Hi Tal,

I sure appreciate your posts. In fact it's rare when your posts don't make my day. Thank you!

When my shelf crashed and I was in that frenzy phase of reading tons of books and logging on to rfm at all hours of the day - it was really cool to find out that you were the artist behind the hit song, "She's So High."

I've been curious about how that song came to be. If you don't mind, I'd love to know more of the background about it. Was it tied in any way to your exit from tscc? Was it tied to the stifled sexual conditioning tscc dishes out? Or, perhaps, was it about your recovery in any way?

Perhaps you've covered this before, but for someone relatively new to being out, I'd love to know and I'm sure others would too.

Thanks! -smo

The song was released in 1999. Tal started posting here in 2004 and left the church sometime after that.

Didn't he write the song based on his friend Stacy's mom?

Stacy's mom has got it going on.

Fascinating stories. Thank you very much, Tal.

Basking in the warm glow is as close as I'll ever get to fame. Which is good.

"Towel" - I don't have a friend named "Stacy", and I don't know anyone by that name. I'm actually really sick of hearing all the stupid, fabricated rumours about myself (although I admit that there is some truth to Oscar Wilde's quip that the only thing worse than being talked about behind your back, is *not* being talked about behind your back).

I wrote "She's So High" one day in late 1996. Its primary motivation was desperation. I'd gotten married within a year of returning from my mission on December 30, 1989, and as per the instructions of Ezra Taft Benson, I started having babies with my young bride as soon as possible. Also, as per his instructions, I was determined to be the breadwinner while she stayed at home to raise the babies.

By summer of 1996, I was freaked. We were about to have our fourth baby, and I was supposed to support all six of us, but I had no career prospects. Every demo of songs I'd sent out had been rejected. It was depressing and quietly terrifying. I realized I had to write "the magic song", or financially, we'd be sunk, and soon.

Then one day, I wrote a song called "If You Sleep". It was really simple, but I knew as soon as I'd written it that it would get me a record deal. And it did. I then wanted to write another song to show the record and publishing people that it wasn't just a one-off - that I could write lots of good songs. So I woke up and thought, "today, I will write a smash hit". By the end of the day, I had "She's So High", a song loosely based on a few other hit songs, including "If It Makes You Happy" by Sheryl Crow, "Dance the Night Away" by Van Halen, "Can't Get It Out of My Head" by ELO, and an obscure song by some unknown English band whose name escapes me now. I also tried to channel Ray Davies from The Kinks, because his lyrics were always so clever.

One idea which inspired the lyrics was the memory of me trying to pay off the hottest girl in our high school to go out on a date with my step-brother. Talking to her, I remember feeling very nervous; and when, to my surprise, she opened up, and was very nice, and even seemed to vaguely green-light me, I felt completely flummoxed. So I tried to capture that sense in the lyrics.

"She's So High" came out in spring of 1999. It was supposed to be a "set-up single" - a single that just spends a bit of time at radio, and preps it for the biggie to follow (which was supposed to be "If You Sleep"). But radio played "She's So High" for months, and months, and months; and while they did, of course, they didn't want to hear about any follow-up single. By the time they stopped playing it, the record company seemed to have moved on, and never really promoted "If You Sleep". At least partly because of that, it never hit. Management and record company problems subsequent to that ensured that no more songs would ever hit off of that record; and I was dropped, for reasons never explained to me, before I could make a second record for Columbia.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2014 01:04AM by Tal Bachman.

Fascinating, thanks much for sharing!

How in the world did "If it Makes you Happy" inspire "She's So High?"

The former is one of my anthems and I'm trying to see the connection between the two. :)

The melodic connection was pretty obvious to me when he said it.

But after singing them both, I can hear the melodic connection. :)

I sometimes hear it with other random songs, too. Lady Gaga's "Papparazzi" and Berlin's "Take my Breath Away" have similar structure in the chorus.

@Tal

They are just having fun... throwing out Fountains of Wayne song "Stacy's Mom" for giggles. No one took them seriously... nor should you. Life is too short for that. :)

I for one love the "Welcome Interstate Managers" album.

"Stacy's Mom" is kind of a goofy song, but the band is actually pretty good.

So, are you categorically denying that you once had a crush on Stacy's mom?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2014 11:00PM by archytas.

great story. I love hearing what songs inspired other songs.

awesome.

Ah, the Kinks. I've got Living on a Thin Line on my iPod. Love it.

Yes, thanks for sharing your inspiration for writing that song. It's always been one of my favorites and I always have to stop and sing it when it comes on the radio.

I hadn't heard of Tal or his music (or 99% of well-known music for that matter) until 6-12 months ago here on RFM. I listened to a few cuts including she's so high. I was impressed and liked what I heard. It's fun to hear some of the background.

You still writing?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2014 12:34AM by thingsithink.

WOW, thanks for the back ground.

My cousin is a song writer and now music producer. I love when he gives me the backgrounds on songs he has written.

And I have to say, I remember "She's so high." And I remember at the time hearing that it had been written by an LDS guy.
And when I have seen your posts on here, I knew your name looked familiar....but I couldn't remember where I had heard it lol.

I am an old dork...what can I say.

Itzpalotl - The chord sequence on the chorus of "If It Makes You Happy" I used for the chorus of "She's So High" (II - IV - I - V).

I was thinking there was a She's so High- I still get stoned connection with the lyrics. :P

Any interesting story there Tal? Or was it just prescient?

HH =)

Tal,

To come full circle, did this one hit get you out of financial hell? You brought that up and I'm ignorant of the music biz, royalties, etc.

Also, I'm not that guy who asks people how much $$ they make. I guess I'm just curious about what one hit song can do - that's all.

Hi smo

I was fortunate. The late nineties were the apex of record industry spending. It was pre-Napster, pre-piracy, and business was still booming. So, amazingly, I got a publishing and recording deal based on the strength of just one simple little tune ("If You Sleep"), which included signing bonuses and cash advances. These put us in a comfortable position. Once the album came out, and "She's So High" hit, the royalty cheques started arriving. Because I was the sole writer, and it hit big all over the world (and was then covered again by a Norwegian guy, who sent it up the charts a second time in Europe), we lived well.

Obviously, the royalties have dwindled now, but I'm working on a new project now, so fingers crossed.

I have heard that bands make a in the neighborhood of 7% royalty when their song is covered. Is that about accurate? Or not? I was really surprised because it sounds like a too small amount to pay out to the writer(s) of the music! And if the band doing the cover keeps most of the money, then why wouldn't everybody just start covering popular songs and making money off them? I guess there is something I'm not getting in how the industry works. Or maybe my information was inaccurate.

Tal,
Anywhere we can hear If You Sleep?

YouTube link: http://youtu.be/oG4mmjeunC0

I've had "She's So High" in my head all day thanks to this thread. lol
Thanks Tal, it's always interesting to hear the back stories of songs.

Wow. I just watched the YouTube video... Tears...

Tal...just so you know, I'm an old fart (60 years old next week...BTO fan going way back). I loved "She's So High" and tonight watching the videos posted here...well, you're just a hottie.

To quote the Clash:

This phoney beatlemania has bitten the dust....

Fascinating stories. Thank you very much, Tal. You do know a thing or two about writing songs.

Basking in the warm glow is as close as I'll ever get to fame, which is good.

If all else fails, you could always go back to making shy, awkward kids feel like crap. You were good at that as a teen. Sorry, but that still stings after all these years.

@trucker

Or you could grow up and realize that people usually do change from the way they were in high school 30 years ago. Jeesuz.

I can't even remember what the hell I did five years ago, let alone over 20 years ago when I was in high school.

Very anon - No idea what percentage artists make...

Debbie - Thanks!

Trucker - Not knowing who you are or any specifics, I'm not sure what to say other than that I'm sure my teenage behaviour was sometimes terrible.