams were waiting to come to life with all the beauty of that rainbow.

I was certain that Id be an overnight success, with a house in Beverly Hills and a Mercedes in the driveway within the first year. Thats not the way my life unfolded. I struggled for more than eleven years before I could proudly say that although I only earned a meager living, I earned it as a professional songwriter.

Today, my songs are on albums that have sold more than forty-five million copies, and Ive worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry. Several of my songs have been included on Grammy-nominated albums. Ive received awards and honors and have seen my songs on Billboards Pop, Country, and R&B chartsall at the same time. I guess my dream to become a successful songwriter has indeed come true! The stories that comprise this book provide insight into how I made it happen.

Ive learned some powerful lessons about songwriting as well as life along the way, and my education continues to this day. For example, while there are no rules in songwriting, I now understand that there are tools and techniques that can help us write better material. Ive learned that even when its not easy, I can identify those skills I need to strengthen, and improve upon them with practice. Ive learned that I can survive devastating disappointment and that I chose a career that can be frustrating, stressful, maddeningand incredible. Perhaps the most important thing Ive learned is that with hard work, perseverance, and, of course, some luck, we can accomplish things that seem impossible.