A Hit Record Is Like A Great Pastrami Sandwich
by Molly-Ann Leikin

When I was interviewed on CNN last week, I was asked what is the biggest problem songwriters have to overcome. My answer was "defective pastrami sandwiches".

To illustrate my point, I had stopped at Fromin's Deli in Santa Monica on the way to the studio, and bought a pastrami sandwich on rye, with mustard on both pieces of bread.

As my CNN interview proceeded, I took the sandwich apart, slopping mustard all over my French manicure, my new silk blouse, two grips, my publicist and a prop guy, but I made my point. For those of you who don't get CNN, I'd like to share what I said.

A hit record is like a great pastrami sandwich. The bottom piece of bread, with the mustard on it, is the track. The melody and lyrics are the pastrami. The harmony, plus the oohs and aahs, are the top piece of bread, with more mustard on it.

There are a thousand kinds of bread, and an equal variety of mustards to choose from, and probably and endless combination of both. However, most of the songwriters who contact me for help, admit to spending 85-95% of their time at the synthesizer cutting the track, or working on the bottom piece of bread. They just throw the song/pastrami together in a burst of inspiration. So the tapes they send me are all bread and mustard - no pastrami. I keep saying "Where's the beef?" After all, whoever craves a piece of rye bread with mustard? I asked Maurice at Fromin's if anybody ever orders a mustard sandwich on rye, and he laughed. "I've been in the deli business 49 years and it hasn't happened yet."

Yes, the production is important, but you have to have a song, too. If you cut great tracks and have ten gold records, fine - but if you haven't had a hit yet, take a hard look at all three levels of your record - is there a real sandwich here or just top and bottom mustard-smeared bread/track?

On the other hand, a very talented singer/songwriter client who had been trying and failing as an artist for twenty years, finally came to me for help and made a commitment to writing ten hit songs for her next project. Not just ten songs, or ten pretty good songs - ten hit songs. Over a period of a year, she worked hard to overcome her self-image and history as a loser, and wrote fifteen sensational tunes, all with strong, original lyrics, great, hook melodies, and then was ready to make a demo. I offered to help her find a producer, but she wanted to go it alone from there. I kept asking her to send me the tracks as each song was cut, but none ever arrived. The only thing that eventually did was a vanity CD of ten great songs lost in horrible production. The old mess-up self-image kicked in and my former client was back to square one - nowhere.

What she ended up with was pastrami allright - but a la carte - minus the bread and mustard. There was no way to pick it up and really sink your teeth into it.

That's what I call an ego sandwich - ego on the bottom, pastrami in the middle, more ego on top.

If any of this rings true for you, remember: just the bread isn't enough. Neither is pastrami a la carte. Go for the whole sandwich.

© 2000 Molly-Ann Leikin

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