Michelle Lewis --> Other People's Music

Part of what keeps me inspired as a songwriter (and keeps me paid as a songwriter), is writing songs with and for other people. Before you look down your noses at this, you should remember that artists covering songs they didn’t write was once a really common and respected practice – I mean, “Natural Woman” for God’s sake!

And honestly… I get REALLY SICK of writing about myself all the damned time. It’s so much more challenging and interesting to try to channel someone else, or to try to bring something out in them they wouldn’t have come up with by themselves – it’s kind of like therapy, in that way. So since moving to LA, my husband Dan and I have been lucky enough to meet and work with some amazingly talented people (and some not-so-much, but they wont be mentioned here).

What will be mentioned here are the one’s I am proud, along with some of the ones you may have heard of:

Marla Sokoloff
Courtney Jaye
Kelly Osbourne
Shawn Colvin
Jessica Simpson
Amy Grant
Cher
Candice
Raven Simone
Rosey
Shane Nicholson

Marla Sokoloff

When Marla first showed up at our door, I thought “Dan’s going to freak, it’s the girl from ‘Dude, Where’s My Car?’” BTW, I think this is way more telling about Dan’s and my stoner taste in movies, than it is about Marla’s acting career – which has been totally impressive.

An A&R guy at Maverick sent her to us to “check her out” and see if she “really could write and sing”. Well, she could. Amazingly well – and I won’t even qualify, “for an actress” – she’s too good for that. Subsequently, Marla has become more like a sister than a co-writer. We’ve written an album’s worth of material together and are now looking for a record label.

This song “Call Me Crazy” was featured on an episode of “One Tree Hill” and the song “Save Me From Myself” is just one of my favorites. Check out MarlasMusic.com for more info!

"Call Me Crazy" : MP3 lyrics
"Save Me" : MP3 lyrics

Website: www.marlasmusic.com

Courtney Jaye

Another one of my favorite people… Courtney is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. And truly talented… with a voice you just want to listen to all the time. She is a genuine surfer girl with a very laid-back and earthy vibe (and an awesome tan). So we spent several weeks together over the past year writing songs which would embody that.

Then, last summer, Courtney got signed by LA Reid to Island Records. Her first full-length album will be released this June. She doesn’t have her own website yet, but check IslandRecords.com for updates.

"Hanelai Road" : MP3 lyrics
"Beautiful to Me" : MP3

Kelly Osbourne

Kelly covering “Dig Me Out” was a pivotal moment in getting me back into writing for other people… It made me realize that there didn’t have to be this huge gap between what I’d write for myself and what I’d wrote for someone else. “Dig Me Out” was a song from “Little Leviathan” that maybe all of 10 people heard – but one of those people was Kelly Osbourne (thanks to my mogul best friend, Kara). And so we re-wrote most of the song and it ended up on Kelly’s first album, and an episode of “The Osbournes, and on a Dorito’s commericial

Check out the “before and after” versions.

My “Dig Me Out” : MP3 lyrics
Kelly’s “Come Dig Me Out” : MP3

Shawn Colvin

I can’t say I actually write this song “with” Shawn, but sometimes it happens this way. Dan’s brother Doug was producing a Christmas album of hers and her manager wanted an original song on there. She was about to have a baby, so Dan and Doug wrote the music, I wrote some lyrics and Shawn made some changes, did a vocal and had a kid.

“I Don’t Want Anything This Christmas” : MP3

Jessica Simpson

I guess I was one of the first people Jessica ever sat down to write a song with. It was just before the MTV show and her A&R person wanted her to be a part of the writing process for her album, which I remember Sony was pretty dubious about even releasing. But she was engaged to Nick and in love and planning the wedding, so I thought it made sense to write a love song. She had her diary of thoughts and musings, which mostly involved the Lord and the sky and her cute boyfriend. So I went into therapist mode ("how does this make you feel?"). Her answer... "fearless." After I stopped gagging, we wrote this song, which never ended up on her record (poor me) but was an end credit on the Stuart Little 2 movie... which makes perfect sense.

"Fearless" : MP3

Amy Grant

This is the first cover I was ever REALLY proud of…I mean, what nice Jewish girl doesn’t love Amy Grant? I still hear this song in the aisles of supermarkets.

“I Will Be Your Friend” : MP3

Cher

The thing about Cher is that, even though it’s a cliché, she is totally a legend… I wrote this song on an acoustic guitar in my hotel room in Stockholm. My little voice on the demo of the song is actually comical once you hear her version.

“Different Kind of Love Song” : MP3

Candice

A lovely young singer/songwriter from Florida. Her major label debut will be out on Maverick this spring. I kinda like this song because it sounds like an Aimee Mann song being sung by a little kid.

“Don’t Get Me Started” : MP3

Raven Simone

Oy. What can I say? Los Angeles is a Disney town…they run this place! For a while there, it was all about the kids of Disney – Hilary Duff, Jesse McCartney and Raven Simone. But friends of mine with young children seem to like this Raven one…

“Supernatural” : MP3

Rosey

When Rosey’s first record came out on Island a couple of years ago, it was the height of the Christina/Britney juggernaut. Which is really a drag, because it’s the only possible reason such a great record could wind up overlooked. Rosey is this amazing singer… soulful and intense – I think she channels Robert Plant and Ricky Lee Jones at the same time.

Here is one of the songs we wrote together and a link to her website:

“Can You Hear Me Now?” : MP3

Website: www.roseymusic.com

Shane Nicholson

Shane sounds so much like Neil Finn, it kills me. He’s really cute too… with an adorable Australian accent.

“Paper Thin Line” : MP3

Website: www.shanenicholson.com