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  1. #1
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    Songwriting Credit

    This is probably a stupid question, but who/what determines the order of the songwriters in the credit below/next to the song title, i.e. K. Gamble/L. Huff. Is it who contributed the most to the writing of the song, the first name wrote the music and the second name wrote the lyrics or something else? Thank you!!

  2. #2
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    Usually it was the lyricist first and the musical writer second, but I think it could vary.

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    Lots of the time it was what sounded / looked better [[i.e Holland, Dozier, Holland ... even though more usually it was just a Dozier & a Holland that wrote the song) ........ OR .... via a pre-arranged agreement such as Lennon / McCartney. Most Beatles songs were given this credit even though [[afte the early years) the guys in the group tended to write alone.
    Mind you, some writers credits disguise a whole heap of mystery ... one such being Don / Deadric Malone.

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    I thought that with established songwriting partnerships it is just whatever they think sounds best. As an example we know that some of those BEATLES records supposedly written by "Lennon and McCartney" were mainly written by PAUL McCARTNEY and that some, such as "Yesterday", were totally written by him. Similarly some were almost totally the work of JOHN LENNON.

    No doubt at some time in 1962 they decided that "Lennon and McCartney" tripped off the tongue very well and decided to stick to it and not get into arguments about who had had the most input.

    Besides which, I thought that all the songwriter credits do is indicate who is to receive songwriting royalties. There are many reported instances of label owners, producers and established artists having their names added to the songwriter credits as "payment" for publishing songs by unknowns. Similarly there have been many instances of people claiming to have written songs and not being credited on the actual record labels.

    Roger

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    I always thought the one who composed the music was listed first, and the lyricist, second.

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    As far as I can see there was no set reason for the order of composers. Having just spent most of yesterday typing in composing credits for a batch of CDs, I was amazed at how on the original albums credits were reversed on one album - Gary US Bonds' album Quarter To Three can't seem to make up its mind if the credit is Anderson/Barge or Barge/Anderson, whilst Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn as a partnership seem to be 50/50 split between Styne/Cahn and Cahn/Styne. As mentioned above, Lennon/McCartney and Gamble/Huff were seemingly set in stone after agreement by the respective composers - remember the furore when Paul McCartney decided to switch several of them around in order to reflect his greater contribution.

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    Goffin and King were almost always "Goffin-King". But. I think they both participated in both the music and the lyrics. Stevenson-Hunter had Ivy Jo writing the music and Mickey making suggestions on it and mainly working on lyrics. So music first doesn't fit that. It must be that the songwriters submit what they wrote for publication in the name order they agree upon. Mickey Stevenson got first billing, because he was senior at Motown to Ivy Jo, and the latter's getting anything recorded went through Mickey.

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    Gerry Goffin was stronger on the lyrics as was Jeff Barry [[Barry-Greenwich).

  9. #9
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    I think Phil Spector always put his name first[[Spector/Greenwich/Barry)LOL.

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