General Music Chat

I am up in the air over this one, I have read rock magazine articles citing David Bowie's "Let's Dance" album in which Bowie speaks about song ideas in his head, concerning certain tunes, were nowhere near the final result of some of the tunes on Let's Dance once finalized.. Nile Rodgers the best producer in the biz, caused much of that, probably quite an improvement relative to Bowie's "ideas"

That's one of my favorites. How could he go wrong, with Stevie Ray on every track?

Yeah. What would David Bowie know about producing an album? I guess in a pinch we could ask Lou Reed or Mott the Hoople.

Talbot

....or The Stooges???

There's dozens of ways to go about starting, composing, and then finalizing a song.
.
There is no one right answer; whatever produces the song is the right answer.

interesting ways to start songs?
paul simon, or his producer, or someone went to brazil and recorded a bunch of percussionists laying down different grooves.... then P.S. took those recordings and fleshed 'em out w lyrics, chord progressions, etc for his great "Rhythm Of The Saints" album. if y'all ain't hip....it's a killer album worth checking out, and IMO made even cooler by how the songs came to be.

I was never too much of a Paul Simon fan, but Graceland and Rhythm Of The Saints were both on in the background at family and friends houses, I always prevented Rhythm Of The Saints.

That reminds me of the story the Bee Gees told of the origins of Jive Talkin. They were driving over a metal bridge in Miami every night on the way home from the studio. They started making up melodies to go along with the click clack sounds of the bridge. They ended up with a great hit song that got their success rolling. A year later, they did the SNF soundtrack.

that Bee Gee story is similar to the one that has The Meters driving in their old beat up van to a gig. the engine was balking and making noises that led them to write "Look Ka Py Py".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPjZ_KpwXH8

Heh . . . as someone who has written songs for decades, and as someone who has been around song writers for a long time . . . well . . .
I've had this discussion with several dozen composers face to face.
Everyone does what works for them.
You've got to take into consideration that there are a thousand acclaimed composers out there, each with a different story . . . and a million good composers who are unheard of.
So, don't put too much sock in what one artist and one writer in one magazine says.