Auteur

Can a song writer be an auteur? I guess if that song writer doesn’t want to sell much. Currently I don’t sell much. But does that make me an auteur? Perhaps it makes me pretentious to even consider such a notion? But my encounters with the business end of the business have been puzzling to date, so why not do it you own way. Only? There was the meeting with the A and R man from a major who listened and said let’s get you into the studio. When no call came, a call discovered he had been moved on from the company for some unknown reason. Where to go from there? Back to square one. There was the attempt to gain sales for a self produced CD that ended when the label shut up shop. There was the festival where the sound man was so stoned he abandoned the mixing desk and I played silently to a bemused audience. But the lesson is simple. If despite this there is a reason to continue, then continue on regardless. There is a reason. The reason is the songs which still come into my head without invitation and they stay there until they are recorded. Instead of a recording studio (which I did not enjoy) they come to life in a shack and a barn. Somewhere quiet. Then they are played with and allowed to grow. Some are unruly and still to reach their prime. Others were born perfectly formed. They are what they are. And this is regardless. Auteur? Maybe,