The Songwriting of Live Options

[SJN1279]

In Ed's head, he is talking about how he has changed from rock and roll excess to finding god/family. Many of us here twist it into him singing about how he has changed to become a guy who backstabs his friends CC&P. This is probably the clearest way I can explain it here for someone who is new to the board

CCP had no problem taking 75 percent song writing credit and money for songs that Ed basically wrote 100 percent himself. I think that is a pretty crummy thing to do to a friend.

[PurdueSteve]

Just because 4 members play on an album, doesn't mean four members should get equal writing credit when it isn't the case. Certain members write and play, others just play. When they add something new, like Pat did on Run to the Water and POD, they deserve writing credit. Otherwise, they are just using their talent to perform(and there is nothing wrong with that).

Answer this question. If you ignore it we will all assume that you agree.

Did Ed write the parts of every instrument of every song? Did Ed write/create the drum parts, bass parts, chad's guitar parts? If he didn't write those parts how can he be the exclusive song writer?

A song like Lightning Crashes can go mostly to Ed, IMO. Even though Ed didn't write CAG's drum parts, the song follows it's acoustic origin closely. A song like White Discussion, not so much.

Have you ever been in a band? Can you even play an instrument?

You see, when you're in a band the forumulaic process to song writing can vary but it usually starts with a particular piece. Maybe it's basic structure of Lightning Crashes or maybe it's the riff of Lakini's Juice that the song starts with. Once you have the song started everyone has to contribute their instrument. Some bands then work internally to flesh out the song structure. "Do we go into pre-chorus here, do we use a bridge at all?"

If you look at Honest Man, whose main riff CT wrote and compare that with "Believe", even though the songs feature the same riff, they become different songs because of the different players. Believe and Honest Man aren't the same exact song even though both songs originated from the same starting idea, CT's riff.

Ed did NOT write all of the music. He may have been the one that got most of the songs started but to put finished tracks out the door, at least good tracks, it takes contributions from everyone involved.

I'm sure you've seen the little video of the band when they were in the studio creating the cover of "I walk the line". Notice how PD was involved in the creation of the guitar work and how they were talking about progressing from one part to another. It was a group discussion and a group process.