[LISTEN] Richard Marx: “I write songs completely selfishly”
Richard Marx may be known to casual fans for his big hits – “Endless Summer Nights”, “Angelie”, “Hazard” and the iconic “Right Here Waiting”, but as a songwriter he remains current even today – working with big-time musicians across genres. On his maiden tour to Dhaka, Marx – one of the biggest stars of world music in the ‘90s – sat down with The Daily Star for an exclusive interview, but some major management chaos on the part of organizers Creinse pushed it back by a good few hours and allowed for only a about five minutes.
You can read the interview below, or you can just listen to it here:
You've toured all over the world. But when you come to a new place, like here in Bangladesh, do you know what to expect from the audience? Is every new place a bit of an unknown territory, or are they all the same in essence?
Richard Marx: It’s definitely not all the same. Every place is different. The way the culture is sometimes determines what the audience is. My shows – especially the ones like this where it’s just me – are very much like we’re hanging out at a hotel or at my house. I just want them to relax and have fun, and it’s very interactive. In certain Asian cultures – Manila for example, they’re great fans, but very reserved and calm. Last April I played Sri Lanka for the first time, and I had a feeling they would be a reserved, quiet audience. They went crazy. They were yelling, screaming and laughing, it was an incredibly energetic, fun audience. I have no idea what it’s going to be tonight, but it’s kind of fun not knowing, you know. I’m going to do the best show that I possibly can: to the songs that I think the people came to hear, and a bunch of songs I want them to hear. And we’ll just have some fun.
As a songwriter, you have written chart-topping hits in from the ‘80s up till now. Musically and lyrically, people’s taste change over time, in general. As a songwriter who has remained current for four decades, how do you think popular music has changed lyrically, or what is the most striking difference from four decades ago?
Richard Marx: The first thing that comes to mind is that especially in the last five years, pop songs have gotten more and more conversational, and much more freely using phrases. I mean, there has always been the case that phrases have been used, back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and even before. The Chainsmokers for example: their lyrics are so simple and conversational, and there’s something about it that I don’t know if I can describe, but it’s very different from even seven or eight years ago. It’s changed.
But how has your songwriting changed, for example now when you’re writing for Chris Daughtry and when you wrote for Kenny Rogers?
Richard Marx: I’m a student of music. Especially if I’m going to write with or for another artiste, I do my homework on them. I listen to what they have done, and I think – as an admirer of who this is, what is missing? What’s something that I can bring to their repertoire that maybe they haven’t done before? Like with Daughtry, I didn’t want to write a typical rock song, you know…. or with anybody. So I go in and say, respectfully, “Why don’t we try this? Because I think you haven’t really done this.” I try to do that. Sometimes they steer you back. For example with Keith Urban, with who I have had great success in country world, every time I try to go someplace really different with him, I found find that he steers us back to where he is most comfortable. But we still write great song.
So your songwriting in very specific to the artiste you’re writing for… and is the process different for them?
Richard Marx: The process isn’t that different, but it’s on my mind that I’m trying to give them something that they wouldn’t normally do on their own. And when it comes to my own songwriting for myself, it’s the same thing that it has always been: I write songs that I like. I write songs completely selfishly. Sometimes because I need to get something out; I need to purge something. In other cases, I am creating something that I think would be fun to listen to. And if I really like a song I’ve written, there’s a good chance that other people would like too.
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