sad songs

We were talking the other day about songs. Knowing a song writer or two, I sometimes wonder about the writing process and this conversation was particularly focussed on sad songs. Songs of heartbreak. Songs inspired by the worst things that have ever happened to the writer. The question was - are these songs difficult to sing? Do the words crack in your voice as you try to get them out (like that song on Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album, back when he was held up for admiration as opposed to the various things we hold him to today)? When does that wear off - the emotion of a song? When does it become easier to sing it?

A friend of mine, a songwriter, once said that he sings a song with the most conviction when he can still feel the emotion of it. Once it wears off, so does the commitment when singing it. (I'm paraphrasing) But is that a double edged sword? What if the emotions are still so raw that it still hurts? Does writing the song purge some of that? Or do you revisit the hurt time after time, in front of your audience?

I wonder. And it doesn't really matter what the answer is...in fact, I'm sure it's different for different people. But that baring of the soul is one of the things I am most grateful for when it comes to listening to music. I admire the ability to lay yourself open in front of an audience and say: "Here I am. Here are all the pieces of me."