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over the years, I ended up re writing it, not the chorus, but I changed the verse,
changed the music until I thought "how many ways were there to do it?", and there
was only one way left and finally I got it right. The song is called "I'm Alright"
and at the live shows I do now, I tell the audience the story and make the joke…
"How many years does it take to write a song? About 25". I'm always persistent
in that sense, if the song takes me a year or 2 years or 25 years, and if I believe
in the song, I keep working it.
Jana:
You began playing in 74 but it wasn't until 86 that you achieved some success
after having won a songwriting contest. It was after other artists began recording
your songs that you began to achieve a measure of success with your own stuff.
How did you feel about other artists recording your songs, when at the time you
were also seeking recognition as an artist?
Charlie: I didn't, and
I'm not sure if I do today (laughing), understand the process of other people
recording my stuff. I mean it's flattering and whatnot but for the most part I
don't think about that. I don't write songs for other people at all. I've tried
to do the Nashville "thing", co-writing and stuff, but I don't "get it". It's
just not for me personally. I have my own vision, it's my world I am writing about
with my own perspective and I never started writing songs as a kid, with the purpose
of making money. I did it because I love to do it, I love writing and it's my
personal therapy or curse (laughing). The idea of going into a room to write with
someone and they walk in and say...hey I got this great title… is…well " so what"
what's that got to do with my life or what's going on in my world?
Jana:
Your songs are very autobiographical, full of honestly and realism which has been
a constant through out career. Yet you seem to be a very private. Has exposing
your life in music affected your personal life at all?
Charlie: (Laughing)
It's a bummer... It's a paradox, I mean; the one thing you're striving for is
also the one thing you are afraid of. There is a song on my new CD, I won't say
which one it is… and I was afraid to put it on the new CD. The guys in the band
all say... "oh it's a great song, keep it". It really cuts to the bone, and it
was very therapeutic writing it, it's a great song, but it's very hard walking
out on stage saying " this is me, this is it" because the worse you can get is
rejection, and I've had enough of that in my life ( laughing).
Jana:
Well I'm glad you didn't tell me the name of the song, because if I don't see
it on the CD I'll know you chickened out!
Charlie: (Laughing) Well
I'll give you a hint; right now there are 11 songs on the CD. When it comes out
and there are only 10 on it, you'll know (Laughing). No, I really don't think
I'll chicken out but it is scary to put yourself out there like that.
Jana:
How have the changes in your life reflected in your music. (If you knew then what
you know, how would you write differently)
Charlie: I wouldn't change
a thing. I like the way I write. Everything is a process and a changing process.
If you ask who I am , well, over the last thirty years I have been a lot of different
things I've been a lot of different people and my songwriting is just from where
I've been at the time. I don't know if my songwriting gets better, but it gets
different. I try to challenge myself. Jana:
The song "Young at Heart" the duet with Kim Mitchell on the new CD, is a real
blend of both your styles, production wise, and performance wise. It's a very
fresh sound. The song concept must be a reality for both of you; I mean you probably
wouldn't have written a song like that thirty years ago!
Charlie: Oddly
enough that song started 15 years ago. I started writing that song for my father
in law at the time, then my dad (who recently turned 82). My dad always said…
"My body's falling apart around me but I'm still 18 in my mind", which stuck with
me and is a line in the song. But it's true, and it's hard to explain, especially
to younger people. The reason I finished the song is because of my kids. They
think I'm nuts, they're always telling me to grow up and I say "you don't understand…you
don't GROW up, your body gets older but your mind ends up stuck someplace". There
is no one I know who doesn't think they are 18, or 20 or 22 even though they may
be 40 or 50 or 60.
Jana: What is the Worst song topic you ever
wrote?
Charlie: I can't think of one…well wait, now this is going to
sound odd, but I've really shied away from love songs. I have a hard time with
love, but oddly enough on this album I wrote the first real love song I've ever
written and it's a gorgeous song, really a beautiful tune so that was a little
odd for me.
Jana: Was it reality for you?
Charlie: Well
yes, it was my reality when I wrote it, and maybe that's what was different about
it. It's not my reality now (laughing).
Jana: Do you have any advice
for songwriters on the craft of songwriting? Charlie: First thing I always
tell people, and I read these years and years ago, I think from Oscar Wilde, and
it is "write what you know about". Too many times I hear songs that people have
written, for instance, about driving down the hiway in California, and they have
never left their house. To me the closer you write to home the more real it becomes.
If you write what you feel you are inadvertently in touch with people because
we all kind of feel the same way. Right honestly.
Jana:
If you were to pick them, what songs would you want played at your funeral?
Charlie:
Oh my god. (Laughing)
Jana: I should have emailed you this question
so you'd have some time to ponder.
Charlie: Yea and it's not "if" it's
"when"…. (Laughing) You know what, I have thought about this, and I could be real
morbid, 'cause I've got a bunch of songs about dying: "It Can't Happen to me",
"Someday I'm Gonna Ride in a Cadillac" "Long Long Gone".
Jana:
So they should just play your whole repertoire!
Charlie: Yeah (laughing)
I've got a whole album of this stuff! "See You On the Other Side" and there is
one on the new album called "You'll see Angels", which I wrote for a friend of
mine who was dying. It's a beautiful song too. You know I could really bring the
house down at my funeral; I'd have them all in tears.
Thanks Charlie for
this candid interview.
Charlie's Bio
His
music is tough. Direct. Straight to the heart. Real. As honest as a farmer's handshake.
And sung for all the right reasons. Through the mid-'90s, he'd won the Juno Award
as Country Male Vocalist of the Year - three years in a row.
There were
five major Canadian Country Music Association awards, songwriting honours from
SOCAN, and a BMI Award in 1993 for "Backroads" as the "Most Performed Song in
America."
Oh, yes, there was a double platinum album, another platinum
one, and another which went gold. There was a raft of hit singles - no less than
10 of which went to #1 on the charts. A Charlie Major live gig was a feel-good
collection of songs like "I'm Gonna Drive You Out of My Mind," "I'm Feeling Kind
of Lucky Tonight," "(I Do It) For the Money," "I'm Somebody" and a couple of dozen
more.
For more info on upcoming dates visit www.charliemajor.com
or at
www.myspace.com/charliebmajor
DISCOGRAPHY - Charlie Major
The Other Side (1995)(Arista)
1. I'm Gonna Drive You Out of My Mind (Brown/Major) 2. I'm Somebody (Brown/Major)
3. It Can't Happen to Me (Major) 4. I'm Here (Brown/Major) 5. Running in the Red
(Major) 6. Life's Too Short (Shlitz) 7. Nobody Get's Too Much Love (Major) 8.
Walk Away (Major) 9. The Other Side (Major) 10. I'll See You in My Dreams (Major)
Lucky Man (1996)(Arista) 1. Someday I'm Gonna Ride in a Cadillac
(Major) 2. Waiting on You (Major) 3. Runaway Train (Major) 4. This Crazy Heart
of Mine (Major) 5. (I Do It) For the Money (Major) 6. I Can See Forever in Your
Eyes (Major) 7. Tell Me Something I Don't Know (Brown/Major) 8. It's Lonely I
Can't Stand (Brown/Major) 9. Solid as a Rock (Major) 10. Lucky Man (Major) 11.
Remember the Alamo (Bowers)
Here and Now (1996)(Imprint) 1. Someday
I'm Gonna Ride in a Cadillac (Major) 2. Waiting on You (Major) 3. It Can't Happen
to Me (Major) 4. This Crazy Heart of Mine (Major) 5. (I Do It) For the Money (Major)
6. I Can See Forever in Your Eyes (Major) 7. Tell Me Something I Don't Know (Brown/Major)
8. Runaway Train (Major) 9. It's Lonely I Can't Stand (Brown/Major) 10. Solid
as a Rock (Major) 11. Lucky Man (Major) 12. Remember the Alamo (Bowers)
Everything's
Alright (1997)(BMG) 1.Feelin' Kinda Lucky Tonight (Major) 2. Somedays are
Better (Major) 3. You Can Trust in My Love (Major) 4. Long, Long, Dawn (Major)
5. I Keep on Driving (Major) 6. Thank the Lord for the Nightime (Diamond) 7. Heaven
is (Major) 8. St. Valentine's Day (Major) 9. Alone in the Night (Major) 10. Everything's
Alright (Major) 11. Where Does the Time Go? (Major)
444 (2000)(Artemis)
1. Right Here, Right Now (Major) 2. One True Love (Major) 3. Why Don't We Stay
Home Tonight (Major) 4. It Breaks My Heart (Major) 5. Thinking 'Bout You (Major)
6. Wouldn't It Be Nice (Major) 7. One of the Lost and Lonely (Major) 8. Like Our
Love (Major) 9. Side by Side (Major) 10. Oh, Sister (Dylan/Jaques)
Inside
Out (2004)(Stony Plain) 1.When You're Good You're Good (Major) 2. You'd Better
Go (Major) 3. I'm Still Looking (Major) 4. My Brother and Me (Major) 5. Just for
Old Times (Major) 6. I'm Alright (Major) 7. Last Peaceful Place (Major) 8. The
Face of Love (Major) 9. Nothing But Alone Again (Major) 10. Backroads (Major)
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