Make Me

Repetition as Motivation

“When you sing the same song over and over and over again, it stops meaning what it originally meant to you. It starts sounding like white noise, or my washing machine.”

— Linda Ronstadt

You’re a doll
Your eyes see it all
And how do I make you
How do I make you
How do I make you
Wanna see me?”

— Linda Ronstadt, “How Do I Make You” (Billy Steinberg)

Firstly, I’m gobsmacked…Linda Ronstadt is 79 years old.

I know Dylan and Springsteen are aging, Bono is showing up to interviews, depending on the day, looking like a caricature; and, as much as I love Bob Geldof, he looks like he is going out of his way to look like an elder wiseman in the Harry Potter novels.

But Linda Ronstadt is 79 years old! I’m not a huge fan of hers, which may be the reason why 79 seems incongruous to me. The woman’s career does not get celebrated enough. Longevity, variety, the woman is a wrecking crew.

As someone who is most definitely NOT a singer or performer, I can only take on faith what Linda Ronstadt is telling us about doing something over and over again. As I age, I can completely understand. Time can crawl by when doing the same thing all the time. I also find comfort in knowing certain things like the back of my hand. Am I embarrassed that I know every single word, pause for breath and chord change to “Stage Fright,” or know when and HOW the crowd SHOULD come in at “Well, show a little faith, there’s magic in the night. You ain’t a beauty but hey, you’re alright…” for “Thunder Road”? Absolutely, positively NO. Knowing things fills your ego, gives you fuel when you need the boost during a day. I do not know how many times I have purposely carved out space in my night so I could listen to “Jungleland.” Maybe hundreds, and I might be shooting low. The definitive version of “Thunder Road” is linked below.

Logically, what she said makes sense. Repetition may not be the most fun activity, especially when you are on tour, and you are a creative type, and you have new material, but the audience only wants to hear “How Do I Make You.”

(I have personal experience with this phenomenon. I was ready to riot during the “Tunnel of Love” tour in 1988 when it began to become weirdly apparent Springsteen might not play “Thunder Road.” He did. Riot averted).

I want to know how people stay motivated, especially when your livelihood is NOT dependent on songs written nearly fifty years ago. There are swaths of remarkably talented writers on Substack who bring forth their absolute best, creative side every day. It is legitimately inspiring.

I sort of went an easier route…I picked a couple of topics and stuck with ‘em. There is no shortage of material when it comes to good (or bad) songs and depression is feast of material for someone who likes writing (but might be depressed about most other things).

Even still, I will come to a point where motivation is lacking. The subject matter is not varied enough; too much The Band; too little thought and pensive reflection.

“And you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you could just get old
You’re gonna kick off before you even get halfway through, ooh
Why don’t you realize Vienna waits for you?
When will you realize Vienna waits for you?”

— Billy Joel, “Vienna”

Antipathy can work…to a point. I have fed off the fuel of the idea of a good old-fashioned throwdown with particular people. The other person may not even know I exist or have any ill will toward them (David Gates, I’m looking at you), but anger can be motivation, albeit one with diminishing returns over a short period of time. Certain people who cause those conflicted feelings are able to hold your focus like nothing else in this world.

Antipathy, though, can also backfire. Todd Rundgren has made it clear he is not a fan of Bruce Springsteen and has openly derided him. He produced Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” with the idea of it being a parody of Springsteen’s work. It turned out to be Meatloaf’s best-selling and best received album. In fact, the album spent more than nine years on the charts, proving the point that personal animosity can only be decent motivation for a finite period of time.

But I know people who get up in the morning, and all they want to do is argue or take a conflicting point of view…just for the sake of arguing. They are doing the same thing again and again, trying to find someone or something to dislike enough to make you want to do it all over again tomorrow.

So, yeah, I can get why repetition is not only boring but also exhausting.

“I like the way you dance
The way you spin
And how do I make you
How do I make you
How do I make you
Spin for me?”

— “How Do I Make You”

“How Do I Make you” is nominally a love song, but I chose to see it as someone desperate looking for new ways to get that enthusiasm back in the relationship or life in general. That motivation comes in the form of affirmation. She may need to sing the song at every concert, but it doesn’t mean Ronstadt is a slave to the song.

And if you are a writer, published, unpublished, poet, nonfiction, reporter, whatever, that affirmation is crucial to keeping you interested in writing/performing/opining.

“Vienna,” for Billy Joel is sort of the opposite. He wants to play the songs his fans love. “Vienna” is probably in the top four of his most-played or downloaded songs, and it is off his best album, “The Stranger,” and is weirdly the b-side to “Just the Way You Are,” which just feels…wrong.

Billy Joel famously craves affirmation. He loves his fans, but he really wants affirmation from them and from other singer/songwriter types. In my opinion, he is an underrated songwriter and appropriately rated as a performer, but he would love to be a Dylan or Springsteen…an American icon, a sage voice that people turn to in times of social and political upheaval.

Billy Joel is not that guy. Billy Joel is “Vienna,” a song his fans demand be played because he is the Piano Man and they came for the hits.

He told The Guardian,

“You don’t have to squeeze your whole life into your 20s and 30s trying to make it, trying to achieve that American dream, getting in the rat race and killing yourself. You have a whole life to live.”

For a guy who works as hard as any singer of that generation, has a fan base that is as loyal as any, and always appears slightly depressed in interviews, this is a remarkably insightful point. Maybe the people who stir up the most animosity in me are the ones who tried too hard, made mistakes out of haste, and will be the person/thing that will be that positive influence that I no longer singularly hate. No promises though.

“Slow down, you’re doin’ fine
You can’t be everything you wanna be before your time
Although it’s so romantic on the borderline tonight, tonight
Too bad, but it’s the life you lead
You’re so ahead of yourself, that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you’re wrong

You know you can’t always see when you’re right”

— “Vienna”

Billy Joel may not be a sage, but Billy Joel is the guy whose insistence on playing those same songs to his audience because the repetition is comforting for both artist and audience. Bono once said he did not like the distance between stage and crowd. Billy Joel has mastered bridging that distance, reassuring his fans that finding meaning may not happen today or tomorrow, but it will arrive…even if it takes a little longer.

What inspires you RIGHT NOW!?