Question on Song writing

[rrussou812]

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post so mods feel free to move..

I was curious to know..i've noticed while reading song lyrics for =VH= that it shows which individual(s) wrote the song and the order of importance on who contributed to the song.

My question is, does =VH= really write all their own material or do they have writers who assist them and =VH= just takes credit for writing it?

[DA BIG D]

I'm fairly certain they wrote all their material, at least during the Roth years. Although record labels demand hits, back then bands could get a little more loose and have what the label would term as "filler". Nowadays, you have veritable hit writing and pushing machines that force feed shit down your throat. Producers quite often help acts even the size of VH arrange certain songs to make them more appealing to the general public's ears. A suggestion about lyrical content, adding or subtracting a verse, tone of a vocal or instrumental sound, etc. In that sense, yes, VH has had help writing songs. A great way to see this is checking out early demos and comparing to a latter release.

[WARHEAD]

DaBigD, I agree with you on that for sure. On the demo for "I'm the One" or "Show Your Love", I always forget the actual name of the song. Anyway, on the demo if I remember right, Dave sings the bridge section over the descending music and on the album he waits until the music is played, then sings it. Subtle, yet drastic all at the same time. And, personally, I think it improved the vibe of the song.

I imagine this happened on a number of tunes in their infancy, and many changed from seed ideas into the final products with the help of Ted, and maybe even Donn too. I think Dave even said in his book that those cats were going to earn their paycheck with their input on things like this.

I write some myself, and I won't change something unless I think the suggestion changes the song for the better. It's not about credit, just my vision of the song as a whole, since I write my own music and lyrics too. I have no problem taking good suggestions from anyone, but don't want someone pulling a Mike Love on me and wanting half credit for an "ooooh" or a "hey, hey" they came up with. Things like that are nice spice, but rarely make or break a song, at least the way I see it.

A musical version of this type of change is how, in the early days, Eddie used to play a much longer solo on "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" as well as a slightly different intro. Then on VHII, the solo is mostly the same, yet shorter, and the intro is much thicker, and a slightly different chord structure. This could have been Donn or Ted, or even the band's suggestion, or they may have just been trying to keep the song a certain length. Who knows?