“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!
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!...
