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Introduction by Jim Liddane
Graham Lyle is a distinguished songwriter and singer whose contributions to music have left a significant and lasting impact. With a career that spans several decades, Lyle has demonstrated an exceptional ability to craft songs that are both melodically captivating and lyrically profound. His work, characterized by versatility and emotional depth, has garnered critical acclaim and resonated with audiences worldwide.
Lyle first gained prominence as one half of the acclaimed duo Gallagher and Lyle. Alongside Benny Gallagher, he co-wrote a series of hits that showcased his knack for storytelling through music. Songs like “I Wanna Stay with You,” “Heart on My Sleeve,” and “Breakaway” are timeless pieces that capture the essence of human emotions and relationships. The duo’s ability to blend folk, pop, and soft rock elements created a unique sound that was both soothing and evocative, earning them a dedicated following and critical praise.
Graham Lyle’s songwriting prowess extends to his collaborations with other artists. Perhaps most notably, he co-wrote the Grammy-winning song “What’s Love Got To Do With It” with Terry Britten for Tina Turner. This song, with its unforgettable melody and poignant lyrics, became a defining track for Turner and a hallmark of 1980s pop music. Lyle’s ability to craft songs that perfectly suit the artist’s style and voice is a testament to his versatility and keen musical insight.
Other hit singles include McGuinness Flint's "When I'm Dead And Gone" and "Malt And Barley Blues", Jim Diamond's "I Should Have Known Better", Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero", "Typical Male", "Two People", "What You Get Is What You See", "I Don't Wanna Lose You","Way of the World", "I Want You Near Me" and "Something Beautiful Remains", Wet Wet Wet's "If I Never See You Again", Conner Reeves' "My Father's Son" and "Earthbound", Elkie Brooks' "Our Love", and Michael Jackson's "Just Good Friends"
Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Etta James, Patti LaBelle, Anita Baker, Joe Cocker, Wyclef Jean, Fat Joe, Rod Stewart, Tom Jones, The Neville Brothers, Hall & Oates, Kenny Rogers, Paul Young, Bucks Fizz, and Warren G have also had hits with his songs.
His work has also made significant inroads in the country music genre. He co-wrote hits for various country artists, including such Number Ones as "Stay Young" by Don Williams, "Straight to the Heart" by Crystal Gayle, "Maybe Your Baby's Got The Blues" by The Judds and "Joe Knows How to Live" by Eddy Raven which further showcased his ability to adapt his songwriting to different musical styles while maintaining his signature lyrical depth and melodic sensibility.
Graham Lyle’s legacy in the music industry is marked by his exceptional songwriting skills, his ability to create emotionally resonant music, and his versatility across genres. His songs have touched the hearts of millions and continue to be celebrated for their lyrical beauty and melodic richness. Lyle’s enduring impact on music is a testament to his extraordinary talent and his unwavering dedication to his craft.
Jim Birmingham interviewed Graham for the International Songwriters Association's publication "Songwriter Magazine".
When did you realise how much music meant to you?
My father used to play Hawaiian guitar just for his own amusement and had this old acoustic guitar. He’d made himself a metal bottleneck slide to play it and I remember being fascinated with that and playing that when I was very young. Even now, the only way I can really express myself on the guitar is playing slide. It must some genetic thing! But then when Rock & Roll came along, it was just devastating, I’ve never really got over it - it was such a fundamental change in my life. At that time in Scotland, things were pretty grey and the music was so new - we just had to learn to play guitar and we just had to get any information at all - chords, tips anything - as much as we could. There was a little shop in Glasgow that used to import all the American records. It was run by this teddy boy and we would go there every Saturday and buy the latest Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly tracks and try and work out how it was all done.
All the mechanics of actually writing a song?
That’s right
And what about actually writing songs yourself - when did you start to do that?
Very early on. I was thinking about this just the other day. I made an album this year of my own songs and I have included a song I wrote when I was about 18 years old.
In 1967, yourself and Benny Gallagher left Largs (near Glasgow) to come to London. Did you actually have something to come for, or was it that you decided to take a chance and London was the place to be?
We were in a band but we didn’t have a deal or anything. We just came down on a wing and a prayer and took little jobs to see us through. At first, the whole band were going to come down but it ended up with just Benny and I. Then we got lucky with the Beatles company, Apple, and signed a publishing deal with them. We were paid £25.00 a week each to write songs for Apple artistes, which for us mainly meant Mary Hopkins.
Being signed to Apple at that time must have been an amazing experience.
At the time, we weren’t quite as aware of it as we might have been. but looking back on it now, that is because we were writing at home, and we would just come in with our new songs every week and they’d give us a cheque signed by Ringo or John or whoever. Paul McCartney gave us the most encouragement. He was producing Mary and gave us a lot of help and encouragement, as well as making helpful suggestions.
When “Breakaway” took off in 1976, did you feel a sense of relief and satisfaction because you’d cracked it, or did that kind of success bring its own pressures?
There’s always going to be pressure. Any success has to be followed up by another success. After “Breakaway” hit, we thought we could do it for the world. So we tried to crack America, supporting people like Supertramp and Poco, but we never made it on our own. We’ve only done well in America with people covering our songs.
Has any act covered a song and then, you’ve ended up disappointed by the result?
Oh! That’s an awkward one. To be fair, any songwriter that writes a song is going to be chuffed if an artiste wants to record it. It’s a compliment. And some obviously don’t come off as well as they might, but I can’t say I’ve ever heard a ersion of one of my songs where I’ve thought “I wish they hadn’t bothered”.
The one that comes to my mind is Ringo’s version of “Heart On My Sleeve”.
Oh yeah - I did hear that, but just to hear Ringo's voice, you excuse him anything don’t you? It’s a lovely sound.
And to have a Beatle sing one of your songs is great anyway, isn’t it?
Exactly, exactly! That’s another thing. The people you’ve looked up to recording one of your songs is so special. We had a cover by Ray Charles and that’s something you don’t dare dream of when you first start out.
How do you present a demo?
In most cases, certainly when I was writing with Terry Britten we would spend ten times as long recording as we had writing the song in the first place. But it was fun and we had some great musicians to work with. It should really be down to the song, but with the songs I did with Terry, they were mostly for American artistes and as we were working at arms’ length we needed to present as near a finished product as we could. Even with Tina Turner, where we had already done something like fifteen songs, we still produced pretty polished demos. But when I worked in Nashville with Troy
Seals, we would do the writing in five days (and wrote pretty furiously in that time), and at the end of that period we would go in on the last day and Troy would have gathered the musicians together and we’d just run the songs down once and there were really no arrangements - we would just let the musicians do their own thing and it worked very well. They were mostly country style songs and we had something like three number ones and five other top twenty hits - by just doing it in that way.
With country music though, you have certain parameters that you have to fulfil?
There is a little bit of that and I was made aware of it as a writer but I also learned about the conciseness they use to get a message over lyrically. I learned an awful lot working with Troy Seals. It was quite a shock to me having come up through the rock/pop tradition, but good country music has a wonderfully direct way of putting a message over, or an angle in a song - and I think it’s underestimated in this country.
How did you get the writing gig with Troy in the first place?
My connection with Nashville was through the publishers. They introduced me to Troy who had been a very successful writer previous to my meeting him. He’s very respected in Nashville and he opened a lot of doors for me there’s no doubt about that. He knew a lot of the top artistes and all the best session musicians. We had a mutual respect and we started writing on the first day.
How do you approach something like that - when you arrive to write with an established writer? People work in different ways - how do you decide the physical side of writing with someone new?
There is an almost factory-like process of writing in Nashville, people go in to a room and at five o’clock they come out with one or two songs. For someone like me to be thrown in at the deep end. I thought it did me really a lot of good and brought out the best in me. It can be strange - you go in to a room with a perfect stranger sometimes, and you can be sat there with no preconceived ideas and it can be a bit embarrassing. You can sit there all day and nothing happens, but I kinda like that, there is a dangerous element involved, the ego can take some hard knocks but it can also be extremely productive.
You must get to know someone pretty quickly in a creative situation like that, and there must be a bit of trying to pHow do you present a demo?
In most cases, certainly when I was writing with Terry Britten we would spend ten times as long recording as we had writing the song in the first place. But it was fun and we had some great musicians to work with. It should really be down to the song, but with the songs I did with Terry, they were mostly for American artistes and as we were working at arms’ length we needed to present as near a finished product as we could. Even with Tina Turner, where we had already done something like fifteen songs, we still produced pretty polished demos. But when I worked in Nashville with Troy Seals, we would do the writing in five days (and wrote pretty furiously in that time), and at the end of that period we would go in on the last day and Troy would have gathered the musicians together and we’d just run the songs down once
and there were really no arrangements - we would just let the musicians do their own thing and it worked very well. They were mostly country style songs and we had something like three number ones and five other top twenty hits - by just doing it in that way.
With country music though, you have certain parameters that you have to fulfil?
There is a little bit of that and I was made aware of it as a writer but I also learned about the conciseness they use to get a message over lyrically. I learned an awful lot working with Troy Seals. It was quite a shock to me having come up through the rock/pop tradition, but good country music has a wonderfully direct way of putting a message over, or an angle in a song - and I think it’s underestimated in this country.
You’ve written predominantly with partners, such people as Benny Gallagher, Tom McGuinness, Terry Britten, etc. Are you happiest working with others ?
I think that from the day I started working with Benny, that particular pattern of co-writing was set. I’m lucky in that I do both melody and lyrics so I am pretty adaptable to any co-writing situation. Sometimes I find if I have a lyric idea and the co-writer is a lyricist themselves, there can be a problem, particularly if I have a definite direction I want the lyrics to go. Once I used to think that the melody was everything but of course, if the lyrics say something to someone, that’s really what connects people to the song.
Is there a songwriter you’ve always wanted to write with?
I tried to make contact with Antonio Carlos Jobin but it didn’t happen for whatever reason and now it won’t but that would have been great. But I did write with Carole King and the song we wrote is included on the new album I am working on.
Is there a song you have written that you are particularly proud of?
Different songs for different reasons really. Professionally speaking “Whats Love Got To Do With It” was the biggest song I wrote, what with winning the Grammy and Tina going to Number 1 in America - and all that was great to be part of. On the other hand “Heart On My Sleeve” is the song I’ve always had a strong affection for, not just for the song but the actual record itself. I feel we caught a special atmosphere with that. “When I’m Dead And Gone” was the one that symbolised a lot of the wildness of the rock-n-roll that I got hooked on as a kid and when I heard it on a jukebox, I felt we’d caught just a little bit of the essence of that genre.
How often do you write now ?
I’ve taken a bit of a sabbatical from writing recently because I’ve been concentrating on this new album where I am recording a lot of songs I have written for other people but never recorded myself. It should be out in the UK shortly.
Any advice for aspiring songwriters?
If I have any advice, although it might seem obvious, it is that you should always write the strongest song you can. Never write down or make do. The true songs last.
Finally do you follow the charts?
I’ve never really ever followed the charts. If I hear something I’ll turn it up like anyone else but I don’t go out of my way to follow the charts at all.
Copyright Songwriter Magazine, International Songwriters Association & Jim Birmingham: All Rights Reserved
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