Blog 3623 – 10.04.2025

Why I Write and Why I Sing

Well, it certainly is not because I think I am a great writer or singer, although I do believe the old adage that to be good at anything one has to put in the required ten thousand hours. The reason that I write and that I sing is because there is something I want to share.

Natural ability, though often praised, only gets one so far. The really great ones put the time in, planning, preparing, practicing, and performing till they hone their craft to near perfection. Effortless? Hardly, yet when one has put in the hours it looks easy for indeed it is. Muscle memory kicks in and the performer appears to be able to do it in their sleep for they already have eaten, drunk, and slept that performance countless times and to near perfection.

I write and I sing because I have done both so long that they are a part of me like breathing. I do not write or sing to please anyone else but myself. Oh, I am happy when a piece or a song touches someone else for sure. But as the title of the 1952 biographical musical about American singer Jane Froman says the reason I sing and the reason I write is because I live “With A Song In My Heart.” Jane lived most of her adult life with chronic pain from injuries sustained in a 1943 plane crash.

Often heartbreak or physical pain is the catalyst that makes us want to share the lessons that we have learned with others. Writing and singing are but two of the many avenues of expression that are available for doing that. The arts they are called by some, and the brave, gifted, but more often just well practiced put it out there for everyone, anyone who has an eye or ear for it.

That Is why I write and sing.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i1L753IRUEyWYjwBGXMbJs2Vt12hgYJb/view?usp=drivesdk

I Write The Songs