Daisy Jones & The Six
Daisy Jones & The Six — (not to be confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees, who I was madly in love with until I was an inch taller than his standing height of 5’3”) is an Amazon musical drama based on a 2019 novel which takes place in the late 70s and follows the rise and fall of the fictional rock band. Sorry about that, Davy. And may you rest in peace.
Last week my mercury was in retrograde — I had some crazy respiratory thingy and I was down for the count. Glued to the TV…and there was Daisy.
At first I resisted because, full disclosure, at the request of a music supervisor I wrote a couple of original songs for the show but lo and behold…the MD wound up writing all of them. Imagine that! Why do they even ask me to try?
I’ve never seen a flick about songwriting that got it right. Not A Star Is Born, not Music And Lyrics, Grace of my Heart — although the latter was the least offensive. Honestly, I think Spinal Tap, as outrages as it was, was the most realistic. But what Daisy did do is suck me (happily) into a time machine — the Huckapoos, crocheted halter tops, bell-bottoms, unkempt hair, chain smoking, shag rugs. The Doors on the Marquee of Whisky a Go Go. Sound City and Chateau Marmont. The woodsy aesthetic of Laurel Canyon (where I presently reside.) I was all in!
I revisited the creative process pre-midi and Logic. I still have hundreds of those little red diaries Daisy writes her lyrics in (all lined up on a shelf behind my desk).
The staying up all night in a flow-state and not realizing it was morning until the sun peeked through the blinds. The ashtray full. The bottle empty. You flopped into bed and woke up at 1. And started again.
But back to … Daisy (played by Riley Keough — eldest grandchild of Elvis). She’s a singer-songwriter down her bones. She doesn’t merely discover and mimic the act. She is born that way. Billy is in a band with his bros who all swear that one day they’ll be huge. (Original!)
Daisy pushes the play button and the record button simultaneously on her cassette tape recorder — the one that keeps all her secrets safe … in analogue vs a cloud. (I still have one of those too.)
A&R were at labels, not publishing companies. They sat around conference tables in business suits (and ties) comparing opinions on so and so’s new single. Gatekeepers to their future. LMAO. I’m not saying I think this was a good idea! I’m just sayin.’
Some of them were visionaries. They signed Whitney, Aretha and Janis and found third party producers to shape careers just like Teddy thinks to put Daisy in a room with Billy. Teddy doesn’t take half their copyright income because he has a job to do and he’s being paid (handsomely) to do it.
Was it better then? Worse? I mean…we have all this freedom and independence now to DIY. We have the power to sign ourselves! Fuck A&R. Who needs ‘em? But the thing is if everyone can sign themself what makes us special? Sets us apart?
There were so many of us back then but less than there are now and you felt like you had as good a shot as anyone to land a chair in Musical Chairs. Now everyone gets a chair no matter what. Doesn’t mean they’ll make a buck but they can dream. Hey, we were always getting ripped off but at least there was enough. That’s more than I can say for today’s songwriting economics.
I have to admit it was flattering to be (potentially) noticed, pursued, chosen, taken under someone’s wing especially if it was your music they were interested in. I was oblivious. I always thought it was my music they were interested in. 😳
Jack White (not White Stripes Jack White but the one who produced Laura Branigan) flew me to Berlin to ‘spend some time with him,’ see his square-footage-laden recording facility, get to know each other better before making an album. Could I be the next Laura Branigan? He put me up in a hotel and wine and dined me. He never made a move! Jesus, had he been a creep it could have been a colossal nightmare and I was too far away from home to call a cab.
We never made that record. Had I given him ideas — who knows? He was a decent guy and in the end he must not have thought I was the next Laura Branigan. (May she rest in peace too). But it was exciting while it lasted. The possibility!
So Daisy and Billy finally co-write. Billy’s kind of clueless. Daisy knows better. They need to talk first. A lot! Get high (not a prerequisite, but…) She asks him, “What if you wrote songs about the guy (him) that’s not so good all the time? The guy that lets people down and wants things that he shouldn’t?” Billy can’t go there. He’s happily married.
She suggests he write songs about sleeping with somebody he doesn’t know (hmmm, who could that be?) instead of writing songs about making love to his wife. Who wants to hear that? She has a point. The best songs come from dysfunction. Then again, “Maybe I’m Amazed.” 🤓 At one point she jumps into the pool in her underwear and dares him to join her. I can’t say I’ve ever gone that far. But it sure beats going to a session and vibing to a loop.
It may not be songwriter porn but Daisy allowed me my nostalgia. It’s not that I don’t look forward; I do. And I still have quite a fertile creative life. But you only come up once. And those definitely were the days. They were my days. Most of us made fools (and some of us legends) of ourselves on the path to discovering who we were (or weren’t), rather than chasing algorithms and blending in. There was no roadmap.
I’m really not as cynical about the present as I am grateful for the past. And who’s to say? Culture, technology and process will keep evolving. In 20 years when the landscape is barely recognizable to today’s Gen Zs, chances are they’ll look back and appreciate from whence they came.
As for the original songs, I’m only on episode 5 but so far IMO — meh. Especially when they’re adjacent to classic iconic songs from that era. “I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger.” On the other hand maybe all that incense — I mean innocence — was truly bliss.
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