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Even if you follow popular music very closely, you may not be familiar with Steve Dorff. But it\u2019s almost certain that you\u2019ve heard his music. That idea \u2013 that his relative anonymity stands in contrast to the high profile of his work \u2013 spawned his 2017 memoir, I Wrote That One, Too: A Life in Songwriting from Willie to Whitney<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Dorff has more than 20 Top Ten hits to his credit. He\u2019s scored for film and television, and in 2018 he was inducted into the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame. His songs have been recorded by Garth Brooks, Ray Charles, Cher, Judy Collins, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Anne Murray, Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Blake Shelton, Dusty Springfield, Ringo Starr, George Strait and Barbra Streisand. And that’s just a partial list. Eddie Rabbitt’s “Every Which Way But Loose” is among his most well-known tunes. But there are many, many others.<\/p>\n
In February 2020, Dorff was gearing up for a solo songs-and-stories tour; I spoke with him ahead of those dates, all of which were of course canceled in the wake of the pandemic. Understandably, the planned print feature was canceled as well. But our conversation was an enlightening one, so I\u2019d like to share it with Musoscribe<\/i> readers nonetheless.<\/p>\n
In your book, you talk about your innate ability to focus on, and discern, the individual parts in orchestration or arrangement. As you became a songwriter, did that lead to you conceiving songs with the arrangements in full, or did you build them piece by piece?<\/span><\/p>\n No, I pretty much hear what it\u2019s going to sound like as I\u2019m writing the song. Or at least, what I\u2019d like it to sound like. I pretty much hear the whole thing.<\/p>\n Do you find that the finished recorded product generally stays fairly close to that? Or does it go off and take on a life of its own? <\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s a great question. It depends on whether I\u2019m producing it or arranging it. Or sometimes an artist that I don\u2019t know will record the song, with a different producer and a different arranger. Then, of course, there\u2019s always some surprises: the chords or the voicings might change. In some cases, the melody might drift a little from the original intent. So, I think it depends on who\u2019s behind the wheel, you know?<\/p>\n You\u2019ve written both alone and as a collaborator. What challenges does co-writing present, and how do you work through potential conflicts? <\/span><\/p>\n For me, there have been very, very little co-writes that have had any conflict, whatsoever. Probably, because I choose to write with people that I know, and that I know their work, and we have a friendship of some kind. I very rarely co-write with someone I\u2019ve never met, or don\u2019t know something in pretty good detail about.<\/p>\n Has there ever been a time when a performer has taken one of your songs in a direction that you didn\u2019t especially want it to go? <\/span><\/p>\n Yes. The answer to that is yes. It\u2019s happened several times. It\u2019s not the norm, though. I think most people who have recorded my songs have listened to the demos that I\u2019ve made, and that\u2019s the reason why they love the song. They want to spend their time and effort in recording it because they love the song as it exists. There have been some wild, crazy arrangements done on a few of my songs where I just said, \u201cWhat in the world is that all about?\u201d But, hey, I think that happens to everybody.<\/p>\n From your standpoint \u2013 and not just with regard to your own work \u2013 what are some of the defining hallmarks of a great song?<\/span><\/p>\n I think there are three elements. [One,] there\u2019s a tune or a melody that gets into people\u2019s heads, and they can\u2019t stop singing and humming it. Even the non-musician, or the person that doesn\u2019t know music at all gets that hook in their head, that musical hook. [Two,] A lyric that speaks emotionally to the listener. And then [three,] I always say \u2013 at least what makes it for me \u2013 in my career, the biggest hits have been the songs that are the most relatable. Bob and Mary in Iowa, listening to a song: \u201cI crossed my heart and said, \u2018I want to get married to that song\u2026 That\u2019s our song.\u201d So, I think relatability, great musical hook, and an emotional lyric that speaks to the listener: those are the three elements of a hit song.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve spoken with songwriters who describe part of their brief as \u201cemotional manipulation.\u201d The songs are designed to elicit a specific emotional response. Do you sometimes approach a song with the idea that you really want to conjure a specific set of emotions on the part of the listener?<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I consciously do that until I\u2019m well into the song. My process has always been [that] I\u2019ll hear a piece of a melody \u2013 or someone will say something that strikes a musical chord in me \u2013 and I just start writing the song. Not worrying about, necessarily, what to say specifically that will appeal to a certain person or group of people like that. I just kind of subconsciously write songs. I guess I rely on my experience, because most of my songs do come from life experiences, that those will be relatable to other people. I don\u2019t think I sit down and say, \u201cI\u2019m going to write a song about people that love the color blue.\u201d<\/p>\n