On and On

If you happened to take a course on the art of songwriting given recently at the Songwriting Institute of Los Angeles and were not aware that the slightly bemused middle aged fellow sitting in your midst was in fact a highly decorated recording artist who secured his place in the pop pantheon with a string of hits in the late 1970’s, your oversight is understandable and excused. Stephen Bishop simply felt the desire to brush up his technique, and hits like “Separate Lives,” “Save It For a Rainy Day,” and this month’s Classic Track, “On and On,” haven’t separated him from the desire to develop as an artist.

“It was funny, being with the other people in the class,” says Bishop. “I wanted to blend in, and asked the instructor, Rob Seals, to keep my identity a secret. On the last day of class, Rob-who is a very good teacher-was talking about the importance of titles, and he asked us to name a song we’d written. When I mentioned “On and On,” one of the other guys said ‘that’s a Stephen Bishop song.’ I said, well, I’m kinda Steven Bishop!”

This wry, Everyman demeanor-manifested even during the days when his star was at its brightest-infused Bishop’s writing and helped define his public persona.  Growing up in San Diego in the late 1950’s and early 60’s, Bishop’s early musical influences included the Kingston Trio, the Limelighters, and the Smothers Brothers. “I loved the way the Smothers Brothers combined music and humor, and I’ve always incorporated humor in my own shows [Bishop’s flip side can be seen on film, most notably in the cult classic, “National Lampoon’s Animal House”]. The Smothers Brothers Live At The Purple Onion was one of my favorite albums.”

After high school Bishop headed north to LA in search of fame and fortune. “I came up with my band, The Weeds. We stayed on Sunset Boulevard in some old hotel. During the days I’d take my 12 dollar guitar, walk up and down the street, and knock on the door of every music publisher I could find.”

At the age of 18, Bishop was hired as a staff writer by the venerable Edwin H. Morris Publishing house. Their catalogue included the scores to a host of Broadway hits, including Bye Bye Birdie”and Mame, but Morris knew they had to attract a younger audience in order to remain viable. “What an education,” says Bishop. “I remember this old guy, Sidney Goldstein, yelling, ‘we need a song for Cher!’”  

But Bishop was aiming at a higher target. “James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James album came out during that time, and I was envious of him. I had an incredible amount of drive-which, by the way, is all gone now-and all I could think about was writing a hit for myself.”

“Down In Jamaica, they’ve got lots of pretty women,

Steal your money then they break your heart.

Lonely Sue she’s in love with old Sam.

Take him from the fire into the frying pan.”

So begins, “On and On.” Had Bishop been to Jamaica? “No, I was imagining that scene from my humble apartment, which by that time was a flat in Silver Lake.  I wrote the song in a couple of hours, after stumbling across a chord voicing on my guitar that I was unfamiliar with. It’s a Cadd9, or something like that. At the time I was into putting names into songs, and I used that device in ‘On and On.’”

On the strength of a hatful of songs, including “On and On” and his obvious performing talent Bishop signed a recording contract with ABC Dunhill. His first album, Careless, was recorded at A&M Studios on Le Brea Ave. Bishop co-produced this venture with engineer/producer Henry Lewy.

“Henry, who died several years ago, was a big part of the success of that album. I wasn’t into the technical side of things; that was Henry’s domain. I do have some great memories from those sessions, though.

“I used to imitate a trombone with my mouth and hands, and one day we were listening to the playback of one of my ‘tromblown’ solos when Quincy Jones stuck his head in the studio. He said something like, “What a great trombone player, who is it?” I took that as a high compliment! Chaka sang on three songs, and Art Garfunkle- who had recorded a song of mine on his Breakaway album-also sang on a track.” In one of his most economical turn of phrases, Eric Clapton contributed the solo to “Save It For a Rainy Day.”

The demo of “On and On,” recorded more than a year earlier, was followed closely when it came time to track the final. “We had under harmonies in the verses and choruses, all of which I sang. We were also looking to put together an unusual set of instruments. Victor Feldman played the bass vibes, and we brought in Mike London to play steel guitar. We recorded three or four tracks of Mike’s playing, and during the mix my job was to ride his parts. I can’t remember the board or tape machine we were using, but we definitely used a 24 track deck.”

Upon its release, “On and On” made a rapid ascent, cresting at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Save It For a Rainy Day,” did nearly as well, reaching the number 22 slot. Did Bishop believe it would all happen so quickly? “No. I certainly didn’t think that ”On and On” was going to be a hit at all. That surprised me.”

The zenith of his career might have come with the release of “It Might Be You,” the theme to the 1982 film Tootsie. Although Bishop didn’t write this song (Dave Grusin set a lyric penned by Alan and Marilyn Bergman), it cemented his image as a sensitive Everyman. Did he mind? “That doesn’t sound so bad! When you’re a singer the whole idea is to be sincere, I don’t mind that at all! A lot of people think of me as the guy who sings the Tootsie song; that whole crooner thing. But I’ve worn a lot of hats-in fact, I’m wearing one right now!”  

Bishop, who continues to tour, recently produced his own EP, Work, Home, Dinner, TV, Bed. “I wrote the material over a period of several months  An excellent female singer from Canada, Nat J, appears on the track “Loveless,” and I worked with a very talented producer/engineer name Vivek Maddala, who has a project studio in Venice, CA, on a song called “Love Is You.” I met Vivek through another singer, Wendy Starland, who was cutting her own version of “On and On.” I sang a duet with her-not the first time I’ve done that.”

And so it goes, the career of Stephen Bishop, on and on. He writes when he will and tours when it’s time, having stamped his signature style on an in-between era in the history of American popular music.  Post Vietnam, pre Gulf War, with the horror of AIDS still unimaginable (but just around the corner) and the Twin Towers standing tall, the tempo of pop music was a bit slower, the volume level somewhat attenuated. Indicators, perhaps, of a population more at ease than ours. It was a time when performers like Stephen Bishop could sing about rainy days and make us feel that they were far away.