Ok so I can never remember what I have written or not in previous blogs (from the other site) but a question I keep getting asked is how if I can't sing or play did I ever get involved in music? well that's dead easy, I just hung on in like gunga din, I hung around musicians, people who were very technically proficient at playing instruments, but in the writing department they couldn't string two words together! I was cheap, I was available most of the time and I worked sometimes freakishly quick, it was a great time I was young and dumb ....lets just not go there, I loved it, silly hours, silly goings on lots of travel and lots of gigs I loved it, one of my usual co writers got me a small deal with a small collective which actually got me published at the age of 15, which helped!
I was soon brought to the attention of another small publishing company (small but very professional) and I soon had a deal to produce 32 pieces of original work, not much but with my skill set, work was few and far between, thankfully my friends kept throwing me a bone here and there and I soon had a good reputation for my work ethic I would turn up on time I would work hard and I wouldn't make (too many) waves, now it wasn't always plain sailing and sometimes it was more than cross words and I soon found out who I liked working with and who I didn't, one of my mates once commented that I could spot a cock at 900 paces, I really do hope he was being complimentary.
The biggest pain was getting a credit, fine with my mates but other (ahem) artists were generally out for themselves, that was the name of the game I don't blame them if I had been in a stronger position I would have done exactly the same, I wasn't too pushy and I was really young to be doing the line of work I was in, I never worked with A list stars hell I probably managed a few Z list performers, but I enjoyed the work and at the time it was like taking candy from a baby, I soon realised I could do re writes like a demon and although I never got a credit I got paid better, so my publisher got a bigger cut £600 in the hand was £60 for him and I made a lot of money (and I mean oodles) I also spent it rather quickly! on what? well going to see bands and the such like, the odd house from time to time, well I would have them for six months and then sell them because I never stayed there more than three or four times, I got a load of work in Edinburgh lived there on and off for 18 months then when I started looking for a flat the worked dried up! I bought a flat in Croydon I had it 9 months slept there 8 times ....go figure, work and watching bands was the order of the day and I never took it too seriously, until one day when my contract was up for renewal and the guy who owned the company offered me a very good deal, a substantial rise and a better all round contract and then when he hooked me, he took my legs away and said that a major publishing house had seen my work and wanted me to work with young bands (as in illiterate) and what they were offering was double what he was ....ah bugger he gave me 8 weeks to think about it and he was more than happy for me to take their deal, he wouldn't stand in my way, the fact that they had offered him a rather large signing on fee helped but he kept that to himself (for the moment) it was all up to me.
I was confused at the time, for about ten minutes and then I said that I would sign with the major, he then told me everything that would happen, he didn't want to release me early as I was his biggest earner, although I wasn't publishing many originals his percentage of me doing the assists to these bands amounted to nearly 40% of his company's profit, I set the ball rolling, I went to the new plush offices of the new company, i was shown who I would be working under, it all seemed very civilised! what on earth could go wrong (you can see where this going can't you) two weeks later my publisher died of a heart attack, an honest man working long hours trying to do the best that he could for his loyal band of workers and sometimes times were lean, sometimes the company was on a sticky wicket, which is why he was glad to have me on the books, at the time there was outstanding VAT and although the money was there it wasn't ready cash and his wife wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with all the goings on ( I have recently found out that she bought the company back a few years ago and its once more a thriving independent) she got a great offer and all the liabilities off her back so she took it.
The company changed almost straight away some people laid off, others contracts were (ahem) renegotiated, mine wasn't they seemed keen to keep me, but this was the straw that broke the camels back, things then turned nasty they refused to release me until I completed all the works owed under the terms of the contract (ah bollocks) I had been labouring away doing all the re writes I hadn't taken due care and attention of my contract and although I had done above and beyond the call of duty, they were simply holding me to ransom (wanted my copyrights etc etc) now at this point I should point out I will gladly cut my nose off to spite my own face and I was worse when I was younger, so I went into stroppy mode (oops) and it didn't get me anywhere, so soon we had gunship diplomacy, neither side talking except through lawyers and I was hurting badly, the major was shrinking in the distance and I did the stupidest thing in the world, I completed my contract in just under eight days, something was rotten in the state of Denmark and the new owners were aware of it, I had produced just over 35 completed sets of lyrics in that period of time, even me at full speed ahead, this was a completely erroneous state of affairs, problem solved I cleared my desk and waited with baited breath.
Seven days later I was hit with a writ that claimed breach of contract, fraudulent accounting methods and worse of all plagiarism, I was sunk the major ripped up the contract up I was holed below the waterline with those charges against me nobody would touch me with a barge pole I knew that I was fucked but I wasn't backing down (hindsight is a wonderful thing) the urge of youth or whatever you want to call it I went down all guns blazing, the why and the where fore isn't for this blog (another time yes) the upshot in reality I should have resigned for another year gone with the flow and walked away and they couldn't have done fuck all, I counter sued loss of earnings etc etc etc and then fired my lawyers, and turned up in court with just little old me to defend myself, I had just bought a house and pumped everything into the house, I was penniless so I took a temporary job (27 years I'm still there ) the trials and tribulations I will blog about another time.
Were the charges correct? actually yes and no, yes I was in breach of contract but it had been agreed (with a handshake) with the previous owner and that's why there was the signing on fee, had I been fraudulent actually that would be a no, hells bells I was scared of my own shadow did I rip off the taxman? yes! did the taxman catch and rag me with a rusty trumpet your darn tooting he did, again a story for another blog! did I plagiarise anybody.........yes I did I was so pissed of like a dumbass I went home and trawled through every obscure (not that obscure as it was) album I had and I pulled a line from here and a line from there until I had the required number to sell my soul! they simply employed a musicologist and he nailed my sorry arse to the wall (the bastard) bang to rights etc etc. the jig was up and the rest is history mind you I did drag the court case on for six years and it cost me nothing as they had "deprived" me of earning a living at my trade, again another blog as I feel this one is starting to spiral out of control.
Do I miss it? actually the honest answer is no! it was starting to be bloody hard work, the fun was going out of it, was I any good? yeah sorry I was fucking really good, but the shine was off the apple and I love the job I do more! it just took twenty years to get to the good bit! the wife would love me to go back to it, but I'm not as dumb as I look it's a younger person's game now, someone up with technology skills (so not me) and can multi task (again so not me) I like doing my blogs and the occasional book, ask me to write a song now would be like pulling a tooth using an egg whisk.....nigh on impossible, so don't live in the past live for today as tomorrow may never come, there I can still write like the old days and there is the potential for at least another two to follow on not morose (although it bloody well should be) hopefully a witty (WTF) take on a time long long ago, so watch the skies for the next thrilling episode of..........Toodles!
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