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Originally Posted by louielouie2000
How would you define the difference between a song that was a collaboration vs one that was cowritten? The distinction has baffled me ever since Stevie started touting Dave Stewart as the first person she'd ever written a song with.  |
It's a great question. In terms of copyright law, authoring a song has to do with the chords and melody, as well as the lyrics. It's whatever you might see on a sheet of music in a fake book, sans arrangement.
But even according to this definition of authorship, Stevie has skirted that line a number of times. Technically, the demos of "Dreams" and "Gypsy" were brought to the group with full lyrics, basic chord changes, and a melody. But a MASSIVE amount of arranging happened in there.
Christine's collaborations with Lindsey are probably a tad more organic, where she allows changes to melody and structure. I think of "Little Lies," a song she basically co-wrote with Eddy. I'm assuming some of the voicings are Lindsey's as well as the now-famous opening tag. Stevie would have kept her name on the song as sole songwriter. Christine, in the spirit of generosity, put it on. In some late 80s interview, she even said she wanted to credit Lindsey for helping on her songs because of his generous input.