While My Guitar Gently Weeps...

iDoCoach Blog

You’ve probably been reading some great articles and blogs, watching videos and re-discovering some favorite music these past few months. Me too.

Every time we lose a music icon they top the charts one more time and we weigh our own personal loss. If we loved them enough it's like a piece of us died with them. Bowie, Haggard, Lou Reed, B.B, Glenn Frey and now Prince. They aren’t making more of these and it hurts.

 For me it started with Brian Jones of the Stones and then the "curse of being 27" thing. Hendrix, Kobain, Joplin, Morrison.  Over time, Lowell George, Michael Jackson, Roy Orbison, Cash…and of course there was Lennon. Lennon was a stunner. I was living in LA and remember just shutting down when I heard the news. It’s a well-worn line but we all lost some of our innocence that day.

This week I’m doing what I’ve done too many times, going to a guitar and just playing. Maybe a song will come out of it. Happened before and even recently with a song Kye Fleming and I wrote called “What Would Lennon Do”. It’s how we express grief even after all these years.

If you're a songwriter I’d urge you to channel that energy and honor your influence. I think the beauty of it is through playing their music and letting  a little of their creative blood mingle with our own, we keep the best of them alive and with us. 

I know I can’t hope to reach the level of pure genius of a Prince or have the impact of a Lennon, but trying helps me to heal.

This performance is worth one more look. One crazy gifted artist honoring another. George Harrison song, and Prince's solo sounds like a prayer.

Mark Cawley

Nashville, Tennessee

Image: Shutterstock

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About Mark Cawley

Mark Cawley is a hit U.S. songwriter and musician who coaches other writers and artists to reach their creative and professional goals. During his decades in the music business he has procured a long list of cuts with legendary artists ranging from Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Chaka Khan and Diana Ross to Wynonna Judd, Kathy Mattea, Russ Taff, Paul Carrack, Will Downing, Tom Scott, Billie Piper, Pop Idol winners and The Spice Girls. To date his songs have been on more than 16 million records. Mark’s resume includes hits on the Pop, Country, R&B, Jazz, and Rock charts and several publishing deals with the likes of Virgin, Windswept Pacific, and Steelworks/Universal. Mark calls on his decades of experience in the publishing world, as an artist on major labels, co-writer with everyone from Eliot Kennedy and Burt Bacharach to Simon Climie and Kye Fleming, composing, and recording to mentor clients around the globe with iDoCoach. He is also a judge for the UK Songwriting Contest, Nashville Rising Star, a contributing author to  USA Songwriting, Songwriter Magazine,  , sponsor for the ASA, judge for Belmont University's Commercial Music program and West Coast Songwriter events , a popular blogger and, from time to time, conducts his own workshops.Born and raised in Syracuse, NY, Mark has also lived in Boston, L.A., Indianapolis, London, and the last 20 years in Nashville, TN.