Help with songwriting credits

October 6, 2016 6:45 AM

What's the pithiest, yet still accurate, way to say what we mean in terms of songwriting credits for this album:

What we have right now is:

all songs written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo
"Song 1" written with Eric Clapton
"Song 2" written with Joni Mitchell
"Song 3" written by Paul
"Song 4" written by Bob Dylan

The band is lead by John. He came in with the songs and deserves the primary credit, yet graciously wants to include the whole band as written 'with' due to their contributions to the final songs.

Song 1 and Song 2 both had significant contributions by other people, so they both also get a 'with'.

Song 3 was brought in by the bass player, thus the "written by", but this was as collaborative as the other songs - is the 'with' from the top line still understood for song 3? Do we need to spell it out?

Song 4 is basically a cover. Written by a friend, but not a member of the band. So, how does that mesh with "all songs written by" at the top? If we say "All songs written by (...) except:" does that cover it?

We've gone over this all a number of times and are pretty brainlocked by it, and would love a fresh perspective.

posted by dirtdirt to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

I think you need to give up the "All songs written by" conceit and do it song-by-song.

Song 1: Written by John and Eric, with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 2: Written by John and Joni, with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 3: Written by Paul with John, George, & Ringo
Song 4: Written by Bob
Song 5: Written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 6: Written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo
[etc.]
posted by Etrigan at 6:57 AM on October 6, 2016

Pithy? Ditch the written credits, and make a table, with songs on one axis and artists on the other. Each box has either "by" or "with" (or is blank).
posted by fings at 7:15 AM on October 6, 2016

Threadsitting ahoy!

Etrigan, your suggestion makes sense, but the end result would be:

Song 1: Written by John and Eric, with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 2: Written by John and Joni, with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 3: Written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 4: Written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 5: Written by John and Eric, with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 6: Written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 7: Written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 8: Written by Paul with John, George, & Ringo
Song 9: Written by Bob
Song 10: Written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo

With full names and song titles it feels like LOT of repeated info, and I'm holding out hope for a better way.
posted by dirtdirt at 7:21 AM on October 6, 2016

You could go with the old "All songs written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo, except:" Then you'd only need the list to have songs 1, 2, 5, 8, and 9.
posted by No-sword at 7:24 AM on October 6, 2016

I'd still avoid "all songs" since there are too many exceptions, but you can consolidate songs with the same credits:
Songs 1 & 5: Written by John and Eric, with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 2: Written by John and Joni, with Paul, George, & Ringo
Songs 3, 4, 6, 7, & 10: Written by John with Paul, George, & Ringo
Song 8: Written by Paul with John, George, & Ringo
Song 9: Written by Bob
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:26 AM on October 6, 2016

Tiny print: "All songs written by John with Paul, George & Ringo, except "Song 1" and "Song 5" by John and Eric, with Paul, George, & Ringo, "Song 2" by John and Joni, with Paul, George, & Ringo, "Song 8" by Paul with John, George, & Ringo, and "Song 9" by Bob."
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:27 AM on October 6, 2016

Neil Young's Zuma has an alternate take on this.
posted by mustardayonnaise at 8:17 AM on October 6, 2016

Those "Zuma" credits look to me like performance credits, not songwriting credits. I don't think "with" is a meaningful term as far as songwriting goes. Either someone contributed or they didn't, either way they get an even split of the royalties (if any). You can separate the music and lyrics, but multiple contributors are all "and"s.

Which would give "All songs written by John, Paul, George & Ringo, except: "Song 1" and "Song 5" by John, Eric, Paul, George, & Ringo; "Song 2" by John, Joni, Paul, George, & Ringo; "Song 8" by Paul, John, George, & Ringo; and "Song 9" by Bob."

The order of names would give a clue as the size of the contribution, although not as much as you're trying to indicate. That kind of story is usually left for a story -- for instance, "Yesterday" is still credited as having been written by Lennon & McCartney, and that isn't exactly an accurate measure of their individual contributions.
posted by Devoidoid at 8:43 AM on October 6, 2016

dirtdirt, what is the difference between 'with' & 'and' in your breakdown? That is, by far, the most comfusing part about what you're doing. Why does Written by A & B, with C, D and E need to be distinguished from Written by B & C, with A, D and E?
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:15 AM on October 6, 2016

Agreed that "with" is not a term that has a standard meaning in songwriting credits. List all contributors in the order you prefer. Percentage of contribution/ownership is for split sheets, not album credits, but putting the biggest contributor first is something you can certainly do. Of course if you need to make it more complicated you can credit lyrics and music separately!
posted by in278s at 9:51 AM on October 6, 2016