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 didnt 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
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.
Bruce Springsteen
I was always concerned with writing to my age at a particular moment. That was the way I would keep faith with the audience that supported me as I went along...I'm a synthesist. I'm always making music. And I make a lot of different kinds of music all the time. Some of it gets finished and some of it doesn't...The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with
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.
Paul McCartney
The great thing about John and I in the old days was that we didn't have tapes - but that was great because it focused us. We used to say to each other, 'if we can't remember it tomorrow, it's no good.'
How memorable is a song that you wrote last night and you can't remember this morning? It's not good
Joni Mitchell
You could write a song about some kind of emotional problem you are having, but it would not be a good
song, in my eyes, until it went through a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity. Without that
moment of clarity to contribute to the song, it's just complaining
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 The "Songwriter Magazine" Interviews
He started playing the piano on a local radio station, and went on to write
some of the most memorable instrumentals of the 50's and 60's. He opened a
recording studio which recorded people like Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, LeAnn
Rimes, Bobby Vee and many more. And he produced some of the greatest
records of the rock and roll era, and beyond.
NORMAN PETTY gave a very rare interview to Jim Liddane
Rock & Roll hits in the 50's for everybody from Cliff Richard to Adam Faith.
The most successful stage musical of all time in the 60's. Bankrupt in the 70's.
Followed by a return to the top of the charts within ten years.
LIONEL BART told us exclusively about the highs, and the lows of a long and illustrious songwriting career
He started in London in the swinging 60's, and went on to work with
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jimmy Webb. becoming one of the most
admired, and trusted music publishers of his generation.
TERRY NOON told it all to the International Songwriters Association.
Supertramp produced some of the greatest records of the century.
RODGER HODGSON told the International Songwriters Association how he wrote the songs that made Supertramp famous.
He wrote the classic "Softly As I Leave You" and also became a most
respected London-based successful music publisher.
Her songs have been recorded by Patsy Cline, The Beatles, Johnny Cash,
Rod Stewart,Burl Ives and Eddie Cochran.
MARIJOHN WILKIN tells her story to the magazine she reads every month - the International Songwriters Association's "Songwriter Magazine"
He started as a songwriter writing hits for everybody from Phil Spector to Bobby Vee, before becoming a superstar in his own right.
GENE PITNEY talked about his songwriting - only to the ISA.
He started as an actor, but his songs have sold 50 million records with one being played each minute on radio around the world. The man in question?
BARRY MASON talks exclusively to International Songwriters Association.
He wrote his first hit song as a teenager, went on to swop guitar licks
with one of the greatest rock and roll legends of all time, before
embarking on his own solo career, writing dozens of hit country songs,
finally returning to his roots as a member of one of rock's great bands.
SONNY CURTIS told International Songwriters Association about his life.
Can you mame the English songwriter who won an "International Songwriter
Of The Year Award" at the Las Vegas American Eagle Awards For Country Music
not just once. but two years running?
PATRICIA ROSE KNAPTON tells her story to the International Songwriters Association.
Allan Rich's "Run to You" (co-written with Jud Friedman), sung by Whitney Houston
in "The Bodyguard", was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award. Nowadays, he even supplies songs to the Cast Of Glee - no less!
ALLAN RICH tells the International Songwriters Association about his life and times at the top of the songwriting world.
And remember, the International Songwriters Association has hundreds of interviews with the top songwriters of all time, on the ISA Private Members Site so why not go there and read their words of wisdom?
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ISA's 'Songwriter Hall Of Fame'
