Ken and Barbie; the knight and princess; the quarterback and cheerleader; the prom king and queen - the list goes on. We have the idea that the two best-looking people in the room should be sitting at the same table. Likewise, it only seems obvious that the two best songwriters in town should always be working together. The truth, however, is that the two most beautiful people in the room often don't get along well. You could put the two most successful writers in the same room to write a song, and the outcome could be a mediocre offering. The exciting flip side of that reality is that
two good songwriters could easily produce a great song. As Solomon points out, the sum of the two is greater than twice what each of them could accomplish on their own. It's like two imperfect people falling in perfect love.
I believe it was veteran writer Jeffrey Steele who used a baseball metaphor to describe co-writing relationships. He said the healthiest relationships involve both
a pitcher and a catcher. Two pitchers will just spout ideas, never completely honing in on a focused idea, while two catchers will sit there quietly watching the clock. It's imperative to know where you fall in the equation, and to also recognize this as a legitimate explanation as to why some co-writes just don't click.
The NBA Finals this year was another example to me of pure talent not being a substitute for working well with one another.
Keep writing,
Ben
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Living about 3,000 years ago, King Solomon may have been the first co-writer we know of. Yes, that may be purely speculation, but here's why I think so:
