ISA's 'Classic Stage Musical'
Each month, we recommend eight London or Broadway Musicals which in our opinion offer outstanding songwriting content. To book tickets, go to londontheatre.co.uk or broadwayleague.com/
ISA's 'Songwriter Hall Of Fame' The International Songwriters Association's "Hall Of Fame" has been chosen by the members of the ISA since 1981, and by visitors to this site since 1998. You too can vote for your favourite songwriter of all time by going to the "Hall Of Fame" link at the top of any page
Avril Lavigne
I wrote “Girlfriend” when I was drunk. The chorus was written in two minutes. It took nothing. And what's
really cool about “I Can Do Better” is we wrote it, and then I just ran into the booth, and I sang. I laid
down the verse, and ... we just used my demo [take]. It was totally different - so much fun!
Amy Winehouse Songwriting is an exorcism. I get all my stuff out there. If I didn’t have this medium to get my experiences across, I would be lost
Billy Joel
I consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. What I do, in my opinion, is by no means extraordinary
Bob Dylan
My best songs were written very quickly. Just about as much time as it takes to write it down is about as long as it takes to write it...In writing songs I've learned as much from Cezanne as I have from Woody
Guthrie.
John Lennon
"A Day In The Life ". Just as it sounds: I was reading the paper one day and I noticed two stories. One
was the drinks heir who killed himself in a car - one of the Guinness family. Tara Brown. That was the
main headline story. He died in London in a car crash. On the next page was a story about 4000 holes in
Blackburn, Lancashire. In the streets, that is. They were going to fill them all. Paul's contribution was the
beautiful little lick in the song "I'd love to turn you on". I had the bulk of the song and the words, but he
contributed this little lick floating around in his head that he couldn't use for anything. I thought it was a damn good piece of work.
James Taylor
I started being a songwriter pretending I could do it, and it turned
out I could. To be a musician, especially a singer/songwriter - well, you don't do
that if you have a thriving social life. You do it because there's an element of
alienation in your life. I wish I could say, 'Oh, that would be great to write a song
about.' But what I'm doing is assembling and minimally directing what is sort of
unconsciously coming out. It's not something I can direct or control. I just end up
being the first person to hear these songs.
International Songwriters Association • The ISA
The Original Songwriting Centre • Founded 1967
ISA's 'Classic Songwriter CDs'
The
Songwriter Interview
The Premier Songwriting Contest - The Eurovision From Lys Assia (Switzerland 1956), to Ell/Nikki , who won for Azerbaijan in 2011, we examine the winners (and the losers) in what has become
the most famous (or infamous) song contest in the world - the Eurovision!
Do You Need Some Free Songwriting Advice?
They say that nothing is free - but this is! Right now, we are not taking new members. But if you are a songwriter with a problem, you do not have to be a member to ask us a question about songwriting. Just click the pic above!
Songs Required This Week Every week, we are contacted by singers, bands, managers, record labels and music publishers, seeking new songs for recording purposes. Just click the picture to the left to view to this week's requirements.
Looking For A Hit Songwriter? Singers, bands, and managers seeking hit songs, contact us daily. If you are looking for top-quality unpublished songs, then an ISA songwriter will be more than happy to oblige. Just click the pic!
John Lennon Songwriting Contest The John Lennon Songwriting Contest is open to songwriters and lyric writers, and is one of the most successful songwriting contests of all, attracting songwriters and songwriting teams from all over he world.
Songwriter Interview - Gene Pitney "Today's Teardrops by Roy Orbison was a big hit, but not my biggest
songwriting hit. That was Hello Mary Lou which I gave to Rick Nelson, and I've spent a lifetime analysing why it was as big as it was".
Songwriter Interview - Sonny Curtis "Leo Sayer, a songwriter himself, was in his hotel room, watching television, and on came More Than I Can Say in this K-Tel commercial and he said - 'Wow, I always wanted to do that song'. And he did!"
Songwriter Interview - Hal Shaper "In the early days, I had no instinct towards fame or fortune, I just liked being a songwriter. I always used to wake up thinking, 'I can't imagine why everyone in the world doesn't write songs for a living!'"
Songwriter Interview - Lionel Bart "I wrote songs for Cliff for the film. The Living Doll song itself - one morning, I was looking at the Sunday Mirror, I think, and I saw this ad for a doll that did everything. And I thought, "That'll do"
Songwriter Interview - Barry Mason "I wrote a song called Girl Of Mine for Elvis and there were two versions made of that. One with just the rhythm section, for the fans, without The Jordanaires or violins - and that's the version I've got"
Publisher Interview - Terry Noon "The only thing I had was an E-type Jaguar, my pride and joy. I
absolutely doted on that car, and I sold it, to start Noon Music. It was the hardest thing but it was the only way I could raise money."
Songwriter Interview - Marijohn Wilkin When Marijohn Wilkin received her first copy of International Songwriters Association's "Songwriter Magazine" in 1981, one might have been forgiven for thinking that she was at the peak of her career. After all, she had a song recorded by the Beatles! Not so - as she was to prove in the years after that.
Songwriter Interview - Allan Rich Interview with the man who has a slew of Gold and Platinum record awards
and whose songs have sold a staggering 65 million records. And he continues to churn out songs recorded by popular artists, including the Cast Of Glee.
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