Songwriting Credits

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by The Tower

Trouble is- it can even be MORE uninspired when one adds clumsy lyrics and a half-assed melody to someone else's music ("That Made Me Stronger" "Love Changes" )

"Love Changes" -- words & music by Stevie Nicks.

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by Kelly

To think that after 35 plus years of working together, there has never been one time that Stevie and Lindsey have worked on something in which both contributed equally is sort of ridiculous in my opinion.

To make matters even more puzzling... if memory serves... I believe the instrumental "Book of Miracles" was credited to both Buckingham and Nicks as songwriters, yet when Stevie re-recorded it with vocals and lyrics as "Juliet," she is credited as the sole songwriter.

[The Tower]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

"Love Changes" -- words & music by Stevie Nicks.

Hmmmm.... that's odd. I coulda swore that this was a collaberation between her and David Kahne. It's his only deal on the album (why they included him in the picture and not Rick Nowels is beyond me) and I remember reading him in the credits...

Did she pull a fast one and change the songwriting credits like she did with "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?"

Well, if she did write the whole thing she should be ashamed of herself for putting that stinker in instead of the marvelous "Space Needle".

[amber]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Despite him having said that, I don't recall a single Christine interview I've ever read, where she gives Lindsey any credit for her songs beyond what he does as a producer.
Out of five albums, "World Turning," "Mystified," "Isn't It Midnight," and both parts of "You And I," are the only songs on which they share a songwriting credit. And that's most likely because they actually sat down together and wrote those songs together, "from the ground up" -- each offering lyrical and melodical contributions in the process. (In the case of "Isn't It Midnight," Lindsey shares credit with Christine and Eddy for having written the music, while Christine has sole credit for the lyrics.)

I think it's because a lot of christine's songs probably aren't as "raw material" as all that. She plays that instrument, they're probably for the most part pretty fleshed out when she does them. And, again, having her own musicianship at her disposal, even if they are not that fleshed out, in terms of other parts, she may very well have an idea of the end result sound. I think it's more like "two musicians jamming together" when they flesh out her songs, rather than Lindsey doing that much work. JMO.

[trackaghost]

I personally think that if Lindsey wanted credit then he'd ask for it.
He's a producer and I think he more than understands what he does is what a lot of producers do, so why should he be different when it comes to credits?

I still find Gypsy an odd example. Sure Lindsey turned an okay song into a work of genius, but the song was fully there before he got his hands on it. It had been worked and reworked during the Bella Donna sessions (didn't Tom Petty say he was never quite sure what to do with it?).

He's a great producer, and great producers are able to flesh out and give a distinctive sound to the work. It doesn't automatically entitle them to a songwriting credit.

And then of course there's Sara which everyone assumed Lindsey deserved all the credit for, until it was revealed he had nothing to do with the Cleaning Lady version of the song. The song was completed before Lindsey worked his magic on it, but I will never deny his version is superior and his production work is amazing.

As for Rhiannon, isn't Lindsey's riff simply the piano part Stevie played in the demo, played on guitar? He certainly turned it into something special but the riff was there albeit in a different form.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by The Tower

I coulda swore that this was a collaberation between her and David Kahne. It's his only deal on the album (why they included him in the picture and not Rick Nowels is beyond me) and I remember reading him in the credits...

David Kahne produced the track... but Stevie was the songwriter.

Originally Posted by The Tower

Well, if she did write the whole thing she should be ashamed of herself for putting that stinker in instead of the marvelous "Space Needle".

She needed another uptempo, pop-rock song to round out the album.
I quite like "Love Changes." Love it, in fact.

"Space Needle" will have its day.

[Serrart]

I think it would be producers' heaven if they could have writing credits just for changing the tempo, the instrumentation or adding riffs. In songs like Gypsy or Rhiannon the music and the lyrics were there. The version we prefer is another matter, IMO.
Or Stevie could just make the booklet a little more precise, like:
Through the Fears
Music and Lyrics by Stevie Nicks
And just above every song :
Lindsey's personal and definite contribution diary:
09/06/05
Lindsey told me to cut the third verse
09/9/05
He added violins and bongos
09/15/05
He created a (beautiful) guitar riff
09/17/05
I decided to put back the third verse and he stormed off
09/22/05
We called a truce. I Keep my third verse and he can add vocal effects

And so on for about 3 pages for every song...

Romy

[AliP]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Out of five albums, "World Turning," "Mystified," "Isn't It Midnight," and both parts of "You And I," are the only songs on which they share a songwriting credit. And that's most likely because they actually sat down together and wrote those songs together, "from the ground up" -- each offering lyrical and melodical contributions in the process. (In the case of "Isn't It Midnight," Lindsey shares credit with Christine and Eddy for having written the music, while Christine has sole credit for the lyrics.)

Here is what Christine said about that:

Unedited Interview with Laura Gross - 1987
(about collaborating with Lindsey on the songs "Mystified" & "You & I Part I")"They were sort of weird collaborations. They weren’t sitting down in a room writing songs together. In the case of 'Mystified', that was a piano instrumental that I had, and Lindsey took it home and put some words to it and some drum patterns that we all really liked. 'You and I' was reversed. Lindsey had a completed beautiful guitar track with no vocals on it so I sort of helped with him on the melody on that."

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Out of five albums, "World Turning," "Mystified," "Isn't It Midnight," and both parts of "You And I," are the only songs on which they share a songwriting credit.

They also shared one on "Ricky," which is why I'm kind of glad they stopped their collaborations.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Kelly

However, I cannot understand how, with a song like Gypsy, more people do not believe that Lindsey deserves more than a production credit?! I do not hear the melody in the original demos. The piano demo has no melody, at least to my ears.

The original demo might not have a lot of the melody you hear, but...Somebody could easily take the lyrics and the chord progression and come up with a completely different sounding song. I could easily imagine a reggae band doing something with "Gypsy" that would never have crossed Lindsey's mind. But, the song's lyrics and chord progression would still be what Stevie wrote.

Originally Posted by Kelly

Frozen Love is unique... BUT she gave him that credit because she admired the ripping guitar solo, she has said that many times.

I thought that it was the acoustic middle section with the recorder, which was something he had done on his own, was why he got credit.

Originally Posted by Kelly

My point is, imho, Lindsey probably never asked or even expected credit, even when deserved. As for why Stevie never felt like she should credit him, well that is a can of worms.

Because, he produced her songs. His ideas were more on the production end. Even when he does make suggestions about lyrics, it's done more in regards to the asthetics of the song, which is the producer's main concern with the song. Still, she could have just as easily used another producer who would have taken her songs in a completely different direction. The fact that she keeps coming back to Lindsey, after swearing him off so many times in the past, speaks VOLUMES about how she feels about his talents.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

They also shared one on "Ricky," which is why I'm kind of glad they stopped their collaborations.

Ricky is pretty lame, IMO. There's no real hooky chorus.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

"Love Changes" -- words & music by Stevie Nicks.

Ha! So she takes full credit for that piece of crud.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by dissention

Ha! So she takes full credit for that piece of crud.

I'll never understand why people are so snobbish about that song.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I'll never understand why people are so snobbish about that song.

Because it's just dull. Trite lyrics and just middle-of-the-road blandness to me. There's nothing really special about it.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by AliP

Here is what Christine said about that:

Unedited Interview with Laura Gross - 1987
(about collaborating with Lindsey on the songs "Mystified" & "You & I Part I")"They were sort of weird collaborations. They weren’t sitting down in a room writing songs together. In the case of 'Mystified', that was a piano instrumental that I had, and Lindsey took it home and put some words to it and some drum patterns that we all really liked. 'You and I' was reversed. Lindsey had a completed beautiful guitar track with no vocals on it so I sort of helped with him on the melody on that."

Oops. I was wrong about the "sat down together" part.

The mutual contribution to the music and/or lyrics was what I was getting at though -- making those particular songs different from the occasions when Lindsey took a simple demo and built upon it through arrangement and additional instrumentation.