Story of the $2.50 song [View all]

[notemason]

1980 would find me struggling in Nashville as a singer/songwriter and to keep a roof I had a day gig at a garden center. One day I spotted a regular customer wearing tennis shorts and since I was on the tennis team in college I struck up a conversation that began a series of very friendly but highly competitive matches. Not so friendly were the trips to his house where he and his wife would get into horrible arguments almost every time. Put a pin in that for now.

Anyway it turns out he was the drummer in the band of a country superstar and he was friends with O.B,.McClinton who was heading to the studios to cut a new album. The drummer and the rest of the band started their own publishing company and hoped to put a song on the album. He knew I was a songwriter and asked me for help. It was a rush job but I co-wrote a song with a fellow songwriter who also worked at the garden center and the song made the album.

I left Nashville for awhile but remained in touch and looked for that first royalty check. After some time passed I contacted my friend again and asked about the song. He said sales were poor and sent me a check for $2.50 which I still have. That was the last I heard from him. I later discovered that the reason I couldn’t reach him anymore was because he had one too many arguments with the wife and took her life. He was in prison,

Years later I found the song on You Tube and researched a bit to discover it had been pulled from the album and was being marketed internationally as a single. I reached out to a member of the original band and inquired about sales but all I ever received was an accounting that showed my royalties due were in the neighborhood of a nickel.

And so goes the tale of the $2.50 song, Didn’t even get the nickel.