Steve Miller sits down with Dan Rather to reveal the secrets behind his chart-topping hits and the creative method behind them. Oct 27, 2023
The Conversation
one thing I didn't ask you about
pompitus of love oh the pompitus of love
I know the phrase heard the phrase you
made it world famous but what is it
pompet of it's whatever you want it to
mean you know I was talking to uh Paul
McCartney you know about writing lyrics
and you know back this was like like
when you know Paul how do you do
this and he said you know you just uh
whatever works and I came oh you mean
just whatever is funny or good is is
okay it doesn't have to it's not that
heavy and the truth of the matter is um
things that feel spontaneous have a much
longer life than things that have got a
lot of burnt brain tissue you know but
to make them perfect well space cowboy
what's that about well that's a champion
of Justice you you're the space cowboy
you know damn not yeah damn F not I mean
a lot of people feel that that way you
know it's like the space cowboy is the
guy who stops the
bully well from where did that come I
mean did it come out of Buckaroo Bonsai
or something no I just U kind of wanted
to be an astronaut you know as soon as I
could I went to the Kennedy Space Center
and then looked at uh what they were
doing and so I always wanted to do the
music for
NASA because of the electronic music and
you know so I don't know I just
just made it up one day and and and I
think like the sense of the lyrics like
I was a kid like I used to get in scraps
a lot you know when I the first day I
spent at St Marks I was in the seventh
grade and there was a big bully in that
class and he had everybody cowed and I
just cold cocked him you know just like
you're not going to bully me buddy boy
and I was that kind of guy like I didn't
talk tolerate rudess or bullies well and
I think that's where the space comedy
well that speaks pretty well for you how
do you write a song do you have a
formula is there some something you have
in your head and say well I'm looking
for these things I think in my case I
think it starts with music some sort of
instrumental idea for me every now and
then I'll get an idea you know some some
phrase or something and you kind of
think well maybe I can you know use that
I always
loved Harmony and I loved
choruses and all my songs all my hits
are like that they're the kind of songs
you're driving in the car you want to
sing along you want to sing the Harmony
Part you want to sing the chorus you
know and I learned to make single
records in the late s from Les Paul
and Les
Paul taught me so much and so by the
time I'm making singles they have to be
minutes and seconds long and you
have to get the first seconds
something's got to happen the first four
seconds are the most important have to
grab the The Listener in the first four
seconds you're in top radio and the
radio stations are cutting your solos
out of your tunes and splicing the so
they're shorter so they can have more
time to sell ads I mean it's a brutal
competitive world so you're trying to
like tickle people's fancy and you don't
have a lot of time to do that and that's
the game it's called singles hits I'll
tell you how I wrote one of my hits
Abracadabra Abracadabra was this piece
of music that I wrote on a classical
guitar it was this classical piece it
was really just something I'd just sit
and pick up the guitar and it started
growing and got to be pretty good and
then I got this little rhythm going and
then I wrote The Worst lyrics in the
world and they were extremely catchy and
and I couldn't get it out of my head and
I put it on an
album and at in seconds I went
take it off that that music's too good
those lyrics are horrible take it off
and I took it
back and three years
later I was in Sun Valley skiing and I
saw Diana Ross on the ski
slopes and I went that's Diana Ross
I met Diana Ross when I was years old
doing HBL you know there and I was in
the room with the Supreme when they did
this and I went home and I sat down and
went how would the Supremes do this
song and I wrote Abracadabra in
minutes and I just sat down and it just
all came together and you know and I was
thinking of That Old Black Magic and
what Abri could dabra and The Supremes
would go I'm going to reach out and grab
you and I'm going to you know I'm going
to use this Rhythm and I'm going to put
this stuff in here and I'm going to have
this you know these dog barking guitar
solos and it was done and so like that's
a song that took years and minutes
to write