The Soundtrack of Our Lives
By David Steffen
All of us have inherent talents, but creativity often needs some outside stimuli. It's like priming the pump. Sometimes drawing the creative juices to the surface is a matter of a simple nudge in one direction or another. I guess it’s another way of acknowledging the ideas of nature and nurture. Even if we have some innate talent, creative people often need a push.
My writing talents (whatever they are) have been helped considerably by “outside forces,” not insignificantly during my years at Fairfield University and New York University. Almost all of my instructors—adjuncts, lecturers, visiting professors, associate and full professors—managed to help me raise my level of writing. Similarly, the ability to play a musical instrument is not the same as being able to write a song. Much more is necessary. In fact, some very successful songwriters are not, necessarily great musicians, and being able to write a song is not the same as writing a hit.
In post-1950 America, the musical instrument of choice for teenagers (mostly boys) was the guitar, and the choice was made for two simple reasons, both of which are borne out in the concept of "natural selection." First, beginners learned to play the guitar because, well, it was an instrument that, with a softcover book by Mel Bay along with repeated listening to 45-rpm singles, could be self-taught. Second, pop music songs (and country music and rhythm & blues, for that matter) are based on a three-chord progression, known to musicians as I—IV—V (pronounced "one, four five.") Musically, the foundational chords were C, F, and G.
This past week I watched—for the 3rd or 4th time— the film “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”. Set in Savanna, Georgia, the music of prolific lyricist (and occasional composer) Johnny Mercer becomes a subtext in the screenplay. At film’s end, I found myself thinking about some of the hit songs created by Mercer—sometimes on his own, more often as a lyricist with a musical collaborator. The list is impressive. It includes “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)”, "That Old Black Magic" and "Come Rain or Come Shine”. Coincidentally, I found myself looking through a list of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time”. While reading through the list, I began to notice that often the music was instantly on playback in my head. I could hear almost every song as if the radio was on right next to me. The list of songwriters and their songs was almost overwhelming. Here are my thoughts on some of those talented people from the birth of rock 'n' roll.
In the 1950s, Elvis Presley recorded (at least) three songs written by Otis Blackwell: “Don’t be Cruel”, "All Shook Up” and “Return to Sender”. Blackwell, who was Black, was also the writer who gave the song “Great Balls of Fire” to Jerry Lee Lewis and that, in turn, provided Sun Records label owner Sam Phillips with cash flow and profits. There was clearly no color barrier when Presley and Lewis—both white—recorded Blackwell’s songs.
Successful husband and wife songwriting teams are not common place, but they do exist in the world of popular music. Felice and Boudleaux Bryant cranked out hit songs for years. One of their hits was “Love Hurts” recorded by Roy Orbison in the 1960s. A decade later, I was working for A&M Records in Chicago when I found myself working a version by the Scottish band Nazareth. Their single of "Love Hurts" entered the Top-10 in 1974.
And while we’re talking about songwriting couples, consider the original songs from Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. “On Broadway” (The Drifters), “Uptown” (The Crystals), “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” (The Animals), and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (Righteous Brothers). During their marriage, Carole King and Gerry Goffin delivered a string of now classic hits like “Up On The Roof” (Drifters), “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (Shirelles), and “One Fine Day” (The Chiffons). Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry wrote “Then He Kissed Me,” and “River Deep Mountain High.”
Motown had its share of amazing songwriters, and there was a couple among them. When you think of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (Diana Ross) or “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing” (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell), you may not know that the songwriters were also a couple: Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. They had their own hits including “Found A Cure” and “Solid as a Rock”.
Marvin Gaye became a solid songwriter who co-wrote “What’s Goin On”, as well as “Let’s Get It On” and “Sexual Healing”. Gaye may have had the bedroom in mind. but these songs went mainstream.
Another force in the soundtrack of my life was Sam Cooke. Think about “You Send Me”, “Cupid”, and “Twistin’ the Night Away.” And for anyone who thinks that Cooke was writing only songs that were just good American pop music, go back and listen to one of his most enduring songs: "A Change is Gonna Come.” Cooke, who died in 1964, didn’t live to see the federal legislation that passed just a couple of years later, and the elevation of his song as an anthem of the Civil Rights movement.
Like Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield displayed his songwriting chops with “People Get Ready”, “Keep on Pushing”, and “It’s All Right”, as well as "Fool For You," "This is My Country” and "Choice Of Colors”. Civil rights were woven into much of Mayfield's repertoire.
My introduction to Lucinda Williams was standing in a record store in Portland, Oregon. The store’s owner (and my friend Terry Courier) and I were chatting when the store’s sound system brought us “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” and “Right On Time.” Williams, too, has often delivered hot love through vinyl grooves.
The name David Porter may not be as quickly recognized, but he co-wrote hit songs with Isaac Hayes, including “Soul Man”, “Hold On, I’m Comin’” and “I Thank You” which all became hits by Sam & Dave.
Burt Bacharach and Hal David were powerhouse composers for decades. Consider their work with Dionne Warwick: "I Say a Little Prayer," "Walk on By" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart." There were many more: "Alfie", "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” Bacharach music is still easily recognized to this day.
Chuck Berry not only wrote songs that became danceable rock ’n’ roll anthems, but he showed a generation of young musicians what a dynamic stage presence looks like. Berry was in his 70s when we saw him perform in Connecticut. He could out-stage many much younger performers.
In his short life (and even shorter career), Buddy Holly gave us a treasure trove of hit songs: "That'll Be the Day," "Rave On," "Everyday," "Oh Boy," "Peggy Sue,” "Not Fade Away,” and so many others.
In 1965 I had the pleasure of seeing the self-professed ‘hardest working man in show business,’ James Brown. Much of his music transcended race and color but his impact was measured way beyond the 1960s with "Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” “Say it Loud, I”m Black and I’m Proud,” "It's A Man's World'" and “Please Please Please.” The ‘Godfather of Soul’ was one of a kind.
I could write another 1000 words about the legacy of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger.
Smokey Robinson gave us "Shop Around,” ”My Girl,” ”My Guy,” "Ain't That Peculiar,” “The Tracks of My Tears," "I Second That Emotion,” “Going to A Go Go.”
Songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller gave us "Jailhouse Rock", "Yakety Yak,' ”Kansas City,” "On Broadway” and many more. Brian and Eddie Holland along with Lamont Dozier were the writing team behind so much of Motown’s hits in the 1960s. Songs like "You Keep Me Hangin' On.” Look at a Motown label and you'll very often find this songwriter credit: Holland-Dozier-Holland.
Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys gave us plenty of songs and recordings, and they also helped teenagers who lived a thousand miles from any ocean feel the surf.
Stevie Wonder wrote and recorded “Higher Ground,” ”Living for the City,” ”You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” "I Just Called to Say I Love You," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours,") "Uptight (It's Alright),” and of course “Fingertips"—Part 1 and 2.
The songwriters who emerged during the 1950s and 1960s left their mark on American music. But it wasn’t a small, intimate clique. It was hundreds of talented songwriters. They were then, and subsequent generations of songwriters continue to be a cross-section of America. Black, white, female, male, solo practitioners, like-minded friends and husbands and wives. Take a moment. Pull out a 45, or a vinyl album, a CD if that’s your thing, or listen online. Whatever your music, I hope it provides you the same memories that I carry with me all these years later.
Images (clockwise from upper left): Boudleaux and Felice Bryant; Carole King and Gerry Goffing; Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill; Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry.
