Originally posted by educatedfilm
Being a musicain is kinda of alot like being an actor, you've gotta convey emotion, but you dont have to necicerly be expereincing it your self, and all the matter is what you put across... "stop whispering" by radiohead is a fantastic sad song, about the hurt of being left... but it never happened to tom york, he just kinda put him self in a hypothetical position and wondered how he'd react...

That's true.
When I was about 12 yrs old,we had a play in church school(church service specially for children) where I was in a situation where I lost my parents and siblings and it was sad then God comes to my rescue blah blah blah.....
During the rehearsals,I never shed a tear,just wore a sad face.But when we went for the actual competition,I shed real tears on stage.It surprised even me.It shocked the hell out of my co-actors&actresses,made them get really into their roles,and we won.I was best actor for the competition.When we went back,continueing with rehearsals for the next level of competition,you guessed it,I never shed a drop.But come competition time,boohoo!!But the play was disqualified somewhere by a judge who felt that instead of adopting the bible theme into a modern day setting,we shold have acted like the bible was the script,you know,men in robes and long beards,that sort of thing.But in all the stages we got to,people in the audiences felt my plight.Some cried as well.
What I'm saying is that putting yourself in some imaginary,but plausible ,situation and then testing how you'd react can really help your songwriting.I shed tears like a kid who'd really lost his family,just by thinking about it.The story has a sad ending though:four years later,my moms,who was single,passed away for real.I don't think I can now act in a role where I lose my mother.Considering how I can immerse myself into a role,it could keep coming back and generally messing me up and stuff.