Beyoncé
Way back when I first started writing songs, before there were algorithms and expectations and boxes we needed to check … I wrote something that had a spoken lyric. In my novice mind I thought of it as white-girl rap, if you will. Nobody suggested I didn’t have any business trying to be something I was not. I was just making a song. It felt right. It came out of me. I let it rip. No one was the boss of my creative spirit.
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.
The Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project
I’ve heard it said, “those who can, do; those who can't, teach.” I reject that notion. I’m enjoying “doing” (writing songs) more than ever. I may not be making as much money as I did when physical albums were flying off the shelves but is that how we measure success?
