Many of our favorite country music singers allow others to write the songs they sing. This is the case with Keith Urban‘s “Only You Can Love Me This Way”. Nashville songwriters Steve McEwan and John Reid met at a songwriting camp and ending up cranking out the hit song out in a quick 15 minutes.
It’s pretty crazy that a song that ended up being certified gold was penned in 15 minutes by two strangers. Both songwriters recently told a popular country music website how it all happened.
Keith Urban Only You Can Love Me This Way Music Video
“I’d never met John before. We were at a songwriting camp in Nashville … John is from the U.K., like me. I was the first guy he’d written with that week, and we were sitting in this room together, trying to talk about something we could both connect with. He’d just met this woman that he was just bowled over with, and he was showing me pictures of her” McEwan said.
“So we were talking for ages, not doing much writing at all, and I said, “Well, listen … we should really try and do something.” So I played him this little guitar riff that kind of runs through the whole song — just a few chords, and he loved it. And he [Reid] just started singing along to it … He’s got this really beautiful voice” he continued.
“The title came as we got to the end of the chorus … and again, we didn’t have to think about it. It just came naturally. The good ones usually do.The song never really surprised me at any point. Really, I come back to Steve’s guitar riff — that made it easy for me, both melodically and lyrically” said Reid.
McEwan continued “It came together so quickly — I’d say 15-20 minutes. I remember at the end, we were going through it, and I was like, “Oh, maybe we should work on this lyric here … especially the second verse.” I was thinking, “Oh, we need a bit more here … ” And John was like, “Aww, no … that’s great! Come on, let’s go and record it!” So we went and laid it down, just a guitar and voice. There was never a full demo. And that’s what Keith heard. And he cut the song to that little work tape.”
There you have it! That’s how hit songs get made— well, sometimes.
