|
"Change the World" is a pop song written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick whose best-known version was recorded by the British recording artist Eric Clapton for the soundtrack of the 1996 film, ''Phenomenon''. The track was produced by pop music record producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and marked music's ability to bring together musicians from completely different genres, making a successful recording work. The title is Clapton's 15th contribution to a motion picture soundtrack and features the English rock musician playing on acoustic guitar only. The single release, Clapton recorded for Reprise and Warner Bros. Records, reached the Top 40 in twenty countries and topped the charts in Brazil, Canada, Japan as well as ''Billboard'' magazine's Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts in the United States. "Change the World" gained numerous record sales presentations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, selling more than 2,3 million copies worldwide. The single was prized with eight awards, among them three Grammy Awards, Clapton took home at the 39th annual ceremony in 1997. ==Background and recording== In 2003, Eric Clapton remembered why he wanted to record the song and why he chose Babyface as his producer for the pop single in an interview with ''Guitarist'' magazine: "Babyface was one of those great catalysts for me. I had seen him on TV doing his thing with acoustic guitar and I was thinking, 'this is a guy who's in the R&B world, he's a producer and yet he knows how to get that minimal thing and make a small sound really powerful.' And when I heard the song, I put it on in my car and was driving around listening to it about 200 times without stopping. And I just knew it was a hit. I'm the guy that used to hate the idea of pop songs and I was so against that for myself. But when the music is that good, I start to become okay about it. And this really was an opportunity it would have been childish to walk away from. And there's only one guy I knew that would make it absolutely right and that was Babyface". In an interview with ''American Songwriter'', Gordon Kennedy retold the recording history of the song: "'Change The World' was a song written over the course of a year by Tommy Sims, Wayne Kirkpatrick, and myself. On a recording session in Quad Studios in Nashville, in the early '90s, Wayne and I were recording some demos in an attempt to do the 'artist' thing. We recorded four songs that day, three of which wound up on Garth Brooks' ''Chris Gaines'' CD (this would happen several years later). During that session, Tommy was there playing bass and played us the nugget of an idea he had, wondering if it might be something that would work for the sound we were doing. He had the title and a chord progression and melody direction going. Wayne would ask him some months later for a tape of the idea so he could work on it. He wrote the lyrics to the chorus and all but one line of the second verse. Then, it went dormant again for a time before I asked Wayne about its progress. He gave me what he'd done on it. I finished writing the music, went to Columbus, Ohio and laid down a demo track with Tommy. He was there working on a church choir album. On the way home, I listened to a tape of the track and dictated lyrics into another little handheld recorder (I still have the micro-cassette!). I wrote the lyrics to the first verse and the missing line in the second verse. When I got home, I went into the studio and did a guitar and all of the vocals for a finished demo, the one Clapton heard later… None of the three of us were together when we wrote what we each wrote on the song". Although some of the recordings took place in London,〔 most of the song's recording was done in Record Plant studios in Los Angeles, where for example Nathan East's bass parts were mixed and recorded. East also notes, the recording sessions were very busy, because many international successful artists wanted to work with Babyface at the time, however, the pop producer put Clapton and "Change the World" first. In 2013, Clapton explained his take on the song in an interview with ''MOJO'' magazine: "When I heard Tommy Sims' demo, I could hear Paul McCartney doing that, so I needed to, with greatest respect to Paul, take that and put it somewhere black. So I asked Babyface who, even though he may not be aware of it, gave it the blues thing. The first two lines I play on that song on the acoustic guitar are lines I quote wherever I can and they come from the beginning of "Mannish Boy" by Muddy Waters. On every record I make where I think, this has got a chance of doing well, I make sure I pay my dues on this. So I think I've found a way to do it, but it has to have one foot in the blues, even if its subtly disguised". While journalists from ''MusicTunes'' were in conversation with the single's producer Babyface, the American R&B artist recalled: "It was a real pleasure working in the studio with Eric Clapton" and added, that Clapton's "music is legendary and he is truly one of the entertainment industry's musical geniuses".〔 For the recording sessions, several people were in charge of the production and making for the single, including Brad Gilderman and Thomas Russo as the recording engineers, Robbie Robertson as the soundtrack's producer, Mick Guzauski worked on the final mix, Babyface produced the "Change the World" songs (single mix and instrumental), where as Clapton produced the B-side "Danny Boy" by himself. All the recording actions were overseen by music supervisor Kathy Nelson.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Eric Clapton – Change The World (CD) at Discogs )〕 The music mastering for the 1996 single release was done at Oasis Mastering in Burbank, California.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Discography List – Oasis Mastering )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Change the World」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|