Most
everybody knows that Blur song
as "Woo Hoo," even though its proper title is "Song 2."
Neither is particularly meaningful.
But Kyle Ferguson, a senior philosophy major at Augustana College, called one of his songs "Notes from a Solipsist," and that title frames the song's lyrics. Solipsism is a belief that one can only know what one directly experiences - that there might not be a world outside of your own mind.
"You identify your experience with the world," Ferguson explained. "So there's no reality external to your experience."
In the song, Ferguson translates that concept to an egocentric narrator, with themes of fear, isolation, and responsibility: "I remember watching / Yellowed leaves fall from the tree / And what are the chances / This could happen without me?"
The song's title puts the narrator in an intellectual context. A person who might seem like a self-involved jerk based on the lyrics becomes more principled and thoughtful. And an abstract philosophical position becomes human.
But "Notes from a Solipsist" is not a radio-friendly song title, and it threatened to sink the song in the BMI Foundation's John Lennon Scholarship competition, which is open to songwriters between the ages of 15 and 24. According to the BMI Foundation, thousands of performers/composers competed this year, each submitting a recording of a song with lyric sheets.
In April, a couple weeks before the contest's winners were announced, Ferguson got a call from a representative of the BMI Foundation: "Would you mind if we changed the title?" Ferguson interpreted the question as a hint: Let us change the title to "Don't Forget to Breathe" or the song doesn't move on. "It seemed like it was conditional," Ferguson said.
He assented, and "Don't Forget to Breathe" won second place in the ninth-annual competition. Ferguson got a $5,000 scholarship, which he plans to apply to his Ph.D. studies in philosophy at City University of New York, and retains the rights to his song and the recording.
Ferguson said he was initially so excited that the judges liked the song that he didn't think deeply about the title change. But he has thought about it since.
"The original title really expanded the meaning, and also assisted a bit more with interpreting - what exactly is this about? That's lost now."
I asked him whether he would make the same choice again. "Maybe they were testing me," he responded, half-joking. "Maybe it would have gotten first if I would have said 'no.' ... I doubt it. They were saying, 'This doesn't work in pop music.'"
The contest's judges put themselves in a contradictory loop: If a song's title is arbitrary, then it can be changed without worry; but if a song's title is irrelevant, why does it need to be changed at all?
Or, as Ferguson put it: "To some extent, it doesn't matter. But then, on the other hand, it means a lot."
By most measures, Ferguson's just getting started as a performer. He's been writing and playing guitar for eight years but said his catalog of songs - "ones that are worth playing" - only runs "seven or eight" deep.
He hesitates to call himself and his musical collaborators - bassist Peter Bowling and cellist Tim Bowling - a band, and they've only had a name (the philosophically themed Blue & Brown Books) for a few weeks.
Ever-modest, Ferguson noted that his partners are classically trained, "and I can't read music. ... I know enough musicians to not really consider myself one. I feel like I'm kind of faking it."
And
Ferguson admits that he doesn't have the experience of more
seasoned songwriters, which leads him to use philosophy. "One thing
that attracts me is the challenge of saying something worth hearing,"
Ferguson said. "And the same things are done over and over again.
Now I'm a 22-year-old kid from Illinois. I haven't had that many
remarkable life experiences. But I have read about this stuff, and I
think that that's interesting, and I think it's worth considering
at least. And this is kind of a way to deal with a complex
philosophical problem without the listener really knowing it."
Ferguson said that he wants to make philosophy accessible and relevant. "When a philosopher is giving an argument and making a claim about the nature of reality," he said, "you have to make the connection that they're talking about you and what you are."
Ferguson said he wrote "Notes from a Solipsist" several years ago and recorded it last fall. (The River Cities' Reader's Lars Rehnberg helped engineer the recording.) He and his bandmates plan to record an EP this summer with Future Appletree's Pat Stolley.
Musically, Ferguson's songs are meditative and patient, emphasizing the words and core melody. "I'm a sucker for good melodies," he said, "and I think the same way that when you're speaking with somebody, the way their tone or their inflection can add to the meaning apart from the words, a melody can do the same thing."
He said he likes musical minimalism, citing the work of composers Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Arvo Pärt, and looks for melodies that make the songs approachable.
"This might be me just rationalizing for my lack of skill with music, but I'm a big fan of minimalism," he said. "These are people that ... agree that less is more in a way, and that anything unnecessary ought not be there."
Ferguson said he's trying to convince his Blue & Brown Books brethren to join him in New York City. "There's no master plan, but there's definitely the intention to play out there," he said.
But he doesn't envision a career in music. "A lot would have to happen before I could give it serious thought," he said. "I feel like I'm walking down one path right now, and this is almost like a tap on the shoulder to look back at something else that maybe maybe maybe ... ."
"Notes from a Solipsist"/"Don't Forget to Breathe" and other songs by Ferguson can be downloaded from (http://myspace.com/blueandbrownbooks).
For more information on the John Lennon Scholarship competition, visit (http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/534910).
