Lyric

“You Don’t Get Me” started with a lyric from David B.

The original lyric was written from the point of view of a girl making a scene to her boyfriend.  I suggested that we change it to a teenager making a scene to her dad.  This shift was done with only a few line changes.

David B. is no teenage girl, and neither I am… so this is a song that I think would benefit from a co-write with the artist, to further fine-tune the lyric and make it fit the artist personality and language.

Music & Production

The musical hook is based on a simple guitar riff, together with a cool bass line and syncopated groove.

There are two very distinct drum parts: the syncopated drum machine that runs throughout, and heavy acoustic drums on top during the choruses.

Ben Treeby played guitar, Kelly Webb sang, I played the other tracks, sang backups, produced and mixed.  John Astley mastered.

“Heavy Remix”

The version uploaded on YouTube and SoundCloud is slightly different from the original version featured on the “Back in the Groove” album (available on iTunes, CD Baby, and wherever good mp3s are sold ;-)).

In the original version, the big drums only come in on the final set of choruses.  I liked the idea of “holding out” for a while then finishing off with a big climax.  The overall feedback I got though, was that the early choruses needed to be bigger.  So now, every chorus has big heavy drums on them!

YOU DON'T GET ME
Words by David B. / Music by A. Robin
Produced by SuperCool-Guy
© 2012 -- All rights reserved

I'm not that serious
Sometimes I'm delirious
I don't like fitting in
I won't quit 'till I win

I don't like girlie things
Shabby chic just ain't my scene
Rock and roll that's what I like
Partying all through the night

But you call me your sweet little princess
You're such a mess

Chorus:
You don't get me
You don't get me
You don't get me
You don't
Why don't you understand?
You just don't get me

You got your set of rules
And I don't think they're cool
You want me to behave
You say I'm going through a phase

You think you know me, you don't have a clue
I'm tellin' you

Chorus:
You don't get me...

Bridge:
I got to be myself
Gotta have some fun
I'm learnin' to be free
My life has just begun
These times I won't forget
And one day you'll regret

Chorus:
You don't get me...

Why don't you understand?
See me as I am

[Repeat chorus]

Why don't you let yourself
See me as I am
And then you'll understand
That you just don't get me.

Richard Marx is one of my favorite artists of the 1980s and 90s and an inspiration to my own songwriting.  He’s mostly known for his ballads, and rockers with soul influences.  He’s a great songwriter, with a very distinctive voice, both raspy and soulful.

I would describe Richard Marx’ sound as a combination of Toto, Bryan Adams, Chicago and David Foster… 

Some personal favorite – other than the obvious ones like “Right Here Waiting”, “Hazard”, etc. – include “Heaven Only Knows”, “Satisfied”, “Children of the Night”, “Take This Heart”, “Loved”,…

Although he hasn’t had a top 10 hit as an artist since the 1998’s “At the Beginning” (with Donna Lewis, from the “Anastasia” animated movie soundtrack), Richard Marx continues to lead a very successful and prolific career, both as an artist, and even more so as a songwriter/producer… and at 48, he does not seem to have aged one bit!...

Maroon 5 provided much of the inspiration for “Time Difference”, particularly with songs like “Makes Me Wonder”.

Their sound is a fusion of pop-rock and funk, made instantly recognizable by Adam Levine’s distinctive high-pitched vocals.

Timeline

The original members of Maroon 5 had met in college and been playing together since the mid-90s, but it took until 2000 for the band proper to form, and 2002 for the release of its first album, “Songs about Jane”.

It took another two years of relentless touring and promotion, and the 2004 release of their second single “This Love” for Maroon 5 to finally break through and find mainstream success.  The next single, “She Will be Loved” repeated the success of its predecessor and the album eventually went multi-platinum in the US and many countries around the world… but it took a good 2-3 years of hard work to get there.

Maroon 5 followed up with the cryptically-named “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” in 2007 and “Hands All Over” in 2010 (produced by the legendary Robert John “Mutt” Lange), both of which went platinum and yielded a number of hits, most notably “Makes Me Wonder” (2007) and “Moves Like Jagger” featuring Christina Aguilera (2010), their biggest-selling song to date...