» Wasted Paper

Back in the mid-90's, I was conducting a lesson for the Dayton/Cincinnati Area NSAI Workshop (before it became part of the Songwriters Workshop) in the basement of the Living Word Church's chapel in Middletown.  The lesson was about finding original angles to potential song topics.  I was trying to make a point, and said, "With the right angle, I could write a song about anything...even, say, that trash can over there," pointing at a garbage can by the kitchen.  At that point I suddenly realized I had obligated myself to demonstrate.

I started talking out loud, brainstorming about what I called the "transactional nature" of the object - how a trash can could connect two people: "Okay, a trash can is for throwing things away, things like food...cans...paper...paper!  People write on paper, they write letters, they write notes...okay, I've got it." (It may have taken me a little longer than that, but it wasn't by much.)

I then began telling a story to the members that was the basis for this song - including the final scene described in the bridge.  I had always admired the song written by John Robbin and Barbara Cloyd for Lorri Morgan called "I Guess You Had to Be There", and the twist in my story seemed to be a match for that incredible song.

I kept this idea in my head for several years.  I was excited by it, but I also was afraid that when I actually wrote it, I would mess it up.  Finally one night, I simply sat down in my studio and wrote it, not caring how it turned out.  I went to bed thinking it was awful; I woke up, read it, and became very excited again.

A few years later, I went to coordinator training for NSAI and had the good fortune to be assigned to Barbara Cloyd for song critiques.  I had actually brought "Wasted Paper" with me as the song to be critiqued - the coincidence was incredible.  Barbara really liked the song and made a favorable comparison to her own song, my original inspiration:  "I Guess You Had to Be There."  She suggested some changes which I later incorporated.

But then Stefanie Welches, Vaughn's daughter, asked to record the song to advance her own career in country music.  She asked to meet with me to figure out how she was going to sing it.  When we met, I got a crash course in the difference between crafting a song to meet a songwriter's standards and crafting it to make it singable by an artist.  Stefanie did an amazing job of tweaking the song's phrasing, and then we started collaborating on restructuring it as well.  By the time we were done, I was happy to give Stefanie a cowriting credit.

This has become one of Stefanie's most popular songs, and I am very proud of it.