To Teach or Not To Teach
It’s my last week of teaching my college Pop Songwriting Workshop. I want to get back to writing more songs of my own. Songwriting is like cardio is for the physical body. We release endorphins when we’re in the process of creating. It puts us in a trance. Makes us so damn high. Yet I DO love TALKING about why a song works … or doesn’t. Perhaps a Master Class? 🤓
Wifey Time
Recently I read a book called “Building The Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier.” In a chapter about friendship Arthur C Brooks suggests that the best compliment you can pay a friend is that you have no use for them. In other words you don’t need them for anything. You simply cherish their company.
Ivors Week
I’ve had a sweet career. Most of my pop songwriting days are behind me. I’m ok with that. I’ve had hundreds of disappointments but a handful of bangers (as they say here in London) that have lead to some magical opportunities and adventures. I get to go out there and pretend I’m the rock star I never was. I get to sit at a table near the stage and witness Paul and Bruce. I take nothing for granted.
Everybody’s Mama, Cass
If you’re a fan of Mama Cass Elliot you’re not alone. I am too! Hear what her daughter Owen Elliot-Kugell has to say about her MAMA and her self-penned book, “My Mama, Cass,” dropping next week. Oh and Happy MAMAs Day. ❤️🎶
Musicals and More
Not long after I sent my hopes for Musical #1 into the universe, the universe came back at me with a second Musical opportunity. Two sharp and seasoned Broadway producers reached out as they were looking for a composer for a show about a young female runner who broke impressive records some decades ago. They envisioned songs with the flavor of the 60’s and 70’s — The Byrds, The Mamas & The Papas, Motown, Dusty Springfield. ‘Ummm. I think you’ve found your girl.’
Post GRAMMY Musings
It was a long week. There were more pre-GRAMMY parties than ever before. I pace myself these days. That said, I had a better time than I used to. I no longer feel like I have anything to prove. I don’t ask colleagues what they have coming out but rather ‘what’s been keeping them busy.’ Because, let’s face it…a lot of people don’t have anything coming out. It’s not like it’s the 90s when songwriters had 2 dozen cuts a year.
Liaising With Lucy… (Woodward)
Lucy has the kind of voice that makes me angry. I tell her that no matter the lessons I’ve taken, the breathing correctly (or not), or my own rockstar fantasies, there’s no substitute for being born with the equipment that allows a certain kind of magic to flow from ones lungs. I’m in awe of how that voice keeps her moving about the planet.
Play It Back
A few weeks ago songwriter goddess (and friend) Lauren Christy asked me if I would participate in the Teen Cancer America Play It Back Music Program. We’d spend the day with a handful of adolescent and young adult cancer patients and survivors and … write songs. I imagine that if you were diagnosed with cancer as a child you might wonder if it was your fault. It might change your whole orientation to the world. To friends. To family. You don’t sweat the small stuff? You cherish every sunrise and sunset? So who’s mentoring who?
Musical Theatre Masterclass
Remember a few months ago when I said ‘Everybody is working on a musical’? It’s true. Well almost everyone. Some of us are working on two. Or three! After decades of pop-songwriting the Musical Theatre space is an understandable exciting pivot.
Neil
My older sister was a Neil Young/CSN fan and she played Four Way Street ALL THE TIME. Our bedrooms were separated by a thin sheet-rocked wall and I heard everything. “Cowgirl In The Sand” was my favorite track. Maybe I wanted to be somebody’s ‘cowgirl.’ Who knows. Someday I’d be old enough to “play this game.” Whatever game that was. What can I say? The song stirred me.
Ticket To Harry
I’m obsessed with “As It Was.” Sometimes I go to a concert to hear one song! Also, I like to observe the modern fan-culture condition. I’m confident Harry will demonstrate. Will it be the Beatles at Shea? Hell no. But a night to remember for sure.
Sweet Dreams (are made of this)
Every song has a story. It blows my mind that one minute there’s nothing and then — there is. It’s a body of energy that didn’t exist the day before. I go to a session with absolutely no idea what I’ll be coming home with. A gift. A surprise. A promise. A miracle.
Deepfakes
“If your voice is on something you didn’t write and you’re not endorsing that message it can be a really scary,” says Musician Reeny Smith. I concur. Not to mention forgoing approval from the artist that’s being scraped and profiting from an algorithm that IS the artist’s unique style. I’ve been in denial about AI just as I was about Napster. And Covid. And growing up. But they all happened anyway. Toothpaste out of the tube. How do we co-exist?
Daisy Jones & The Six
It may not be songwriter porn but Daisy allowed me my nostalgia. It’s not that I don’t look forward; I do. And I still have quite a fertile creative life. But you only come up once. And those definitely were the days. They were MY days. Most of us made fools (and some of us legends) of ourselves on the path to discovering who we were (or weren’t), rather than chasing algorithms and blending in. There was no roadmap.
The Show Must Go On!
Three days before the only rehearsal for the first table read of our Musical I suggested to Adam that we reschedule. According to Apple weather LA was expecting a storm of mass proportions. The worst in 40 years. We’d probably lose power. What would YOU do? 😫
Kiss Me 💋
I thought it appropriate on this V❤️lentines Day to share a song I wrote with multi-talented UK based co-writer (and producer) Phil Thornalley. It was obviously inspired by the iconic style of Burt Bacharach and Hal David whose body of work we both adore. Phil gave me the title along with the melody. And as it usually is with my reactions to Phil's "starts" here's what fell out in one afternoon >❤️>❤️>❤️>❤️>>>
Happy Valentines Day everyone.
I hope you all have someone you long to kiss.
And Another Thing About The Beatles…
Every time I’m working on a song that I’m super excited about…a song I think has heart and legs and a raison d’être…if I should stumble in passing upon “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl,” or “Dear Prudence” (really anything Beatles) I start questioning my work. As in why bother to write songs if I can’t write a song that good? Have you ever felt that way?
Daryl And Todd
You guys might have read about my obsession with Todd Rundgren. But FYI I’m a freak for Daryl Hall as well. And so … the 2 of them together is like sleeping with 2 of your favorite lovers at the same time. Insane! If my ears had eyes they be rolling to the back of my head.
Diamond Girl
“Diamond Girl” takes me back to a time I imagined I could BE the diamond girl Seals & Crofts were singing about. That’s what songs are supposed to do. Make you feel like they’re about you. And when you learn that the creator of the song is gone, they take a piece of you with them. But thing is…the song remains. It never goes away. I’m sitting in my yard listening to “Diamond Girl” right now. I’ve entered an emotional time machine. “It’s about you that I am.”
