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The other day I was driving home with my seven year old son, Cason, in the back seat. We were almost home when he started singing a little song. He was singing "When I get what I want, will I want what I get". I immediately recognized a good hook and asked him where he had heard it. After finding out that he had learned it from a TV show, I began to think about the truth of that statement.
I meet a lot of beginning writers who want there songs to be famous. They want well known recording artists to sing their songs. Often writers dream of seeing those songs on the charts. All of that is fine. It's alright to wish for those kinds of things. But I have found that when some songwriters begin to get what they want, they don't want what they get.
The first album I ever produced was back in 1986. A local artist that I knew in town, had recorded one previous album and asked me to produce her next one. She liked my songs and my style of playing and wanted me to try and create that sound for her in the studio. Stylistically, this album was going to be very different from her first recording, which I also had participated on as a writer and a background vocalist.
As we began to choose songs for the new project, she came to me one day with some songs her sister had written, and she wanted to record at least one of them. The songwriting sister really wanted a song on this album. The singing sister knew the songs weren't as good as the other songs we had on the project, but she felt like she needed to record at least one. So she asked me to choose the one that I thought would best fit in with the rest of the project. So I picked one. The artist's sister had written one that was almost Hymn like in style, and I felt it would fit in best with the Southern Gospel direction we were going with the album. I took the song away from the strict rhythm and piano arrangement from the demo, and put a slight country feel to it, with an acoustic guitar, and straight forward Southern Gospel harmony vocals.
After the album was finished the artist played it for her songwriting sister. The songwriting sister hated it! Her first words were "YOU CHANGED IT!!!"
You see, she wanted her song recorded, but she didn't want the recording she got. She wanted the song to sound just like it did when she played it at the piano and sang it into her tape recorder.
This is often a typical songwriter's reaction to a first recording. The first song I ever had recorded by another artist, had changes in it. But I had a decision to make at that point. I could get mad about the changes and not send out any more songs to anybody, or I could accept the fact that when someone else sings my song, they are going to make it their own. If I had given up writing because what I wanted didn't come wrapped up in the kind of package I preferred, then I would never have had a career in Gospel Music.
Most writers want to make money from their songs. But most are stunned when they get that first royalty check. In our business, it is not uncommon for a recording by a nationally known artist on a major label, to only sell a thousand retail units during a payment quarter. How does a whopping $45.00 check sound to you? That's about what you earn as a writer for 1000 units sold.
This could be a wake up call to some writers that you are going to have to have more than one song out there at a time if you plan to make a living as a writer.
When I get what I want, will I want what I get? Maybe not. But maybe it will guide me in the right direction to accept what I can't change, and change what I can for the better.
Until next time, keep on writing!
Daryl Williams
http://www.darylwilliamstrio.net
Reader Comments
This is a great article Daryl!
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Written: 06/01/2007 
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Category:
The Songwriter
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