WEBVTT - Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:14.880 Carola. She's a queen of talking. He was your man. 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.360 She's only yes, actually got the snoop on on the 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:28.360 on side. No one can do with clide, my Caralam Carola. 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:36.320 No one can do within clid like Carol Carola. Hey, y'all, 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:39.959 welcome to Hyper Caroline Hobby. I am your host, Caroline Hobby. 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.519 I know music, I know people, and I know the 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.440 questions do you want to ask? So let's get Hyper 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.479 heads up. These are adults having adult conversations, so there 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:53.800 could be adult content. I'm so excited to welcome Gary 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.000 Burr and Georgia Middleman to the show today. They are 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:59.040 a freaking power couple in country music. When it comes 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.640 to songwriting, They've written so many number one hits between 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:03.840 the two of them. Gary's and the freaking Country Music 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.479 Songwriters Hall of Fame plays in Ringo Stars band as 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.400 well as Carol King's. George has written songs for Keith Urban. 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:12.600 They're both on a trio with Kenny Loggins, and they 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:16.520 are two of my most favorite people ever. They're going 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.240 to make you laugh so hard and their stories are 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.040 gonna blow your mind. Y'all give it up for Gary 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:29.440 and Georgia. Hi I'm here with Georgia Middleman and Gary Burke. Hello, Hello, 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:36.920 how's it helling you guys? Good? It's fabulous, Rainy. I 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.200 know I used to write songs with you guys for 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.679 like a decade. He's still writing. Nope, gave it all up, 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.280 all right, Yes, I tell Gary, you know it's not 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:50.120 my true calling. Ten years of trying, trying it and 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:55.400 now onto interviewing. There you go. This is it. So 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.440 you guys are kind of an interesting combination because first off, 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:04.120 your both hit songwriters. That's super sexy. Well, if you're 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:09.639 going down that list, all right, and you guys are married, 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:14.320 we are to each other to each other at that yeah, exactly. 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:15.720 So there's a lot that I want to talk about. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.880 I want to break you guys down individually first, and 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.079 then I want to talk about the combo meal. Okay, 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:28.960 al right, okay, alright, so the first woman break down. Okay. 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.920 So Gary, you're originally from Connecticut, I am, and you 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:37.200 were an electrician. That was yeah, it was an electrician. 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.720 So I just I assumed I was gonna, you know, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.840 just take over the family business when I got old enough, 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.440 you know, to to claim a six ft ladder. But 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.280 it didn't work out. So did you know you loved 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.400 writing songs. I didn't know I loved writing songs, but 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.080 I loved the idea of the music business because that 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.639 was just an awesome time. That was like late sixties, 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.520 early seventies. It was just a great time for the 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.720 music business. And I just knew I wanted to do 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.360 something in the music business. And I didn't want to 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.679 just you know, run an electrical company in Connecticut. I 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:13.720 didn't care what it was, but that was, you know, 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.000 that was the door that opened, and I would have 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.639 been happy for any door that opened into that. Didn't 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:23.680 you do wood Stock? I didn't do it, but I 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.720 wanted to ask you about this because Woodstock changed your life. Yeah, 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.720 I kind of really really did I know that. I 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.240 know that out of all the people that were there, 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.680 tons of people, you know, say that it changed their 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.560 life in a in a spiritual way, but it really 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:42.080 was the fork in the road for me. Well, didn't 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.000 you say. I wrote a quote that you said that 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.040 you went to Woodstock and girls were clinging to the 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:54.840 musicians like dryer sheets. That sounds like something stupid. That's 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.360 what I need, That's the life for me. Yeah, if 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:02.720 I could develop that sort of static claim. You'll take it, Yeah, 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.320 I'll take it. Okay. So you're in Connecticut, you go 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.400 to Woodstock, then you have like, okay, we're all over 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.600 the place Woodstock. How old were you and you wanted 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.160 to be the dryer sheets? You wanted the dryer sheets? Yeah, yeah, 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:19.160 I did desperately. Then you start deciding to play sport 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:23.040 and you're getting a serious injury. Yeah, you know what, 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.480 Because because I knew I wasn't gonna work for my dad, 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:28.159 I wanted my dad to be proud of me. So 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.239 I tried any sport that I was even the least 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:35.760 bit equipped to do, and there weren't any. So the 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.120 sport that seemed to involve the most aimlessly running around 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:42.000 in circles seemed to be soccer. So I joined the 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:46.800 soccer team. Not the way I did it, literally, it 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.440 was just running around in circles, and then periodically you 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:52.400 bend over and your pant real hard to The coach 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.800 thinks he's really giving it as all. Okay, and until 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.640 and the one time I actually tried to do something 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.760 can instructive for the team, I got my leg broken. Okay, 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:05.560 so you broke your leg and now you were in 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:09.039 a full body cat. Yeah, it's like a full body 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.599 because I broke the leg right at the top of 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:16.640 the knee. So if they didn't immobilize me from the 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.920 hip down, then my leg was going to basically make 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.599 the letter L at the bottom. So yeah, it was 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.240 really gross. It was so when it broke, the noise 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.760 was so loud that the guys on the team ran 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.000 off the field because they thought the ref had shot 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:39.000 a gun. Yeah. Everyone everyone makes that face when I'm 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.200 immune to it, but at this point, but but you're 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.120 probably out like a light. Oh. I was not out 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.440 like a light for about six more hours until somebody 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:50.920 shot me up with light out juice. Were conscious? Oh, 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.680 I was conscious. It actually didn't if I didn't move, Um, 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:56.960 it actually didn't hurt that bad. So I was laying 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.039 in a gurney at a hospital for like four hours. 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.280 But this isn't big moment in your life, because when 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:04.000 you're in this full body cast is when you decided 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:08.560 to really become great a guitar. Yeah. There was, yeah, 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.760 it was, it really was. There was there was nothing 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.440 to do. I had two who's come to pretend to 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:18.400 teach me things and basically it was, you know, listening 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:23.160 to music and playing you know, my brother's guitar, and uh, 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:25.640 when we had come home from Woodstock, my buddy and 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.600 I had decided to start a band. And this was 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.719 where I actually got to the point where I said, 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.760 you know, I could do that because I wasn't much 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.080 of a guitar player before then. But by the time 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.960 the cast came off, I was I was good enough 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:40.960 to start, you know, our first band. How long was 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.480 the cast on? You know, I don't remember, all these 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.440 years later, I feel like it was on for months, 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.279 but it was probably you know what, eight weeks maybe 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.960 something like that. Most of my senior most of the 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.240 beginning of my senior year. So remember back to your 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.479 senior year in high school and think what it would 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.560 have been like to just hear about everything that's going 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:07.039 on and your home in a really stinky room. Yeah 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:17.160 kid mean by that, I don't Yeah. Yeah, it was 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:20.400 very sad. Okay, But this is crazy because if that 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.840 wouldn't have happened, you wouldn't learn guitar. Something I think 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.480 is really interesting. You must be a visualizer and you 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.640 must believe in like magic in the secret because you 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.480 listen to three records over and over again while you 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:35.360 were like hold up. And the first one was the 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.840 Pure Prairie League album, second one was Carol King's Tapestry, 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.000 and the third one was Abbey Road. Now tell me 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.480 why that's amazing, all three of those albums, because they 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:45.680 were the three records that I taught myself how to 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:52.160 play guitar too. And when I grew up and became 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.240 a professional musician, I was the lead singer of Pure 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.680 Prairie League. I toured the world playing with Carol King, 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:02.200 and I wrote like three albums with Ringoff. So out 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.960 of those three albums, those are the three that that 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.440 ended up being your career being my career in a 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.240 in a in a tiny nutshell, do you think you 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.240 drew it to yourself because you loved it so much? 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:15.840 I don't know. I'm not a big believer in that 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.160 kind of a thing, but you know, but they asked 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.640 me some kind of explanation for something that's very odd. 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.480 You know what, I probably what I probably have done. 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:30.520 I probably blocked out the Sound of Music album that 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:34.200 I had and the Carpenter's Greatest Hits album that I 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:36.440 blocked all that out, and I've reduced it down to 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:40.240 those three because its but but literally, seriously, those were 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.160 the three records that I learned to. When I read that, 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.439 I honestly couldn't believe it because those are no small feats. 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.079 And Vince Gil he was the one who was the 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.400 lead singer Pure Prairie League before you. Yeah, I took 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:55.160 his place. Okay, Yeah, yeah, that's kind of crazy because 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.800 he and I got inducted into the Songwriter Hall of 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.960 Fame in the same year. And uh, I'll get that 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:10.040 hold on, um my phone is broken and literally is okay, 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.800 so this is crazy. You're in the Songwriters Hall of 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:17.240 Fame too, Yeah, I am that's that is that is great. 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.760 Fourteen number ones you write? What else did already? You 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.760 have fourteen number ones? You have? Is it? Thirty two? 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:30.440 Top forties, twenty four top tens, a lot of songs. 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.600 So Advance got inducted at the same time to the 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:34.480 Country Music Hall of Fames. Yeah, that was a nice 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:38.760 coincidence to you know, And and uh, that's something I'm 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.240 really really proud of. I just I didn't think I 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.440 was going to end up being a songwriter, but you know, 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:47.800 to be acknowledged like that, it's pretty great. So your 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:49.319 first song the y ever wrote became a hit for 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.760 Juice Newton, Right, Is that how you got to Nashville? Yes, 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.480 I wrote a song in my backyard and I had 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:57.520 some people in New York that we're helping me, and 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.320 they played it for a guy here in Nashville and 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.120 they recorded it, and I was that's what made me 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.400 stop being an electrician, and I just, you know, I 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:10.360 I started to make enough money to be a professional songwriter, 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.960 and I would just stay home raising a couple of kids, 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.280 writing songs at night in Connecticut. In Connecticut, you just 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.480 write them and sent them off national nations. I actually 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.000 had like four hits before, you know, just living in 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.280 Connecticut sending them through the mail. Which hits that I had? 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:30.160 I had The Loves Been That's my job, Conway Twitty, 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.640 I had Burned like a Rocket, Billy Joe Royal, make 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.080 My Life with You, oak Ridge Boys. Those were all 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.679 while I still lived in Connecticut. So you're like, oh 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:41.240 my gosh, this is easy. Yeah. Yeah. My first song 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.240 was a pop hit. My second song was a number 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.520 one country hit, like the first two songs I've ever recorded, 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:49.680 And that's when I kind of said, why am I 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.000 being electrician. Who does? Who does? Why doesn't everybody do this? 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.760 Like this is like no brainer? Yeah and so, but 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:58.800 you just were really good and you didn't maybe realize 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.240 how great you well, but no, and then it stopped 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.440 and it went a couple of years, and then you know, 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:05.240 and and then you get it and you think you're 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:06.960 never going to get another song on the radio, and 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:09.160 then you get another one and you know. It just 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.400 it was a lucky streak that that that threw me 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.800 into it at like a hundred miles an hour, and 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.680 then it calmed down and it became the job that 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:23.679 it stayed for twenty something years. So how did you 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.840 get to Nashville? You got the four hits? Yeah, in 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:29.760 Connecticut in a real traditional way. I would come down. 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.080 The people in Nashville that we're listening to my songs 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.160 and cutting them basically said to me, you know, you 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.520 should come down and write with other people. You know, 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.880 that's the weird thing. I wrote all by myself, but 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:46.440 so those are all by yourself. That's a lot of dope. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:49.520 it was. It was really that was brief either, huh. 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.200 I had a publishing deal with those guys that were helping, 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.720 but especially back in the day you're finally making serious cash. 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:57.640 That awesome. Yeah. But and and there was you know, 0:11:57.679 --> 0:11:59.520 there seemed to be a lot more radio stations back 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:03.199 then too. Yeah. So, uh, I started to come down 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.640 like once every couple of months to Nashville, and then 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.160 it was once a month, and then it was two 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.360 weeks out of the month. And that was when I 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:14.480 finally said, uh, you know, it's it's time to make 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.560 a move. And we initially thought about moving the whole 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.920 family down here, but you know, things were shaky, and 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:25.280 it ended up where it was the logical place for 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:28.040 you know, my wife and I too. We ended up 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.360 getting divorced and I moved down here and and she 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.280 stayed up in Connecticut, Okay, and Georgia. You can chime 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.320 in on this. The Nashville songwriter community, it's like unlike 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.640 anything else. There's two rows in Nashville, sixteen and seventeen Street, 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.839 and basically like people go and they write songs and 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.320 it's a job. Yeah, that's a crazy profession. Yeah, And 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.240 nowhere else in the world do they do that. And 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.400 it's like yeah, yeah, maybe all the way back in 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.560 like the real building back in New York when it 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.200 was sort of a songwriting a couple of buildings that 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.360 were songwriting factories, and this is that sort of a 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.559 deal just spread out over a whole bunch of smaller buildings. 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.040 Can you guys believe it's your career and your profession 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:08.800 to wake up and write saying, Oh my gosh, my 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.720 phone is broken. Okay, my rainger, have this mofy and 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:16.600 it it doesn't turn off? What's that? It's an extra 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.600 and it doesn't it charges your phone? But mine's broken, 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.280 So now my phone never turns on silent? Oh yeah, 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:29.640 it's terrible. Um what were you saying? Music? Can you believe? 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.400 Can you believe our career? But the weird thing is 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.800 is how easy it was for you to male songs 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:37.280 back and forth. When I was ten years old, We can't. 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:39.720 My dad brought me my little sister to Nashville. You 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.160 wrote your first song it to Wait Wait have it. 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.679 It's called what did you call it? This Girl's Dinner Home. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:46.800 I didn't work because I thought it was the cutest 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:52.160 thing ever. You wrote a song called There's a Rainbow 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:58.360 and Everybody's Heart. Yes, Sorgia, are you pure believe that 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.720 there's a rain own Everyone's heart. You wrote that at 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:05.199 ten years old because I didn't know any better. Now 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:08.600 you've seen the rain clouds. Yeah, and when we came 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:10.840 here when I was ten years old, all the buildings, 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.240 all the publishing houses work. They were houses like cute 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:18.280 little two story houses or one story um cottages, and 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:19.720 I felt like you could just stalk on the door 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:21.440 and they let you in. I like, what a cool place. 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.560 And sometimes you have to think it's that easy to 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.360 get your first step, you know, to take your first step, 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.680 and then you find out it's almost impossible. But at 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:31.600 least you take that step and you knock got that door, 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.760 and then you start finding there. It's not so easy, 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:35.640 but yeah, a little by a little, you get there. 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:37.600 If you're if it's meant to be like that in Georgia, 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.440 we gotta come back to you. But you also moved 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.280 to New York and l A to do acting and music. 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.600 I gotta hear story. Okay, we're gonna wrap up, Gary, 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.520 not yet, but so tell me what it was like. 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.200 You know, it's a it's a very long legacy. I 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:54.880 want to throw out some of your number one I 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.920 don't know what these were all the chart, but you 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.480 had try to think about Elvis for Patty loveless, can't 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.440 be really and to McGraw to be loved by you? 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.040 Why Nona too busy being in love? Doug Stone, That's 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:08.600 my job, Conway Twitter watch Me, Lorie Morgan, Love Lorie 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.240 Morgan in a week or two, Diamond Reo love It. 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.000 That was one of my favorites. What mattered most h 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.640 Herndon on the side of Angels, Nothing about Love makes sense, 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.840 Lean Rhymes, Nobody Wants to Be Lonely, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin. 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:24.480 These are just a smidgeon of some of the songs. Yeah, well, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.960 what was the biggest song you had? You know what 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:36.160 biggest is a you know? You can? You can? You know? 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:41.280 I Suddenly lost? It depends on what you mean by 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.840 the biggest. The most successful was probably the very first 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.200 one because it was a pop bit, so that made 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:49.440 a lot a little bit hard on me. Right, let's 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.520 be a little bit hard on me. The most impactful 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.520 song I ever had was probably the Conway Twittery song 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.120 that I wrote about my dad passing away, because they 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:03.240 still played that every Father's Day and I still get 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.200 tons of, you know, letters and emails from people that 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.840 hear it around Father's Day and it moves them. Um. 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.960 You know, as far as the most successful country song, 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.040 it was probably what madd and most at ty Herndon's 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.960 because people still people, people teach that song in writer 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.680 classes like up at Berkeley, in places like that. You know, so, Um, 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.680 you know there's different criteria for what makes it biggest, 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:31.120 But you know, I've had more than my share of 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:35.240 ones that that were pivotal. How do you guys write? What? 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:37.960 How do you write a song? Do you write what 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:39.840 coming to you? Do you try to fit a formula? 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:42.520 Do you try to write for someone in particular? What 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:47.640 has been your most successful songs? Where have they come from? 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:51.040 It's a really good question. Um, don't suck up to her. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.120 It's just a question. I like. I like to read, 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.440 and I pull words out of books that strike me 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:04.560 as interesting, the way words get put together. Um, I 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:05.800 I think you like to do this to You like 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.119 to start with the title A lot of times for me. 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.720 I mean, there was that whole analogy about Michelangelo and David. 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.119 The statue. He didn't carve David. He chipped away at 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.719 the stone and there he was. I feel like a 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:18.919 good song idea for me, If I can see it 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.479 formed before it's written, that's what I want to attack. Okay, 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:26.399 so you have like the idea of how it could look, 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:28.960 and then I started attacking it. If I can't see it, 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:30.840 it's really hard for me to You need to vision it. 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.480 I do because that kind of that unfolds, the structure 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.119 of it kind of unfold. And sometimes I mean, I 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.800 also love jamming on music and having the music tell 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.119 me what the lyrics should say. So I like to 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.280 work backwards that way too. How do you do it? 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.480 I remember when I first came to town, uh, talking 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:54.960 to the great Harlan Howard, the great songwriting country songwriters, 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.840 And you know, his philosophy was, if you don't have 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.920 that great idea it, then don't even bother sitting down, 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.720 Go have lunch, go have a drink. But you need 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:08.080 to have that great idea where somebody sits down and goes, 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.199 I want to write a song about boom, and you 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.840 can express it in like one sentence to say this 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:14.800 is what I want to write about. He says. Those 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.760 are the songs that not only means something, but they're 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.119 the easiest to write because you have a definitive point 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.119 of view, and you have a story that you're going 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.040 to tell if you just are writing of you know, 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.480 general I Love you song or a general this or 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.840 that said it's really really hard, and he said, you know, 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:36.320 and he'll spend the first half hour of the day 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.280 kicking around the ideas and if and if he didn't 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:46.040 hear the idea, okay, was off to lunch, off to lunch. 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.359 So can you go into a room with no idea 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:53.000 but kick around ideas and one hum? Sure? Like I mean, 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.159 I like to throw out My favorite part of a 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.560 writing day is throwing out ideas and seeing what resonates 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:00.560 with me and the co writer. If nothing is resonating, 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.320 then I like to just talk about stuff and just 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.960 see if something just happens. Especially if you're writing with 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:11.640 an artist, you want to write a song that relates 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:13.919 to whatever they're going through in their life because you 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.520 want them to want to sing yeah, you know, and 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.240 and it's cathartic and they want to get something out 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:21.479 in a song. Sometimes they don't know how to do it, 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.919 but you might hear something they saying that that's the title, 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.240 that's the idea. Yeah, yeah, so that's really good. But 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.280 when you're writing with another writer, you just kick around 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.639 ideas and sometimes it's just word playing. A lot of 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:34.800 times it's the same thing you're talking and then suddenly 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:39.080 you're saying, you know, somebody says something and you go it, Yeah, 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.240 that would make a song. That's a title right there 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:43.160 when you you said this once a bit about when 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:45.680 you pitch movie ideas. Not you personally, but if if 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.560 a screenwriter is going to pitch to a producer, they 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:50.720 have to say in one line what this movie is about. 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.080 And if you can't say that about your song, then 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.240 it's kind of hard to know what the song is it. 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:56.760 It would be nice if you can bring it down 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.720 to one big idea and it looks like this, and 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:01.879 then you can write it. We were writing with somebody 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:06.040 the other day and the song didn't really it was 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.760 sort of about a lot of things, and it was 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.480 really hard to finish because we didn't have any real 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:17.400 clear target we were raining for. You know, so when 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:19.720 a lot of when a lot of lines will get 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.080 you where you want to go, that's a lot harder 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:26.520 than than finding the one great one that gets you there. Okay, 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:30.879 it's very interesting synopsis. Okay, so tell me how you 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:37.760 actually met your hair. He's a dog, not a man. 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.520 I wonder what was the only man in Georgia's hair? 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:50.440 And the truth comes out? So how did you link 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:54.960 up with Carole King and Ringo Star? How did that happen? 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:56.879 I know you visualize it because you listen to their 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.240 albums all the time, But how did it actually happen? 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:06.520 You know, when when when you get on a streak 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.320 the way I did Stare in the nineties, it was 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.520 crazy and on the other the other yeah, literally, I 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:15.800 mean it was like you, I write a song on Monday, 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:18.400 and I turned it in at the end of the day, 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:21.040 and by Wednesday they would tell me that somebody was 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.359 cutting it. And by Friday they would say, oh, it's 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:25.440 gonna be the next single. And it was. That's how 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:28.840 fast it seemed like Nashville worked back. Did you just 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:33.639 get used to this? You know kind of? You know 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.360 kind of? I mean, I I like to think because 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.919 if this all happened to me later, I mean, I 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.240 wasn't in my twenties. I was in my thirties and forties, 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:46.720 so I wasn't delusional. I mean, there was a part 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:49.720 of me that I knew that it wasn't going to 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:52.240 always go like that, but there was, you know, the 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.800 other part of me that I was saying, wouldn't it 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.040 be nice if it did? But the point is when 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:00.679 you have that kind of a streak, you get tons 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:05.399 of opportunities. Everybody wants you to go somewhere and right 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:07.800