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Jim Glaser may have been born in Spalding,
Nebraska (16 Dec 1937), but he knows the ins and outs of the Nashville
scene as well as any native. He began honing his songwriting skills while
still a boy out on the farm in Nebraska and to this day he continues to
practice them, having spent a lifetime furthering his craft.
Glaser freely admits that the main motivation behind his
songwriting has been commercial success; however, as his large catalogue
evidences, this goal never stopped him from crafting songs of exceptional
poetic merit. In fact, as he explains it, the ideas of commerciality and
artistry, which in many cases seem to be at odds with one another, are
fitting companions as they apply to his work. Many of his songs are what
he calls “formula songs,” which is to say, they came about simply as ideas
for songs and did not draw particularly on events from his own life.
However, Glaser notes that formula songs need not be weak
songs. When he writes, either alone or with others, including his frequent
collaborator Jimmy Payne, Glaser’s goal is to find original and creative
ways to express ideas in his songs. Doing this involves keeping several
things in mind. One is constantly considering the commercial audience. A
song has to have broad appeal for people of all ages, genders, etc.
Another thing he considers is other songs. As a young boy, Glaser was
obsessed with music (although he concedes that his brother, Tompall, was
even more so, and credits some of his success to his brother’s early
drive), listening to the radio and quickly learning about songwriting that
way, through passionate and intense study. Citing influences in everything
from blues music to Beach Boys-style pop, Glaser listened to a variety of
music in order to familiarize himself with various lyrical methodologies;
however, rather than just imitate one or more of these, he stresses the
importance of being able to differentiate one’s songs from the others
being played. Even such greats as Harlan Howard personally offered Glaser
advice, but in the end, it was important for him to develop his own basic
formula. His goal is stating things in ways that aren’t commonly said,
using rhymes that aren’t predictable, analogies that aren’t trite, and
examining topics in ways in which they may not have been previously
examined. For these reasons, he stresses the importance of not evaluating
one’s creations in terms of radio songs, which may or may not be
particularly well-written, but rather by those songs which move one as a
writer. One further consideration he cites is that of creating realistic
and relatable characters in his songs. To do this, Glaser makes sure he
understands his characters’ complete backgrounds and motivations, even if
their entire story is not present in the song. He relates his need to
undergo this process to his natural inclination to question everything.
“I’m genetically an over-analyzer, like my dad,” he notes. Whatever the
motivation, the payoff has been some songs which feature especially
well-developed and often unique characters, including “Instinct for
Survival,” depicting a character who must have instinct override emotion
in a bad relationship, and “She’s Free but She’s Not Easy,” a somewhat
risqué for its time examination of an aging woman coping with being single
that provides a different perspective on the traditional male view of
women who frequent bars and places of that nature. While he keeps these
and many other things in mind, one thing he does not consider is the
eventual singer of the song. His songs have been recorded by many artists,
including Skeeter Davis, Anita Carter (whose inner and outer beauty he
remembers fondly), and Lynn Anderson, as well as The Glaser Brothers
themselves, but Glaser does not write his lyrics with any particular
singer in mind.
Jim Glaser is proud of his catalogue of songs as a whole.
When pressed to specify, he mentioned that many of his later songs are
more mature than his older ones, and thereby somewhat dearer to him. As
far as individual songs go, he mentioned “Woman, Woman” for the simple
reason that it became a big hit and still makes him money thanks to its
status as a radio staple. Glaser is also very satisfied with the way these
lyrics turned out and shared some information on the song’s genesis. He
recalls a time when being backstage at the Ryman Auditorium involved many
writers and performers in a family-oriented atmosphere. Mel Tillis, who,
as Glaser recalls, in the beginning stages of his career, would give away
his songs to the likes of Webb Pierce for as little as a pair of cowboy
boots, played him a recent composition which would become a hit: “Ruby,
Don’t Take Your Love to Town.” Glaser considered the possibility of
writing a song about the suspicion of cheating, but making it more
universal. He thereby wrote it with the female addressed simply as “woman”
as opposed to giving her a name, like “Ruby.” He was on the way home from
the Grand Ole Opry when he wrote the last verse of his song, and later
pulled this out when he was having a songwriting session with Jimmy Payne.
Payne and he finished fleshing out the song, and Payne eventually cut it
as a single for Epic Records. The pair didn’t realize that Gary Puckett
and The Union Gap had cut it until the license for the recording came
across his desk one day; however, Glaser described the experience of
hearing his song on the radio and seeing the single in jukeboxes as
“really cool.” The Union Gap version of “Woman, Woman” peaked at #4 on
Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Interestingly, Glaser notes that, until the
song reached the top thirty, many people weren’t really listening to the
lyrics outside of the title line; however, once it got there, audiences
started to pay closer attention to the rest. This contributes to his
philosophy that a good hook can get you so much chart success, but a truly
well-written song overall is what can get your song to the top.
“Woman, Woman” was not Glaser’s only big hit, nor was it
the only one for which he had an interesting story. For example, “Sittin’
in an All Nite Café” was written when the Glaser Brothers were on the road
with Warner Mack. Glaser was driving and heard all sorts of songs on the
radio that involved men coping with their lost love by drinking. Wondering
what a man was supposed to do if he lost his love and didn’t drink led to
the composition on the spot of “All Nite Café.” Using the ukulele he had
with him, he played the song for Warner Mack. Mack cut it and it became a
top ten hit on Billboard’s country chart, leading to a bit of
good-natured needling from brother Tompall Glaser at the song having been
given away. Another of his hit songs with an interesting story is “What
Does It Take (To Keep a Woman Like You Satisfied),” which, with its gender
changed, became a top ten hit for Skeeter Davis on Billboard’s
country chart. The Glaser Brothers had been performing in Jackson,
Mississippi, and at this particular gig, a kitchen had to suffice as a
dressing room. From here, Glaser observed a man and his wife who entered.
He was a working man, but she was putting on airs in an attempt to seem
upper class, and she seemed dissatisfied with him. This scene inspired
him, and he went out to his car, got out his ukulele, and the song was
born. The song is lyrically very mature and poetic, and this has much to
do with his previously-discussed creative concerns. For example, the
well-observed lyric “And when you’re running from yourself, there ain’t no
place to hide” came about while trying to think of a creative rhyme for
satisfied that doesn’t actually anticipate the word. The song’s lyrics
also demonstrate Glaser’s quest to express emotional situations in
different ways, affected by his knowledge of the songwriting craft and
those songs which had already been written and his drive to differentiate
his own work from these.
Currently living in Murfreesboro with a wife he adores,
Glaser continues to write, although he has not seen significant chart
success in recent years. He cites some dissatisfaction with the overall
state of the industry, including the blurring of the lines between country
and pop music and the corporatization of radio, which has eliminated some
of the leverage one once had by simply having strong songs and the ability
of independent radio stations to break hits. However, Glaser is still a
recognized and respected figure, even being approached at Bread & Co.
during the course of our interview by a man who wanted to offer
pleasantries and a business card. |
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