Mark Twain and a Melody
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- 12/7/2011 |
- 10:00 am
It was Mark Twain's birthday recently. The late, great satirist would have been 176 years old on November 30. (And yet in this picture, he still doesn't look a day over 74.)
As a belated tip of the cap to one of the wisest and wittiest writers in our country's history, we thought we'd share this song from the terrific young Missouri band Ha Ha Tonka. It's called The Humorist, it's about Twain, it's very good, and it's embedded below.
As a bonus, we also bring you this interview with Ha Ha Tonka's Brian Roberts, from a blog called Songwriters on Process. It's a pretty fascinating look into the mind of a gifted songwriter, and it's always helpful to hear talented people reinforce some of the truths that we, as writers, tend to want to ignore. Like this, for example:
"Ninety-nine percent of everything I've written is so embarrassingly bad, but knowing that you'll write bad stuff and being ok with it will help you plow through the writing process."
That's good advice for all writers -- young and old, veteran and amateur, published and unpublished.
We like the band, and we like the blog, so we submit these to you in honor of Mark Twain's birthday... and with the hope that maybe, just maybe, it'll motivate you to write a little more today.
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If you liked this post, you should also check out:
Ha Ha Tonka's Official Website
Profile: OK Go's Damian Kulash
