My friend Mike Hayes, who is one of the NSAI coordinators in Winston-Salem, NC, was talking to me about demos last week. He was remembering some advice he once received, about the cost of a Nashville demo. The advice, simply paraphrased here, was: your $400 demo is competing with $1200 demos done by the pros. So is your $200 demo. And your homemade work tape. Because the pros, when they have a viable song written, and have the backing of a publishing company, get really high end, radio-quality demos made.
Here is an example. I once had the distinct privilege of writing a song with Jason Matthews. Jason is a monster of a songwriter and an artist in his own right. He has written such hits as “Break Down Here” by Julie Roberts and “Must Be Doing Something Right” by Billy Currington. Jason and I wrote a song called Sugar Buzz, and if four people ask via comments, I will recount what that writing experience was like. End of the story was that Jason demoed the song, professionally like he always does, and here is the demo for you to listen to.
Compare the quality of this recording to the demos that Carey and I just finished. Make your own judgment. But this is what publishers hear. Jason spent $1200 on this one, if I recall.
This is what we are competing with every time we pitch a song to a publisher or a producer. It’s a competition, for sure, and the pros hate to lose.
In the piece Roberts, who cranks out a book every 45 days and has spent more than 700 weeks on the New York Times’ best-seller list, says that she has “one key commandment of writing: ‘Ass in the chair.’ ” Earlier in the piece, she says “you don’t just wander around dreaming …. That’s not what you’re getting paid for.”
John Updike stated in an interview last fall with The Telegraph that he maintained the same schedule he had as a young man: three pages a day. More if things were flowing.
Made me think. I’ve gone pathetically long stretches without writing. Years. How much better would I be if I had sat my butt down every day and practiced the craft?
I believe writing is a skill. The more you do it, the better you become at it. If you write 12 songs a year, are you going to be as skilled as the person who writes 120 songs a year? Will the good stuff – the lyric with a strong truth or the melody that gets stuck in people’s heads – be easier to bring out of you if you’re rooting around for it every day or once or twice a week?
I’m not saying. I’m just asking. What works (or doesn’t) for you?
The songs are mixed. The checks are written. The CDs are burned. So what happens now with this newest pile of songs Martin and I have? How do we get them from our hands to the hands of those in a position to record them?
Since stalking laws prevent us from hanging around artists’ driveways and good manners say don’t give someone a CD if you come across them at Kroger, there are other, more proper, channels to go through.
One I use is SongU. As part of my membership, I get to submit songs to people (usually publishers, occasionally producers) who are looking for material for specific pitches. For example, if Brooks & Dunn are scheduled to record later this year, a publisher or independent songplugger may look for songs outside their catalog that would be suitable for pitching.
This is a portion of what one of their listings looks like (I changed a couple of names):
Pitch For Song Plugger. Country. FEMALE. Tootie Heartthrob. This new Street Pitch guest is a veteran independent songplugger for the country market looking this month for Twangtown Records solo artist Tootie Heartthrob (formerly a member of Big Hair). Submit songs with emotional depth and mature lyrics. Third-person story songs welcome. As always, “tempos” (e.g. uptempo or groove/mid-tempo songs) are best, but any tempo that sounds like a HIT….
I’m also a member of Taxi and have been for several years. With Taxi, you pay $5 (on top of your yearly membership) for each song you submit. You submit per a particular listing, then one of their screeners listens and decides whether to forward your song to the person or company that created the listing.
This is what one of their listings looks like (asterisks mine):
COUNTRY POP/ROCK SONGS are wanted by a Major Nashville label for a female duo a la ********. This duo plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, accordion, harmonica and have fantastic vocals! They are very talented and unique in their approach and sound, so they’ll be looking for songs that will take them to the next level. Outstanding songs that have a mainstream, hooky chorus with excellent lyrics which invoke life experiences about love and loss, but that also can target a youthful audience are what is needed. Upbeat, fun, positive lyric approaches will be great as well… just make sure the chorus really shines! Instrumentation and vocal performances must be top-notch! Please submit one to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Friday, June 26, 2009. TAXI #******CO
Full disclosure: I’ve had only a small percentage of the songs I’ve submitted to Taxi forwarded. Of those, only one person behind the listing was interested in obtaining the publishing for a couple of songs. For various reasons, that never came to fruition.
I haven’t signed anything as a result of SongU pitches.
I found this great article on a site called Serve The Song. About the differences in songwriters and writing between New York and Nashville. It’s worth a read. Read it by clicking here.
Well, I’m back in Greensboro. Long drive across the Smokey Mountains, listening to the songs in the car, and to the Holly Williams CD Carey burned for me. Comparing the mixes to other demos I have. I think I might post some of those on this blog, to let you hear the differences and think about production values.
After I post these two songs, it would seem that the purpose for this blog has been fulfilled. But I have enjoyed the discussion so much, and it helps me think about the process, that I have decided to continue it in some capacity. It will be The Songwriter Report, and it will attempt to be an open forum about writing, home demoing, performing out, cowriting, pitching, and any success stories I may either hear about or be a part of. I’ll likely change the look of the blog, now that I am not up against a deadline. The posts won’t be as frequent, but hopefully they’ll be of value. So I ask you to maybe sign up for the RSS feed, or the notification of a new post by email. I will try to to bother you myself with news of new info. I figure that if you find this valuable or interesting or a freak show, you’ll find it yourself.
Anyway, the last two songs are below, with the lyrics.
IN HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE
(Carey Moore/Martin Buchanan)
Two old boys at Talladega, sitting in turn three
Ice cold beer and great big smiles, nowhere they’d rather be
Big pileup on the backstretch, a multi-car mishap
One got airborne, jumped the fence and mashed them two boys flat
Later, at the funeral, the preacher told the crowd
Those men had now gone somewhere really nice
But all their friends were thinking as good as that does sound
Turn three at Talladega is already paradise
Chorus
So where do you get to go if you’re IN HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE?
Does your everlasting soul have a better place to fly?
Is there somewhere greater hidden up there in the sky
If you’re already IN HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE?
Sitting alone in a deer stand, sighting up a buck
He counted 18 points and could not believe his luck
Squeezed a single bullet off and killed that sucker dead
Rifle kicked. He fell out and landed on his head
Felt like he was floating. Then he heard a soothing voice
Saying “Your reward ye shall receive”
He looked down at the buck and said “Although I’m much obliged
That deer is quite enough reward for me”
Chorus
Bridge
What about the man who finally shoots a hole in one
Then dies by lightning bolt electrocution
Or the lucky guy who gets a Playboy Bunny all alone
And has a heart attack. Imagine his confusion.
Chorus
And now Torn Out Heart
TORN OUT HEART
(Carey Moore/Martin Buchanan)
Came home just like always
Not too much before midnight
With the boys out drinking.
Something wasn’t right.
On the kitchen counter
Wedding pictures ripped apart.
Next to them, in paper.
A tiny TORN OUT HEART.
She tore it from a photo
Of the day we said “I do.”
Folded over neatly.
Colored it in blue.
All those nights I’d left her.
Her love had finally lost its spark.
She only took a suitcase
And left a TORN OUT HEART.
BRIDGE 1
Then and there it was clear, what I was losing.
Such a sad souvenir of what I had ruined.
Sometimes I think I hear her
And I’ll look up toward the stairs
Only to remember
That she isn’t there.
I drink for a new reason
I don’t laugh much at the bar.
Nothing waits at home now
But that TORN OUT HEART.
BRIDGE 2
It’s easy to see your mistakes, when they’re behind you.
But even harder to face, when they remind you.
Waking up without her.
Will always be the hardest part.
But nothing’s ever easy
On my TORN OUT HEART
Well, There they all are. I hope you got something out of this. I certainly did. Again, if you have visited this site and not left a comment, now is the time. We wanted to hear from a lot more folks than we did, but the ones that commented really added to our thought process. Dan Dockery even helped us with the lyrics and some structural thoughts, and for that we are grateful.
Carey Moore and I set out to get these demos done, and we did it. And of course, nothing is ever finished, including songs you’ve had demoed. I guess it ain’t finished ’til it gets a cut. Mac Davis says he’s still rewriting In The Ghetto, so there you go.
I have to leave Nashville this morning, hit I-40 hard and make my way back to Greensboro. When I get home and settled in, I will post more of the final demos. That will be this afternoon or evening, so check back then.
Yesterday, in between thinking about new song ideas, Carey and I stumbled down to the CMA fest going on downtown. It was hot and we weren’t serious about toughing it out, but did manage to catch a short set by Holly Williams, of the famous country music lineage Williams family tradition. She releases a new CD on Tuesday. Sounded pretty good.
Holly Williams
I’m gonna grab a quick cup of coffee and hit the road. Talk soon.
So this song had some last minute lyric additions, which I posted previously, but at the session we were still teaching the singer the differences. Kim was a real pro, and the changes didn’t seem to make a difference to her one bit. For comparison, my work tape then the final demo.
She’s Not Herself Tonight
(M. Buchanan, L. Black, C. Moore)
She’s a picture perfect mother Got two point three kids
A good man that loves her Dozens of friends
She’s got Little League and laundry Bake sales and Dr. Seuss
But she remembers fondly, how she used to cut loose
Her husband came home at the end of the day
She said “You’d better take me away”
CHORUS
No “Mommy” this No “gimme” that
No cleaning house No giving baths
Just dinner, dancing, sweet romancing made by candlelight
She’s doing what she wants to
And SHE’S NOT HERSELF TONIGHT
She’s got that little dress on, the black one with the lace.
When they walk in some heads turn Her heart begins to race
Her husband’s flirting with her His hand against her skin
He leans down to kiss her and she’s 21 again
Her mind starts thinking ’bout later on
They might stay up to see the dawn
REPEAT CHORUS
BRIDGE
Sometimes she gets enough of normal
Tying shoes and packing lunches, wiping little noses
But tonight it’s wine and roses
REPEAT CHORUS
The biggest change is the guitar melody in the introduction. This bears a discussion about working sessions, working fast and allowing the musicians to create. Any initial thoughts?
I hesitate to put his title (again) as the title of the blog, because I think it might have attracted a lot of attention for the wrong reason last time I did. But this is the final demo of I Look So Good Naked, by Carey Moore and Fintan Ellard, as sung by Joshua Rush.
Here is the original work tape of Gentlemen, Start Your Engines followed by the final demo version we just produced, for your comparison.
I think Melissa Duvall gave us a great performance. A note about the mixes: The vocals are mixed out front so that publishers and producers can hear the lyrics, the idea of the song, first. The music is secondary to the lyrics. If you were mixing for a record, you would pull back on the vocals and let the vibe of the music help drive the listener. It is so great to not have to hear my singing on this idea ever again, I will tell you that. Carey agrees.
Martin Buchanan
careymoore
