Posted on 06/19/2014 3:16:10 PM PDT by EveningStar
Lyricist Gerry Goffin, who with his then-wife and songwriting partner Carole King wrote such hits as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," ''(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," ''Up on the Roof" and "The Loco-Motion," died early Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 75...
Goffin, who married King in 1959 while they were in their teens, penned more than 50 top 40 hits, including "Pleasant Valley Sunday" for the Monkees, "Crying in the Rain" by the Everly Brothers, "Some Kind of Wonderful" for the Drifters and "Take Good Care of My Baby" by Bobby Vee. The couple divorced in 1968, but Goffin kept writing hits, including "Savin' All My Love for You" for Whitney Houston...
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
An old timer..
As you say, it is very difficult. Lennon and McCartney were trying to be Goffin and King when they started. That they were mere kids and were able to write so many songs that remain classics fifty years later is simply stunning.
I agree...but maybe that’s because I am also a father of five (4 girls and 1 boy). The youngest just graduated college. Saints be praised! [If I had an Irish grandmother, that’s what she would have said]
We are a mirror - 4 boys and 1 girl! My youngest is entering his senior year.
And I am second generation Irish!
The music of that day is absolutely classic.I’ve read fascinating stories about the Brill Building in NYC which is where lots and lots of that great stuff was written.Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow must be considered one of the ten best pop/rock songs of all time.
Many of those people are hugely talented AND skilled. It's a numbers game and the only (slim) chance they have is to hone their skills. Songwriting skill is not something that falls upon the gifted from above. It's hard work. And a less "gifted" songwriter who works hard will produce better songs than an immensely gifted one, and has a much better chance of being published.
To imagine songwriting as some sort of mystical gift from the heavens is an insult to the people who invest an unbelievable amount of time and effort to produce the songs which we love.
You can believe your fantasy, or you can study what songwriters themselves say about the craft.
For example, I would write that a flower would still smell good if you called it crap.
Another might write, A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
You see....I could practice all day long and mine would still be bad.
The problem with your analogy is the popular song is neither poem nor prose. It is a unique genre.
or . . . you could do what professional songwriters do and spend countless hours re-writing it.
That is the initial concept, which is step #1. It is quite possible, even likely, that Shakespeare's initial concept was something as crude as that. Writing is re-writing.
Each time I re-wrote my reply, it improved. How about that?
That song was regarded as highly racy at the time.
Bravo!
My wife’s best friend is a writer. A novel writer. She has been at it for 50 years. She finally sold a book. The money is just amazing.
But she still has her part time job that she has been working at for 30 years. She thinks that book release will come in September and she will need that job to live on.
The entire writing process is fascinating to me. What I have seen is that even though YOU might think you are finished, someone else always has a “just one thing” to add.
I guess everyone should have an editor in their lives.
But they are still waiting tables. That huge talent and skill you believe they have isn't real.
For many it is. Breaking into songwriting or acting or singing, etc. is a combination of many factors in addition to talent and skill. Luck, persistence and timing enter into it, as well as personal connections. There are only a few slots with millions of people trying to fill them. That's why Nancy Sinatra got to make albums while tens of thousands of amazing singers had to settle for singing in the church choir.
Those are the facts of life.
These are the facts of life. Bill Gates and Rush Limbaugh never finished college. They both had talent that could not be 'taught' by anyone. Talent is inate. It is unique. I would suggest 99% of film students, writers and artists in college make a living in something other than film, writing or art.
Talent cannot be taught, or we would a million Monets.
It is pretty racy. And yet it manages not to be vulgar. The second best line (after the title line): Tonight with words unspoken you say that I’m the only one.
And where did they go to school? Who taught Eric Clapton? Or Bob Marley? Or Mick Jagger? Or Muddy Waters?
yes, the julliard school can and does teach technique. But school never produces the next Mozart.
Do you really think that Rush Limbaugh started out as skilled as he is now?
Mozart was indeed taught music. And he had at least 10,000 hours of practice under his belt before he produced anything of consequence. Read the book, Outliers to understand the fruition of talent.
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