THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Lisa Crawley

Given that New Zealand singer-songwriter Lisa Crawley has been on many people's radar since the early 2000s  -- Elsewhere reviewed her EP Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between in 2009 and her debut album Everything That I Have Seen was released in 2011 -- it seems odd that at this later stage we would have her answer some songwriting questions.

However she won the Pacific Songwriting Competition and later was shortlisted for a Silver Scroll. Her songwriting frequently has autobiographical elements, albeit somewhat coded at times.

But her career hasn't been straightforward as she moved from a cabaret residency in Japan to time in London, onto television shows like Stars in Their Eyes back home, touring with Simply Red and the NZSO, an artist's residency in Canada, writing a musical Elizabeth, and more recently living and working in LA.

So given her diverse career and peripatetic nature, it's quite possible many have either forgotten who Lisa Crawley is or a new generation doesn't know her.

She recently signalled her new EP New Girl Syndrome (telling title, huh?) with the single What You Can Do, a mature piano ballad about getting some perspective on your life and capabilities.

Lisa Crawley writes music for adults so it is our pleasure to (re)introduce her with some questions about songwriting, like . . .

The first song which made you think, 'Now that's a well crafted piece of work' was . . .
Other than the Christian rock I was surrounded by at youth group, I’d say ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ by Goldenhorse, which may be an interesting choice as it really only has the two sections with an instrumental that repeat, but the simplicity of it combined with the chords, melody and passing notes really blew me away.

Complete this sentence: The first song I wrote was . . .

Other than rewriting the lyrics to Alanis Morissette's ‘Ironic’ for a Greenpeace competition, it was ‘Will You Be Waiting’ - an earnest piano ballad I wrote in my early years of high school. It had an epic key change. 

The one songwriter you will always listen to, even if they disappointed you previously, is?

Christine McVie.

As songwriters: Lennon-McCartney or Jagger-Richards; kd lang or Katy Perry; Madonna or Michael Jackson; Johnny Cash or Kris Kristofferson, Beyonce or Janelle Monae?

Lennon-McCartney, KD Lang, Madonna, Johnny Cash and Beyonce! 

The three songs (yours, or by others) you would love everyone to hear because they are well crafted are . . .

• ‘Heart Of Glass’ by Blondie.

• ‘Be The Wheel’ by Theo Katzman. 

• ‘Wise Up’ by Aimee Mann.

Melody first? Words or phrase first? Simultaneous?

I used to always write lyrics first, but that’s shifted over the years to it generally being simultaneous. 

The best book on music or musicians you have read is . . .

This Will End in Tears: The Miserabilist Guide to Music by my good friend Adam Houghtailing. It balanced me out and kept me sane while I was playing shiny crowd pleasers on a cruise ship for a month.

If you could co-write with anyone it would be . . .

Carole King.

The last CD or vinyl album you bought was . . . (And your most recent downloads include . . ) 

I bought a Janis Ian record in La Porte, Indiana over the weekend. Earlier today I was streaming a playlist of country music songs sung in French alongside some Cass Elliot tunes that I’m learning for an upcoming tribute night.

One song, royalties for life, never have to work again. The song by anyone, yourself included, which wouldn't embarrass you would be . 

‘Everybody's Talkin’ by Fred Neil, although like many, I discovered the song via Harry Nilsson and enjoyed various covers of it by other artists too. 

One line (or couplet) from a song -- yours or someone else' -- which you think is just a stone cold winner is . . .

"Cause you get behind…there’s a party in your mind but you don’t invite yourself, trying to be someone else" (from ‘What You Can Do’).

Songwriting: what's the ratio of inspiration/perspiration?

About a 3:7 ratio there! 

Ever had a song come to you fully-formed like it dropped into your lap?

When I was seventeen I wrote ‘Stranger’ on a twenty minute break while working selling sheet music for ten dollars an hour at ‘MusicWorks’. 

And finally, finish this couplet in any way you like: “Standing at the airport with an empty suitcase at my feet . . .” (You are NOT allowed to rhyme that with “meet” however)

Can’t seem to find my passport, but trying to be discreet (true story) !

Call It A Night

Lisa Crawley's EP New Girl Syndrome (and her other music) is available from bandcamp on April 25 here