good as fast as:
That is real poetry. Those are real poets.
Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder,
Bob Dylan, the Beatles.
Okay. What if one of your heroes
came up to you and said...
You know, Smokey, what if he said:
"Alex Fletcher,
you are a horrible songwriter"?
How would you react?
I know Smokey a little bit. He's too nice
a gentleman ever to say such a thing.
Dylan might. Dylan would, actually.
In fact, Dylan did.
Okay, Dylan walks up to you and he
says, "You are a horrible songwriter."
- How do you react?
- I would be horribly depressed.
Yes. I would. I would.
But then, after, you know,
months of brooding...
...I would find a lyricist...
...and write a song
about how horribly depressed I was.
It would be a big hit, everyone would
love me, and I'd make lots of money.
Suddenly I'd be less depressed
than if I just sat around...
...being a little bit self-indulgent,
letting my misery eat away at me...
...until I'd become an emotional wreck
and creatively completely moribund.
Yes, moribund.
- Okay, let's go. Come on.
- All right.
I've been living with a shadow overhead
I've been sleeping
With a clown above my bed
- "Clown" is not right. What is that word?
- It's "cloud."
Write more clearly. How can l...?
Why would you have a clown
in your bed?
- It would not be the first time.
- Yeah, I'm not surprised.
- Write in capital letters.
- Why don't you write it?
I'm sorry, Khan.
We're gonna come back in one second.
You dictate, I'll write.
And I will write like a human...
...and not like a small Pekingese dog.
What are you doing, you madwoman?
You're destroying my apartment.
I can't write from across the room.
Well, you're not writing here.
Get back to your corner.
I can't have you here.
- I'll be blocked. I'll be completely stuck.
- So go out the other side.
I've never been the other side.
Push, push. Push, push.
Good. Better.
You're still a fraction close.
Just... Just back off, just one...
Just... Just...
There, fine, good.
Okay.
And I don't think those chords are right.
It has to sound different than the verse.
What kind of different
did you have in mind?
I don't know.
Something sadder, you know?
And I still don't like my line
about "places in my mind."
- It's fine.
- Fine isn't good.
We only have time for fine.
I tell you what.
We'll change "places in my mind"...
...if I can keep the chord sequence
into the bridge.
This isn't a negotiation.
It's either right or wrong,
inspired or insipid.
It's 4 in the morning.
We're not writing the last movement
of the "Jupiter Symphony."
It's a song for someone whose last hit
was "Welcome to Bootytown."
Please, get back to work.
I still don't like it.
And it's "Entering Bootytown."
And another thing,
the whole top section...
I mean, it's so close.
We're just not there yet.
We just... We have to focus
and stay, you know...
..pletely understanding
of what we're trying to say.
Okay, you may now
start killing the next one.
All I wanna do
Is find a way back into love
I can 't make it through
Without a way back into love
You know, I'm tone-deaf.
Hey, what do you think of this?
Just keep writing.
Cora is leaving in an hour.
Listen, I was thinking that "corners"
was such a better word than "spaces."
For "in the mind. " "The corners
of my mind," rather than "the spaces. "
It just seems to have a better boundary
to it, you know?
Should I speak to you
about this later? Okay.
It sounds so good. I can't believe it.
And now...
...vocals.
No, you see, you have to sing
into the microphone. It won't follow you.
- But I can't.
- It's a duet for a man and a woman.
We are as close as we've got.
Your headphones and a level. You look
nice. You should wear them all the time.
How is that?
- Yes?
- Okay!
It's okay.
And...
..."Way Back Into Love." Take one.
Oh, God. I'm getting really nervous.
You'll be fine.
Just use your normal nice voice...
...that I've heard so much of
in the last