A lesson learned - and hopefully passed on!
Most song writers understand the need to re-write in an attempt to make a song the best it can be - and I have always acknowledged the importance of re-writes. I want to share a recent experiance - which was a real wakeup call for me.
A song I wrote was recently published and selected to be recorded for a national country artist (I can't give a name, but he records on the BMG lable - which is "the big time").
The artist and producer loved the 1st verse and chorus, but felt the 2nd & 3rd verses were too negative (the artist did not want to relay the story of such a "negative charactor"). I normally write more about darker charactors -so trying to lighten up the story line was against my natural writing instincts.
I've just completed the 2nd re-write (they liked most of the 1st re-write - but still wnated more) - and I had to get this done in a very short amount of time (they are already in pre-production). I think the song will make the final cut and appear on the CD (they would not be spending this much time if they did not really like it) ...... so I'm hoping it's worth all the torment of re-writing to please this artist.
The morale is........if you really want to be a writing at a level that can maybe see some success in the bg leagues.......you better be willing and able to re-write.
Most song writers understand the need to re-write in an attempt to make a song the best it can be - and I have always acknowledged the importance of re-writes. I want to share a recent experiance - which was a real wakeup call for me.
A song I wrote was recently published and selected to be recorded for a national country artist (I can't give a name, but he records on the BMG lable - which is "the big time").
The artist and producer loved the 1st verse and chorus, but felt the 2nd & 3rd verses were too negative (the artist did not want to relay the story of such a "negative charactor"). I normally write more about darker charactors -so trying to lighten up the story line was against my natural writing instincts.
I've just completed the 2nd re-write (they liked most of the 1st re-write - but still wnated more) - and I had to get this done in a very short amount of time (they are already in pre-production). I think the song will make the final cut and appear on the CD (they would not be spending this much time if they did not really like it) ...... so I'm hoping it's worth all the torment of re-writing to please this artist.
The morale is........if you really want to be a writing at a level that can maybe see some success in the bg leagues.......you better be willing and able to re-write.