JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback MP3 Feedback Forum The Two Songs I Got Contracts On

I thought I would put this post up to provide information for those who might aspire to really get something done with their songs.

Below are the two songs I was fortunate enough to recently get signed with a Nashville publisher (Nashville Sound). Although they do have an office in Nashville, their main company headquarters are in Canada. They started out 25 years ago publishing songs for the Inspirational/Religious genre but have moved into mainstream Country these days -

"I Love You Too"
* Words and Music by Yours Truly

"Where You Been Hidin' All My Life"
* Words by the late great Courtney Bernard and Yours Truly
* Music by Yours Truly

Both were professionally demo'd in Nashville ("I Love You Too", $325 by Dave Smith Demo Services and "Where You Been Hidin' All My Life", $750 by Denny Martin Studios) since it is so super competitive out there nowadays, your tunes simply have to already sound like records just to get them pitched and considered seriously.

Anyway here for your curiosity and information are the two songs -


"I LOVE YOU TOO"
(C) 2011 C. Wong

He hears the gentle whisper when she slides between the sheets
Seems she's been here all his life and not the past few weeks
She's his last thought every evening and the first one each day
How'd she do this to him, why is he this way?

He can't think straight, can't concentrate
Like there's no air to breathe
The space between his fingers
Is where her hands should be
He feels this burst of butterflies when she walks in the room
She smiles and says, "I love you, too"

They spend sixty years together, but no one outruns time
She starts to lose her memory, makes him think he'll lose his mind
She doesn't know his name now or remember his face
So he holds her real close, as she struggles to say

I can't think straight, can't concentrate
Like there's no air to breathe
The space between my fingers
Is where your hands should be
Some days I feel like I'm the only person in the room
He smiles and says, "I love you, too"

Then she leaves this world and life turns black and white
He's on his knees and cries out in the night

I can't think straight, can't concentrate
Like there's no air to breathe
The space between my fingers
Is where yours used to be
I fill these empty hallways in my heart with thoughts of you
Then he hears her say, "I love you, too"
Yes he hears her say, "I love you, too"


"WHERE YOU BEEN HIDIN' ALL MY LIFE"
(C) 2002 C. Bernard/C. Wong

I searched in the church, dated teachers from schools
Picked up women in bars and broke nearly all the rules
Searched hard in the Southland, even looked up North
Thought of messin' with Texas till I lost my dang horse
Took out witches from a coven, nurses from the doc
Kissed a Swedish stewardess, I've been around the block

CHORUS
All this time I've been searching for you
Looking high and low with never a clue
I looked so hard to find the perfect wife
Where you been hidin' all my life?

I searched in the hills, I scouted out the lake
Looked twice at the beaches where the lookin's really great
I looked overseas in lots of different lands
The fillies in the Phillippines and all through Japan
Stumbled though the jungle chopping bushes for a peek
Even sifted through the sands, now stop this hide and seek
(to CHORUS)

BRIDGE
Then I did something I never did before
I turned my head and looked next door
I've been lookin' so hard to find the perfect wife
Well, there you've been hidin' all my life (to CHORUS)


I genuinely hope this is of help to anyone who might be interested in taking a peek into this corner of the songwriting biz...

Congratulations and good luck with them Charlie!

That's great, Charlie! I gave a listen and they are both fine songs. Hoping for good things to come your way.

Kevin

Hi Charlie,

Just listen to the first one, its AWESOME! It made me look for his studio online but I can’t find it, do you have a link perhaps? At $325 I’d say it’s a bargain! I love the song too, not just the demo. I would try pitching it if I were you!

Just listened to the second one, its mighty fine too! Again I would be trying to pitch them if I were you.

Best of luck to you,

Dottie

Congratulation Charlie that's great news, well done, the songs
and their demos sound great, good luck with them,

Tony.

Congrats Charlie,

I enjoyed both, hope you do well with them and I'd like to hear them anytime! Best of luck!

Thank you Colin, your well wishes are appreciated indeed!

Hi ya Kev, yeah we'll see how she goes as they pitch these for me/us.

Hello Dottie, glad ya liked these. Here's the contact for Dave Smith:

makinmusicntn@bellsouth.net

Yes they are already being pitched by Nashville Sound to different artists. According to them Lee Brice ("Love Like Crazy") already heard "I Love You Too" and said he "loves it", although they listen to several hundred songs at a time for any project. Plus the artist may like or even love something but their producers and managers have a lot of say as to which songs will actually be used. I can only keep my fingers crossed and keep hopin'.

Also the other song has been pitched to a swing band that "charts all the time" but no word yet.

Tony, thanks very much for taking the time to listen. I am grateful for your comments.

Caroline, very much appreciate you chiming in so positively.

hi charlie, almost clicked off then saw these, glad i did. first , congats on your well deserved success. second, and why not! truely, these two songs are REALLY good, enjoyed them both alot.thanx for the info too. it is appreciated.

shalom, dmk

Glad you enjoyed'em dmk. Thank you!

Just keeping my fingers and toes crossed now...

Great lyrics! And congrats on your path to success.

Bernd

Congrats, and best wishes for success. I never met Denny Martin but I know many who have and he's highly recommended. A word of caution on signing songs. I had a publisher on Music Row want to sign everything I brought to in. A co-writer of mine had signed with her. But another co-writer said well wait, what songs has she got cut? Came to find out she had never got a song cut. She talked about meetings here and there with this big shot and that but no cuts. Once you sign that song you are giving up a good portion of the potential revenue from that song so you want to make sure they are 100% behind your song. And get a revision clause so if they don't sell your song in say 2 years - then the publishing reverts back to you. Groups like NSAI can help you research publishers before you sign.

Congratulations! It's great to see you back online, Charlie. I was kind of surprised to see that you had demos made. I always thought you did a great job of singing stuff yourself. But they sound really good. Like the second one the best.

Many thanks Bernd!

Hi Pete! Yes, they've been around for over 25 yers and have had some nice record cuts already. Also I did make sure there were 24-month revision clauses on both contracts (standard for these guys), thank you for warning me though.

Howdy Jean! Long time no talk, nice to see you again! And although I appreciate your kind words about my home demos, my voice ain't what it used to be, plus there just seems to be that extra something in the polish of a true pro demo, which seems necessary to me in today's competitive pitching climate. In fact if the demo is good enough, some producers will ask for the musical tracks alone so their artists can just sing right onto them, so these studios I used do provide the music-only backing track along with the one with the vocal on them - just in case I get lucky...thanks again.

Always nice to hear news of a positive development.

Those are good songs and demos, Charlie. Well done!
Wishing you heaps of luck.

Donna

Thank you so ever kindly for dropping by for a listen Donna, and yes, we all (everyone on these forums) need all the well-wishes we all can get!

Thank you again.

Great stuff dude

Hello Charlie,

I enjoyed both songs, especially # 2
this is cool...
The fillies in the Phillippines and all through Japan


GOod luck to ya.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Thanks doods! And Calvin, yeah them "fillies in the Phillippines" didn't do him no good neither...hee hee.

Both are fine songs, number 2 stands out.

Good luck with the publishing.

Thanks for sharing the info.

Much obliged Nelson! Pleasure was all mine. As we say, "We're all in it together"...

nice work Charlie. Best of luck to you with getting these on a record.

Hi Charlie,
Congrats on the deals. Good songs. I Love You Too is beautiful - so poignant - it got me all misty. Here's hoping for cuts!

Josie

Those are some great songs Charlie! Congrats on the contracts and best of luck with them. I know it's a waiting game for you at this point. I hope you'll share any updates on their status.

Moker, very much appreciate your dropping by and the well wishing!

Josie, I never posted about this before, but our Mom passed in late '09 with Alzheimer's, and inspired me to eventually write the song as a catharsis of sorts, as well as to tell a somewhat condensed story about my folks' sixty years together. Thank you so much for appreciating it!

Hi Nick, yes indeedy, I guarantee I would immediately burst right out on here first thing, if there is any news about any success with ANY of my/our songs! Muchas gracias!

Hi Charlie. Any idea who these folks have access too? I mean, do they have any big names that will accept a demo from them?

Hi Duncan,

So far they were able to get the first one to Lee Brice who recently had a No.1 hit ("Love Like Crazy") on the Country charts. Guess that's about as close to a big name as it can get...although Carrie Underwood or Tim McGraw also come to mind.

They also currently have Rene Jones' song, "He'll Be Home Soon", which is now #2 on the Country-Christian Music Charts.

Go to their website at

http://www.nashvillesoundmusic.com/

and click on the Contact button to find out how to pitch songs to them for consideration.

Good luck!