DON’T GET IN THE WAY OF THE SONG

 One morning was one of those “don’t get in the way” moments. One of my co-writers had posted on our website that very morning about “Writing The Song In The Room” and I thought of that when another co-writer came in and said “My girlfriend and I just broke up and I’m writing my way through it.” This co-writer and his ex-girlfriend are both long-time friends of mine, so I listened as he told me the story of their demise as a couple. I forgot to mention, my co-writer also just got a record deal. So, I thought, “Let’s see where this breakup train goes.” I asked him if he had any ideas he wanted to write. He replied “OH YES I DO!”. He began to play me a beautiful ballad melody and an AMAZING idea. The hook bowled me away. Within 30 minutes, we had written one of the better songs I have written in a while. Typically, after one song, we call it day. But not that day. As soon as we had finished our work tape, he said “I’ve got another one”. This time, he plays me a rocking up-tempo song with ANOTHER great hook. Thirty minutes later, we are putting down a work tape for that one. I think he just might cut the first one. I would bet the farm that he cuts the second one.

My job for the day was to stay out of the way. He was on a roll and I let him roll until he needed help. I asked questions and dug deeper into how he was feeling about the breakup. Then I made it rhyme. It was easy. It flowed. We didn’t fight it. We just wrote it down. When you find that place where you can step into the river and just float, you take the plunge. You dive in and let the muse carry you wherever she wants to go. Some days, the best thing you can do is to get out of the way. If so, don’t feel like you’re being useless. In that particular day, by staying away from his flow I was contributing. My contribution simply was to let him do his thing and I was just giving little comments if necessary. Some days, getting out of the way leads you to a hit song.

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with more than 17 years of experience in songwriting, music production, mix and mastering. He has produced more than 3,000 and written more than 4,800 published songs to-date, including some major hits in international scale.