Song writing partnerships: myth or reality?

[lemonstar]

For years I've limped along, increasingly less productively - working on my own as most people do and looking back I'm pretty pleased/positively amazed at  some of the songs that have either materialised quickly or I've managed to work them out like removing a splinter. I've often thought it would be great to have someone to collaborate with - someone who "gets it" (the desire to write well)/"gives a sh!t" (understand why the writing well matters so much) - but how many people actually find that - I wonder if it's a bit of yeti hunt looking for someone to write with. Even Lennon/McCartney wrote a lot separately but even getting someone else to cast an eye over something and give a seal of approval might make a difference worth having. What's your experience - that it's actually hard to put half a song into the hat and give someone else free reign - or that too many disagreements arise?

Edited 6 hours ago by lemonstar

[Lozz196]

In my last band the singer/guitarist wrote most of the songs. I contributed with a good percentage but music only. Sometimes I’d have an idea of a lyrics to a chorus which led to the theme of the song, other times no ideas on that at all so he would put whatever he was writing to it. It never bothered me what subject matter was put to my music. Sometimes we might each add a bridge, a start/ending, or changes to the others structure, again never any issues.

[neepheid]

Totally collaborative in the Inevitable Teaspoons - someone comes in with a song idea in various degrees of completion, then we all stick our tuppenceworth into the mix and whatever comes out, that's the song.  No fights, no arguments, it's all "can you do a cool thing here?" and "I like that" and "nah, that doesn't really work", all amicable.  All songs equally credited to all members, regardless of who brought in the initial idea, job done.

 

Even to the point where a song's lyrics got completely rewritten, because the way the song developed, it didn't really match the words any more.  I said something about it feeling like a 70s cop movie soundtrack or something, and next thing you know, we've got a song inspired by Dirty Harry, called "Dirty 'Arry".  No dummy was spat out, no toys exited any prams.

Edited 6 hours ago by neepheid

[ead]

42 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Totally collaborative in the Inevitable Teaspoons - someone comes in with a song idea in various degrees of completion, then we all stick our tuppenceworth into the mix and whatever comes out, that's the song.  No fights, no arguments, it's all "can you do a cool thing here?" and "I like that" and "nah, that doesn't really work", all amicable.  All songs equally credited to all members, regardless of who brought in the initial idea, job done.

 

Even to the point where a song's lyrics got completely rewritten, because the way the song developed, it didn't really match the words any more.  I said something about it feeling like a 70s cop movie soundtrack or something, and next thing you know, we've got a song inspired by Dirty Harry, called "Dirty 'Arry".  No dummy was spat out, no toys exited any prams.

 

Obvs not a real band then 

 

To be fair my band/our band is the same.  All very grown up, mind you we are in our late 50's early 60s for the most part so can't really be arsed to argue.  Most debate is about who's turn it is to bring the beer.

[silverfoxnik]

1 hour ago, lemonstar said:

For years I've limped along, increasingly less productively - working on my own as most people do and looking back I'm pretty pleased/positively amazed at  some of the songs that have either materialised quickly or I've managed to work them out like removing a splinter. I've often thought it would be great to have someone to collaborate with - someone who "gets it" (the desire to write well)/"gives a sh!t" (understand why the writing well matters so much) - but how many people actually find that - I wonder if it's a bit of yeti hunt looking for someone to write with. Even Lennon/McCartney wrote a lot separately but even getting someone else to cast an eye over something and give a seal of approval might make a difference worth having. What's your experience - that it's actually hard to put half a song into the hat and give someone else free reign - or that too many disagreements arise?

Reality. 

 

Some of the best songs ever written have come from songwriting partnerships. 

 

 

[lemonstar]

2 hours ago, silverfoxnik said:

Reality. 

 

Some of the best songs ever written have come from songwriting partnerships. 

 

 

Well of course - can't argue with that but I was really thinking of the kitchen and bedroom level "never gonna make it" songwriters - not your "already made it" Jagger & Richards level. I've done it a only a couple of times doing FAWM but I've never managed to set up a semi regular thing with anyone else - to sit around with a pad and a couple of guitars - I've been open to it for years but my main musician friend was never open to any kind of input - I'd share 30s fragments or 2min demos- he only sent me finished songs where there was no point in commenting on anything as it was already too late - I don't think he wanted to expose himself to a situation where you'd see what he was made of creatively - I just thought he was too uptight and precious yet he was a great musician, singer and songwriter - he just didn't want to do it while anyone was watching... and I'm totally different in so many ways... I just wondered if it was even worth hunting the mythical song writing yeti but - it seems a few people here have had some experience of it.   

Edited 2 hours ago by lemonstar
schpellings

[Skybone]

Like the other replies, in my last band, the guitarist would bring an idea or riff, quite often a full song, we'd jam it out, see what worked where and added what we could. If it sounded good, we would keep on developing until we were all happy, and a finished song would emerge. If someone didn't think the idea had legs, it'd get shelved or adapted/morphed into something else.

 

If someone came up with an idea for a riff or lyric or something, again, it'd get worked on until it became a song or it was decided that it didn't have legs.

 

It's a shame the singer started taking over, especially with the lyrics. But that's another story.

[Franticsmurf]

When I was in my first band playing our own songs, the main writer was the drummer. He was very good, but had limited bass and guitar skills. He'd bring chords and rough lyrics to a rehearsal and we'd set off from there. I was the guitarist at the time so we'd work together (the drummer was my best mate from school so we were on the same wavelength) but my main contributions were riffs and middle eights. If I wrote a song on my own, it was usually reasonably complete and, without the influence of others, not the sort of song the band was looking for. The other guys would also write now and again and more than once we jammed new songs pretty much from scratch in rehearsals. The singer was usually responsible for the final lyrics. 

 

I write my own songs now but I do miss the collaborative process and it tends to take a lot longer for me to finish a song. I often find myself with a form of writer's block which a second opinion would usually overcome. We tried remote writing during lockdown but the spontaneity wasn't there.