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There is no room for control freaks in Songwriting. If you are wanting anyone to record your songs, then you better be willing to give up control of how it will be performed. If you self publish your song, then you have total control over who records your song first. But that's where your control ends. If your song is published by someone other than yourself, you may lose control by the time the demo is made.

Unless you are a best friend or blood relative of the artist or producer, you will probably not be invited to the recording session. You will have no say in the arrangement of the song. They may take your heart felt ballad and turn into an up tempo ditty. This happened to Stuart Hamblen with his classic song "THIS OLD HOUSE". When he wrote the song, he wrote it as a slow ballad. He had no idea what was going on at the studio until he got a copy of Rosemary Clooney's record. The producers thought it suited her better as an uptempo number. That became the definitive arrangement of the song, and most people assume that it was written that way.

I heard Stuart Hamblen say in an interview once, that he was so angry when he heard the record, that he took it off the turntable and broke it. He told his wife "they've ruined my song". But then he said, after it sold several million copies, he began to like it a whole lot better.

The best way to have your song recorded the way you want it, is to produce a good demo. If the demo works well, sometimes the producer will copy it. It all depends on the artist and what works best for them.
Remember, once you have granted permission for the first recording of that song, or you have signed the copyright to a publisher, you have no control over the way it is performed anymore. After it has been recorded once, then anyone else can record it after that. Each artist and producer may take their liberty with it.

Consider if you will a few classic songs, and how different they sound by different artists. The song HOW GREAT THOU ART has been recorded more than a thousand times. Sandi Patti did a big production of it and sold a lot of records. The Statler Brothers made it a Country Gospel standard, and sold a lot of records. Their version doesn't resemble Sandi's at all, yet it is the same song. Think about how many versions and styles you've heard of BECAUSE HE LIVES, HE LOOKED BEYOND MY FAULT, OH HAPPY DAY, I NEVER SHALL FORGET THE DAY, and THE LIGHTHOUSE.

Your southern gospel medium tempo song may come back to you on a recording as a Bluegrass "barn burner." You had better be prepared for anything.

I have had many songs recorded over the years. Some of them sounded much like the demo I sent. Then there were others that I hardly recognized when I heard them.

Getting songs recorded today is kind of like putting a camel through the eye of a needle. Many artists write their own material, or they are tied to producers that write and supply them with the songs they need. So a new songwriter in this business had better be flexible and easy to work with. As a general rule, I allow changes to my songs as long as they do not change the theology of what I have written. I have written enough to know that I have to let the artist feel comfortable with the lyric and the music.

If the changes the artist or producer make completely change what the song is about, then you might have a case of copyright infringement. But unless it is a major issue, you would probably be better off to let it slide.

Until next time, keep on writing!

Reader Comments

I can't imagine "This Old House" being anything other than a novelty intended to evoke a smile from the listener, no matter what the tempo . . . especially the verse about the hound dog.

“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."---Mark Twain

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