Recording - January 2018 - 58

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did you...?
We never talked about music. Football, girls ...
more girls.
Did you guys ever co-write?
Yeah, we did. We've written a few. Andrew is a
lyricist, so it made it easy. Because that's the
tough part for me, is what to say once I have the
melody.
At lunch, I said something about rejection, and you
said, "Rejection? I still get rejected about a hundred
times a week." I can't believe that somebody at your
level...
I got rejected just the other day-yesterday!
What was her name? [laughs]
Barbra Streisand, to be perfectly honest. You win
some, you lose some.
What was the circumstance? Can you talk about it?
I've written a song for her new project that she's
going to start in December. I had an idea for a
second one-I should have quit while I was
ahead-demoed up this song and played it and
she didn't like it.
It happens.
I always say that our catalogs are kinda like icebergs. I know that sounds crazy, but you only see
15% of an iceberg above water, and the other 85%
nobody ever sees. So if I can get 15% of what I've
written recorded, that's pretty cool.
You have a reputation, whether you realize it or not,
as being one of the nicest guys in the business. I've
never heard anybody speak about you in any terms
other than, "Wow, he's a nice guy"-really glowing
stuff. And you don't run into that a lot in our industry. How did you become so successful without
doing it on the backs of other people? What's your
secret?
I don't think there's a secret. I just kinda do what
I do and roll with the punches. I've been very
focused ever since I can remember. This is the
only thing I know how to do well. I can't hang a
picture on the wall straight. I tried building a
stereo shelf once, and I took half a wall down. So
I stick to the piano, because it's a safe haven
for me.
Do you do it every day?
No.
So do you wait for the muse to show up?
Pretty much. I've never really subscribed to that
write every day-thing. That doesn't work for me.
I've got to feel like I have a great idea and try to
make every song recordable.

What percentage of your stuff is done with just you
solo? What percentage of it is done collaboratively?
I would say about 80% of what I write is with
collaborators.

through the grapevine that Barbra Streisand's working on a new record and sit down and kind of push
yourself because you know her style and what
appeals to her?
Yeah, with Barbra I have, but very seldom do I
target when I'm writing. After I've finished a
song, I'll think about who might this be good for?
But when I'm writing, I'm just trying to write
something meaningful... just trying to write a
good song. And then the fun of it for me is getting it across the finish line with either an artist
or putting it in a movie. I would say 95% of the
time I'm just writing to write.

Mostly on the lyric side on their part?
Oh yeah.

[Said to the audience] Don't do what he does.
[laughter]

Why do you think that your lyrics aren't good
enough to stand alone that you bring in a collaborator? Is it just inspirational to have like a team
member working with you?
Yeah, and over the years having worked with
some of the great lyricists. It's a separate talent, it
really is. It's the Paul Williams and the John Bettises and the Marty Panzers. They have a
signature to the way they write lyrics, and that's
really hard to do. And I've been blessed that I've
gotten to write with the best.

I'm always encouraging these guys [in the audience]
to work, work, work. You are that extremely rare
person that's just like, "Eh, it just comes to me, and
I've had like a zillion hits."
Well, I've had years where I've written 50, 60, 70
songs, which is a lot for me. And then I've had
years where I've written 12. This year I just
really-because of what happened with
Andrew-for six months I didn't feel like writing
anything. And I was working on the book, which
was very therapeutic for me. But recently I
started writing again, and I think I've written five
songs this year, and three of them are already
getting recorded. So at least I know I can still do
this.

Do you know when you're minutes into something if
you've got a potential winner, and conversely, do
you sense when you have a stinker?
Yeah, and I know that if I've got something that's
OK and nice... Obviously I've been doing this
long enough to where I know that if I finish
something, it's OK. But you do know when you
have something that's surefire...or at least I do.

Does it ever go in reverse where somebody will call
you up...? Are there lyricists that are at that level
that are really good that just sit down with a piece
of paper, write a lyric and then go to a guy like you
and say, "Drop some music in"?
Yeah, with Marty it's always lyrics first. With
some collaborations it's music first, and then
with some we just sit in a room bang our heads
against the wall and try to come up with something.
It's funny, so many of the people that I know that
are your level... I really can't think of another
writer that I know that works like you do. Most of
them, like the Nashville folks, they will go to writing meetings once, twice, three times a day. They've
got their regular routine. The only other person that
I think that I've ever spoken to that's been at your
level that superseded you a little bit was Lamont
Dozier.
I've written with Lamont. He's a trip.
He sat right there in that chair and he said, "I feel
like God pours the songs into my head and it just
comes out of me."
And Lamont will sing. When I've written with
Lamont, I'm usually at the piano, and he'll just
say, "Play some chords." And I go, "Why? What
chords?" And I do, and then he starts singing
something, and he's got a hook, and he's so
unique in his singing style too, you know. It just
transports you right back to The Supremes or
The Four Tops. So the two or three things we've
written together have been a lot of fun.
So you never write at targets? You never hear

You told a great story in the book about the chase
scene in Smokey and the Bandit, the TV version. I
think they made a TV version of Smokey and the
Bandit.
Yeah, I did a series of movies for [director] Hal
Needham called Bandit, based on that. I scored it
with a 35-, 40-piece orchestra every week. They
were two-hour movies of the week, back when
movies of the week were in vogue. It was always
fun. I had great players, and one day Hal came by
the studio and he wanted to hear something. So I
played him this big chase scene with Smokey and
the guys in the car, and they're going through
mud, and they're going through trees, and they're
jumping over a river, and the cops are chasing
them. And I had a pretty hot little thing motoring along, and he stops me and he says, "This
isn't working for me." I said, "Really?" He said,
"There's only one way to move a car down the
road." And I asked, "What's that? How is that?"
And he said, "With a banjo."
And he's not musical, right? He's just knew the banjo
was...
No, he was a stunt man, and a great director. I
mean, he's directed a zillion movies. So I called
George Doering and I said, "Can you come back
and put a banjo on this cue?" And he did, and I
mixed it, and sent it over to Hal's office, and he
called me and he said, "Perfect."
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