BOB MCDILL: Art & Commerce: Threading a Masterful Career

Is there a story behind “All Of The Good Ones Are Gone?” Most of your hits addressed the concerns of men…

Yes. I heard that phrase two or three times from gals who were single or divorced, lamenting “all the good ones are gone.” Women are always seeking a relationship, or seem to. Men are not always so focused on a relationship as women are. I’d heard women say that before it occurred to me that it was a title. Then I had a date to write with Dean Dillon and I said, “Imagine this…a gal’s 30-something and she says, ‘All of the good ones are gone.'” And he sang me the whole first line. It just poured out of him.

Were there any songs that were like pulling teeth to write?

They were all like pulling teeth for me.  Well, “Amanda” (a hit for Don Williams) took me about 30 minutes to write. That’s the only one like that. I never gave up on a song. When I retired, there were a few unfinished fragments, but not many. When you’ve got four or five things in the oven all the time and if you’re able to work 8 hours, you’d work on one thing and get sick of it. Then you’d work on another eight thing until you got sick of that, and then you start over…no, I’d never give up on any of them. If they were good enough to get halfway into, then I’d refuse to give up on them.

And sometimes you’d have to bring in someone to help you finish…

Sometimes, you had to. I had that Don Williams thing, “She Never Knew Me.” I carried that phrase and melody around for a couple of years, and finally Wayland Holyfield and I managed to unlock it. Sometimes, the dumbest little idea, if you allow them to mature, can turn into really great songs. They can be saved by language and melody and cleverness and so forth.

Would words and music usually come together?

No. I’d usually get one or the other and then have to go to work.

So you’d get some words and then pick up a guitar?

Or I might get an idea or a situation or a character, not just words. Sometimes you start with a title. If you’re writing commercially and collaboratively and trying to get on the radio, the best way to start is with a title.

In general, do you feel that an extensive knowledge of the guitar is important in writing the kind of songs you wrote? Or does knowing too many chords get in the way?

You just have to use good sense and not overdue it. We had some pretty chordy things that were country hits. When I first moved here in 1970, that was sort of a taboo…putting a lot of chords to a song. That went away eventually, thank goodness. I think it’s good to be a good musician. I don’t think it helps to be a great musician. I think that might get in your way. Somebody called songwriting a half-assed profession; you’re a half-assed musician, a half-assed poet and a half-assed singer. You put all that together and you’ve got a songwriter.