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.”
TikTok… Boom!
Two things have been on my mind: TikTok and Tick, Tick…Boom! Loved Tick, Tick Boom! and Jazmine Sullivan’s cover of “Come To Your Senses.” TikTok is a different story. 3 of my friends told me recently that I should “get on” it. That I’d be so “good at it.” What exactly is “good at it?” 😳
The Way We Were
We’ll always have plenty of talented tasty, clever ear-worm-worthy songsmiths. Topliners. Beat Makers whose delicious material I enjoy immensely. It’s just that when we lose all our Marilyns who’s going to write “The Way We Were”? How do you keep THAT music playing?
Paul 3,2,1
Looking back, Paul realizes that he himself is a fan of the Beatles. What a beautiful place to be in the back half of ones life. So many of us look over our shoulder with regret or wish for do-overs.
Catching Up With Eric Bazilian
My pal Eric Bazilian has a rich history in pop music making. From founding member of the Hooters to the sole author of Joan Osborne’s 4x Grammy nominated “One Of Us” — a groundbreaking 1995 smash that raised the bar for working songwriters everywhere — Eric is still putting himself out there.
Top 5 Pop Songs Ever
Beloved songs are like chips in our souls that embed themselves and stay with us forever. I guess it’s a good problem there are too many. I betcha can’t name just 5.
Happy Travels
I don’t know about you but for me re-entering a not-so-post COVID world comes with some re-acclimation anxiety. I’ve never been anxious in my life. I am anxious now. My local KCRW broadcasts a daily gentle reminder that COVID has made us ALL anxious. I’ll say!
Speaking in Lyrics
We songwriters speak in tongues. And our partners need to be ready. My antennae have learned to pick up (or overhear) anything that’s lyric worthy. On supermarket lines, newscasts, snippets of gossip from teenagers walking by me on the street. It’s the stuff that emerges from every-day conversation that doesn’t always come as naturally when formally summoned. Grande latte please.
Splits Before Hits
How do you measure a contribution — a catchy title vs. an entire first and second verse? What if Jack writes 90% of the lyric on the hook but the room was stuck on the pay-off line until Will spouted it in one fell swoop after being verbally MIA the whole session? Suddenly the whole song comes to life. Is there some objective scale on which to weigh a song? Let’s discuss.
Post Covid Predictions
People who swore they were in love will break up. People who were breaking up will re-fall madly in love. Lots of babies gonna be born in December through the 9-month mark from the end of stay-at-home. Someone out there will name their kid “Covid.” 🙄Read on for more...
Grown-up Making a Video
Deep down I do not see my (undisclosed) age as a handicap but as an advantage. I’ve experienced life more fully and I’m more comfortable living it than ever before. I’m even more comfortable in my own collagen-starved skin. Self-expression and the desire to make and share your art doesn’t change just because you’re in the second half of your century.
Small Fish
It’s a whole new world out there with algorithms, analytics, gamification and secret weapons like Spotify Release Radar! I’m as novice as any H.S. sophomore uploading her first precious song to SoundCloud. In making my first album I am indeed a Small Fish.
Her Name Was Xtina
January 1, 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of “What A Girl Wants” becoming the first No.1 song of the century. Quite a thrill for a songwriter. I thought this would be an opportune time to share with you the story of how the song came to be. Ready?
