How to Write a Song

Measure for Measure, a New York Times blog on songwriting, is the best blog of its kind - or, at least, the best one that I've found.

It's a veritable online songwriting seminar, with regular contributions penned by six songwriters, including Rosanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, and Peter Holsapple (dB's, Continental Drifters).

One of the most intriguing posts, dated April 29, concerned Cash's reaction to questions, mostly posed by journalists, regarding whether it's difficult to "reveal so much" of herself through her lyrics.

Her response: "This question annoys me no end. I always sputter that the songs aren’t a diary, a blog or a therapy session. I’ve never had a fact-checker come in to go over my lyrics. I haven’t worked through all my childhood issues and achieved enlightenment through songwriting. I can write whatever I want, and I’m the only one who knows what is indeed fact (or at least my version of fact…you see the problem?) and what is poetic license."

And the readers' comments are almost as valuable as the artists' posts.