Several of my peers have tried to write a song with Pattison. The reviews weren't good, at all.

I'm of the opinion that while he often has/shares good suggestions or tips, there's too many people who take what he says as songwriting gospel - to be followed to the letter or be doomed to songwriting purgatory forever. So I suppose I have less of an issue with Pattison himself and more with the near idol-worship he sometimes gets.

I taught a commercial songwriting course at a local community college for a few years, and one point I stressed in every class was "I can't teach you how to write songs, you either can or you can't. If you can, I can show you some things that can possibly make you better. But if you can't write at all, I can't help you." That's been 100% true from what I've seen in my professional career.

I read Jimmy Webb's book on songwriting ("Tunesmith") when it came out around '93. By that time, I had already had a lot of cuts, but I was/am such a fan of his writing I read it anyway. A lot of it I didn't necessarily agree with or find useful/helpful (I've never believed in the necessity of perfect rhymes, for example). But I did pick up one thing that was solid gold, and I immediately started using it and have used it ever since. I think that's the proper application of any book or class on songwriting. Find something in it that is useful or helpful to you, and disregard the rest. Because as long as I've been doing this for a living, I never once had anyone hand me a book called "Rules Of Songwriting That You Must Obey".

Last edited by Roger Brown; 04/20/21 05:25 AM.
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