Poets Of My Generation-Jack Tempchin
I'm starting a new series about writers whose work really strikes a chord in me. They might write songs, books, plays, poetry, commercials, essays, etc. Writers that throughout my life have meant something to me and the face of culture.
Jack Tempchin is probably not a name that immediately comes to your consciousness as instantly recognizable. But I bet you would recognize some of his best writing:
I like the way your sparkling earrings lay, against your skin so brown
And I want to lay with you in the desert tonight, with a billion stars all around
Cause I get a peaceful easy feeling
and I know you won't let me down
cause I'm already standin on the ground
The song Peaceful Easy Feeling by The Eagles probably owns enough real estate in your brain that you can't actually read those lyrics without having the melody of the tune going along with it. Jack Tempchin wrote that song and The Eagles with their Southern California sound and vocals took us right into the desert skies with the one that we wanted to be with. Who's actually in that mental picture with you? Don't answer that.
This masterpiece of classic musical material started with words. Words that transport you under a billion stars. Words that create mental images of sparkling earrings and cactus. Words that convey a confidence of a love affair that can't end badly because the initiator already has his feet on the ground and can't be disappointed.
And I found out a long time ago
What a woman can do to your soul
Ah, but she can't take you anyway
You don't already know how to go
I believe that Jack Tempchin wrote Peaceful Easy Feeling as a statement that love affairs can hurt, but both sides really go into it with eyes wide open and know what the consequences are.
Why can't commercials have this kind of writing? They can. Why do consumers like songs better than commercials? Because they don't have this kind of writing. Most commercials talk at the consumer. Most commercials don't put the consumer there like Jack put us in the desert.
Here's a another cool thing to share with you. I've known some great writers. I don't think I'm one of them, but I do this too. One thing the great writers I've known personally and the ones that I've read about share in common is that they always carry something to write on.
A pad, a notebook, a journal, a small book, scrap pieces of paper, a bar napkin (I've written some cool stuff on bar napkins). Ann Marie writes a lot of stuff on the back of Door Mail. She moves her favorite stuff over to a small black notebook, but sometimes in the kitchen a scrap piece of doormail becomes a canvas of wordsmithing.
Jack Tempchin started writing down the impetus of Peaceful Easy Feeling on a scrap piece pf paper that also included some other lyrics he was working on and a list for maybe a old car he was trying to fix up. (Notice the list of wiring, heater and paint).
If you write, carry something with you always that you can quickly jot your thoughts down on. Some writers call it catching "lightening in a bottle".
I hope you catch some lightening like Jack Tempchin did.