Celebration of "One of These Nights"!

[sodascouts]

I've written rhyming poetry but trying to figure out a melody for it that's original... no dice. I did come up with an original melody I called "Black Keys" which I wrote on piano but I was self-aware enough to realize it was crap. I envy the talent of songwriters!

[NightMistBlue]

Remember what Bob Seger told Glenn: your first songs WILL be bad, but keep on writing. The more you write, the more ideas will come to you.

Thank you, VA - it's Art of the Song I was trying to remember. Glenn's interview is here:
https://standingoproject.com/intervi...ombine=&page=2

[AlreadyGone95]

I tried to write songs a few years ago. My teachers had always praised my writing and my way with words, but since I can't play any instrument, the lyrics were just words on a piece of paper. I quickly scratched out being a songwriter off of my potential occupations list. I also tried to just write, mostly short stories (I suck at writing poetry). Unfortunately, I got alot discouragement from both my classmates and my mom, so I scratched that off as well.
I guess that the old adage "practice makes perfect" will always be true. If you want to be good at something, you have to stick to it through thick and thin.
I envy those who have natural talent for writing. That's a talent that I think is becoming less and less popular.

[NightMistBlue]

There are songwriters who don't play an instrument. Some people just use their voice, and others just know enough of an instrument to peck out some chords. There are people who "only" write lyrics, such as Bernie Taupin and Tim Rice, and are fabulously wealthy from doing so.

Jim Morrison couldn't play an instrument but heard songs fully formed in his mind. He would sing them to the other Doors and they would figure out the notes and chords.

[chaim]

I've written rhyming poetry but trying to figure out a melody for it that's original... no dice. I did come up with an original melody I called "Black Keys" which I wrote on piano but I was self-aware enough to realize it was crap. I envy the talent of songwriters!

There are many "classic" singer/songwriter songs that are absolute crap as far as I'm concerned - songs whose greatness I will never understand. Graham Nash's "Our house" is one of them. Don't be too hard on yourself. Every heartfelt song has an audience - even if it's just one person.

[chaim]

I tried to write songs a few years ago. My teachers had always praised my writing and my way with words, but since I can't play any instrument, the lyrics were just words on a piece of paper. I quickly scratched out being a songwriter off of my potential occupations list. I also tried to just write, mostly short stories (I suck at writing poetry). Unfortunately, I got alot discouragement from both my classmates and my mom, so I scratched that off as well.
I guess that the old adage "practice makes perfect" will always be true. If you want to be good at something, you have to stick to it through thick and thin.
I envy those who have natural talent for writing. That's a talent that I think is becoming less and less popular.

I wish you hadn't.

[UndertheWire]

From the Ol'55 reference, I think Jackson is talking about Eagles song-writing for One of These Nights and Hotel California:

JB: You know what’s great? It’s when your friends become your heroes. Like they’re already like—they kept growing and they kept like taking on more and more of the—they just challenged themselves and took on more and more terrain. I think that they you know grew musically as well as lyrically and you know they went—I was, just for the record, I was always sort of against them stopping writing with everybody else and sort of just doing their own songs. I mean I just sort of said, “You guys sing other people’s songs so well; why would you not avail yourself of these great songs? I mean, you did that great version of ‘Ol’ 55’ by Tom Waits.” And they just said, “No, we just want to write—
EA: Which Tom Waits hated—
JB: “We only want to write our own songs, and we just want to do our songs.” But it, you know, it was also—it was kind of an ambition. They knew that’s how you make money, as well. And if they were going to succeed, they were going to succeed with their own material. They demanded it of themselves, and the songs got really good. I thought the songs got—I mean, they’re so memorable and so—and they did continue to write with J. D. I think the time I sat down with them in their writing style, where everybody sits down and they’re like—it looks a lot like a poker game but it’s really, they’re sitting—I couldn’t keep up. I was just slow. I’m slow. I’m a slow writer. And I’d be thinking about the line, and I’d go, “Okay, I got it.” And I’d come up out of my meditative little pause, and they’d have moved on. They’d say, “Oh no, no, no. We got that. Now we’re over on this part of the song.” And I’m thinking, “This kind of writing’s not for me.” But a lot of the songs that are collaborations aren’t really that kind of collaboration—

http://www.thenation.com/article/181...ackson-browne#

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Excellent find, UTW!!!!!! Interesting reading.

[sodascouts]

From the Ol'55 reference, I think Jackson is talking about Eagles song-writing for One of These Nights and Hotel California:

http://www.thenation.com/article/181...ackson-browne#

That is really interesting! It also explains why they didn't write more with Jackson Browne.

[sodascouts]

My impression is that both Doolin-Dalton and James Dean were started before Henley joined the Souther-Browne-Frey writing team, so he may have just helped with the polishing.

From Headliners:

"Jackson and JD Souther and I [...] wrote the song 'Doolin-Dalton' one night [in 1970], kicked it around, and never got much done on it [...]. Henley helped the three of us finish it up. [...] We all took a hand in [the lyrics]."