For veteran Michael Smith, songwriting is not so much a method as it is a way of life. "I don't have overall creative and artistic objectives," he said. "I think what I have is a nose to the grindstone attitude.
" Each day, Smith arises and takes on the task of writing melodies and chord progressions and lyrics that will work as a song. "I don't want to even think about anything else, because I have to work so hard to get out what I get out," he added. "I don't think I can think in terms of large aims.
" "I'll do the songs I've been doing for years," he said. "What I'm interested in is seeing what I can do with these songs today. It's not about shifts in arrangements.
It's more that I have to look at them anew." Smith, 65, is best known for his song "The Dutchman," a portrait of a frail, loving, elderly couple. Many musicians have done their own versions of it, including Steve Goodman, Anne Hills, Liam Clancy, John McDermott and Gamble Rogers.
Smith even revisited his classic song on his 2005 CD, "Anthology, Vol. 1." "I like to reshape songs and see how they feel.
I work on a song a long time. Sometimes it takes years before I'm satisfied with a song," he said. Many critics have commented favorably about Smith's range of song topics and his ability to create intriguing characters and tell good stories in his songs.
But Smith does not see himself in those terms. "I don't think in terms of subject matter at all," he said. "What interests me is how melodies lie against chord progressions.
I don't think in terms of telling a story. If there's a story, it's almost accidental. My consideration is more along the lines of 'Is this a line I can sing and make it sound believable as a song lyric?
'" Throughout his career, Smith has written for theater. His most notable success came when he wrote music for a Chicago theatrical production of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." After runs in Chicago, London and San Diego, the play arrived on Broadway, where it won Best Play and Best Director at the 1990 Tony Awards.
Recently, Smith wrote music for a musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." Smith grew up in a slummy section of South Orange. Two early sources of musical inspiration were Roy Rogers and Elvis Presley.
Later, Smith gravitated to Harry Belafonte, the Kingston Trio, the Weavers and Peter, Paul Mary. After Smith's father committed suicide, the Irish Catholic family moved to St. Petersburg, Fla.
The transition was not an easy one for Smith. At age 18, he sported a beard and listened to folk and rock 'n' roll. He didn't exactly fit in with the Floridian teenagers with their crew cuts, Bermuda shorts, beer drinking and Pat Boone records, so he moved back to New Jersey.
Tired of factory work, he returned to Florida, where he attended college and played coffeehouses in St. Petersburg and Miami. He met his wife there.
They recorded and performed together. Their interest in Jefferson Airplane sent them packing to the San Francisco Bay Area. Work in Detroit kept them there for a while.
They returned to Miami for a year. Then back to Detroit to do a show of Smith's songs. After Steve Goodman's version of "The Dutchman" caught on in Chicago, Smith and his wife found regular work there and have spent the last 31 years in the Windy City.
In recent years, Smith has recorded at home on a 24-track machine. The spark for a song may come from a bass, rhythm guitar or drum pattern. A technical approach to playing a song or the mood of a song may provide a foundation for a song.
"A lot of these tunes don't necessarily translate into what I could do in front of people right now," he said. "I write a lot of songs that I don't perform. I tend to perform songs that people tell me they like rather than songs that they need to hear.
If I tell myself that I'm not going to perform a song in front of people, I can do things with a song that otherwise would never happen.
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