How to write a hit song
Date : January 2004
Page : 30 - 32
In the seventh part of the series, Douglas McPherson explores the business of finding and working with a co-writer
LONELY lyricist seeks compatible composer to make beautiful music together. Send tape to P.O. Box No.1 Hit. The traditional reason for co-writing was if one of you exclusively wrote words and the other provided the music. Relationships of that kind still exist. Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin are perhaps the most successful example. Today, though, when probably more songs are co-written than penned by individuals, both parties tend to contribute to both words and music.
It is a good way of brainstorming ideas and editing each other's work. It is an opportunity to learn the craft and technique of songwriting from more experienced writers, and an opportunity for those experienced writers to work on the fresh ideas and original perspectives that a newcomer might bring to the table.
Finding a co-writer can be like finding a romantic partner. You may find you enjoy promiscuity, or you might have to go on a lot of bad dates before you meet someone you click with.
One way to meet collaborators is through existing contacts. You may already be in a band, or playing on the live circuit where you can meet other writers either directly or by asking around. Attend songwriting courses, seminars, songwriter nights or open mic nights in order to network. Alternatively, place an advert in a music magazine, theatrical newspaper The Stage, or a specialist forum such as the International Songwriters Association newsletter or a songwriters' 'tip sheet' such as Songlink.
Some of the biggest names in music history got together via a small ad. It was certainly a policy that worked for aspiring hit-writer Sue Bennett who, having had some verses published in greetings cards, advertised herself as a lyricist seeking a composer. Bennett admits she was shocked by the poor standard of some of her respondents.
"There are an awful lot of people out there who think they can write songs, but you could tell immediately which ones were working semi-professionally. The ones who were just starting out were writing poems rather than lyrics. There was no structure. However, Bennett's advert was eventually successful in connecting her to working writer Lorna Flowers, who co-wrote Cold Hard Fax (a Number One for Sue James on the European country music charts) and, through Lorna, to Jon Philibert, whose successes include I've Been Rained On Too which was a US hit for Tom Jones.
"When I started," says Bennett, "I went mad and had about 20 co-writers. I wrote with people in New York, Nashville and Spain. Then I whittled them down to the three where I felt we could really work together well. You kind of know which song ideas would work best with which co-writer. With some of the more girly stuff, I would probably go to Lorna rather than Jon, although Jon writes good girly stuff, too!" The material of the three writers is showcased on a new CD entitled Country Cuts -The Songs Of Jon Philibert & Sue Bennett (and Friends) It's a collection of 14 demos the writers commissioned in Nashville, using top drawer musicians and singers, with a view to getting them heard by a country music superstar.
For any aspiring songwriter, the quality of the demos is instructive. The tracks are indistinguishable from master recordings which is what today's singers and producers expect to hear.
As Philibert points out, "I have good ears and can hear a song's potential through a poor demo, but I've come to realise most people in the music business can't do that. If you believe in your songs and are serious about a career as a songwriter, you have to be prepared to invest some money.
"Don't use your own studio just because you have one," cautions Flowers. "Use the studio that's best for the song. Get the singer who's best for the song. I get my demos made in Nashville because that's the market I'm trying to break into.
It's a bit like if you want to play for Manchester United: you don't turn up in a blue shirt!"
Flowers, who flies regularly to Nashville to work with American writers, says, "I've been lucky. I seem to write only with name writers. But it's the old saying, the harder you work, the luckier you get.
"When Cold Hard Fax was Number One on CMR (Country Music Radio) in Europe, I was able to phone publishers and say, 'We're writing for Sue's next album, would anybody be interested in writing with us?' The fact I'd had a Number One opened doors. Then, once you can say you've written with one writer, other people will be willing to write with you.
"There's an etiquette in Nashville where if you're 'writing up', that is if you're writing with somebody who's more established than you, you bring the ideas to the table. Having said that, I had the chance to write with Roger Cook, who's in the Songwriter's Hall Of Fame and had a gazillion hits. Before we talked about anything, he said, 'I've got this melody idea' and just started playing it. I was sitting there thinking, 'God, if you've got any lyrics for me, now is a good time to send them'!"
Describing the evolvement of her writing relationship with Philibert, Bennett says, "We first talked on the phone quite a lot. Then we met up, sat down with some ideas and took it from there. Now we ring each other up with ideas almost every day. Then we'll get together for a weekend and work through the songs properly.
"Jon will come to the table with an idea or a few lines and some sort of rough melody and say, 'Do I like this? Do I not like this? Do I think the idea's great or has it been done a million times before?' I'll do the same and somehow, out of 10, 15 or 20 ideas we'll pick two or three that we want to work on that weekend. Sometimes we'll start with a title and start throwing lines into the pot. For every 20 lines you discard, a good one comes out.
"You go where the lyric takes you," Bennett continues. "Often you'll write a line that will suggest something else to you and take you in a different direction. You start off with an idea of where you want the song to go, but that can change dramatically in the hours or days it takes to write it.
"You have to build up a friendship and have a healthy respect for each other's work," Bennett adds. "You have to be able to say, 'I don't really like that.' If somebody's going to be precious, you'll be batting your head against a brick wall all the time. Jon can say to me, 'That's crap.' And I'll say, 'OK.' I'm not hurt by it, because I'll know deep down it's the truth."
"Sue and I have never fallen out," says Philibert, "but we have disagreements for sure. Over the quality of the rhyme, for example. I prefer harder rhymes and she prefers softer rhymes. If we have to rhyme something with 'night' and she has something like 'like' I'll say, 'Oh, OK,' and let it go. Occasionally we'll let in little things that we aren't entirely happy with for the sake of completing the song. My advice is to listen to what your co-writer says and if there's a problem, try to find a way around it to where both parties are happy with the line.
A single word can sabotage your song," Philibert warns. "I once wrote a song called "Uncharted Waters" which had the line 'Getting out of our depths', which is difficult to say let alone sing!"
Flowers offers a gem passed to her by songwriter Pat Patterson. "He sat in the room with one guy and said, 'Make sure the door's closed because I'm gonna say some dumb things this afternoon, and you're gonna say some dumb things. But we're gonna say them because my dumb thing may start you off on something less dumb and then that less dumb thing may get me to something less dumb than that, and eventually that makes us write the great line."
Turning to Ex's & Whys, one of the songs on Country Cuts, Flowers says, "Graham Blackstock had the idea for the title, and we went through about six different scenarios where the song could go. Could it be a kid at school who's not very good at the alphabet? Eventually we came to Exes as in former lovers and Whys as in why they left. Then we asked Sue to help us finish it, because Graham and I werestruggling and we thought it would be the sort of song Sue would enjoy."
Is the ownership of songs always equally split between the writers? "The saying in Nashville is a word for a third," says Flowers. "So if there are two of you in the room you get equal shares. If there's three of you, you get equal shares.
"There is the odd song where somebody has written 90 per cent and somebody else changes a couple of lines. If somebody did that to me I'd be inclined to give them half the song, because without those two lines it wouldn't be the song it is. Then again, the writer who contributed the two lines might say, 'I don't feel comfortable taking 50 per cent, give me 10.' A lot of it is down to integrity."
Every writer's fear is that his ideas will be stolen. Philibert, however, tells a heartening story about English songwriter John Peppard and the biggest selling country star of all time, Garth Brooks. Peppard was talking to another songwriter, Bobby Wood, about an idea for a song based on a quote from Shakespeare. The two never worked up the idea, but later Wood had a songwriting session with Brooks. Wood told Brooks the idea and the two sat down and wrote Garth's hit In Another's Eyes Although Peppard wasn't present when the song was written, Brooks insisted the Englishman be credited as a co-writer for having provided the original idea. The song was such a big hit that Peppard may never have to work again.
For his own part, Philibert says, "If, in general conversation, someone made a remark that I later used in a song I wouldn't count them as a co-writer. But if they said to me, 'I've got a great title for a song,' or 'This would be a great line...' then I would cut them in." For anyone considering co-writing for the first time, Philibert advises, "Meet with the person in a social setting to see if you gel and feel comfortable with each other, because I think it's important to have a compatible personality.
"If you're self-conscious about signing to someone you've only just met, perhaps send some ideas on a tape first. Five or six ideas, or half-started songs. After that, the advice is the same as if you're writing by yourself: keep re-writing."