"Love Won't Wait" - Gary Barlow version

[androiduser 2,815]

I've been watching a lot of Gary Barlow interviews recently, and some of his stories are very fascinating, and he's very honest about the part of his career when he was dropped from the label.

Love Won't Wait was a success for him in the UK, but - although he didn't say much about it publicly, it seems that he didn't want to release it as a single, and he doesn't perform it at any of the newer shows, and doesn't mention it in interviews. There is a very interesting story about him performing a remix at the insistence of Clive Davis at the Grammy pre-party, and messing it up colossally, but he never mentions the title of the song.

I also remember Madonna wasn't credited as the songwriter for the single release in the UK. Instead, the authors were listed as Copyright Control and Shep Pettibone. I did some googling, and it seems that the term “copyright control” is used when the songwriter hasn't yet claimed their work. For the album release, the song was instead credited to Madonna and Shep Pettibone. So I assume after the single was released, Madonna and her team claimed songwriting credit, and they hadn't done it before because it was an abandoned demo?

Barlow hasn't performed the song many times, and he doesn't mention it often. He probably prefers self-written material, and doesn't have good memories of the song because he was pressured by Clive Davis to release it, and perform an unplanned remix of it.

Just wanted to add, he is a fan of Madonna and never dissed her or anything, he just had a bad experience with a song he didn't want to release as a single.

He tells a long story about the pre-Grammy failure here (46:02 - 50:47)

 single back sleeve without the Madonna credit

[Smoothie 80]

Here's a clip of him talking about it when the single had its UK release and he also performed it on this TV show.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8KvGcRqKjm/

[Ian 2,443]

I've always loved the song, I hope we get M's version (a clean one and maybe a demo too) , who knows maybe they'll just lift the one on Youtube lol

oohh maybe they'll use AI to clean it

[androiduser 2,815]

I posted in the wrong section my mistake, can the topic be moved to News and discussions?

[Adonna 20,777]

I always like the song too.  I really love Madonna's demo of the song. It sounds pretty finished to me.  I can understand why he doesn't want to perform a song he didn't pen himself.  I think Madonna has felt the same with some of her older songs she didn't write.  I know she's shown appreciation to them as she's getting older, but I still think she hates Material GIrl and Like A Virgin.  She seems to be very welcoming to Holiday though.  But in all honesty, Holiday is very much a song you'd think Madonna has written in her early years.

[Tudors 607]

I get Madonnas version stuck in my head all the time

[Holger 1,213]

I always wondered why Madonna wasn't credited on the CD single.

It just ways "(Copyright Control / S. Pettibone) Shep Songs (ASCAP)"

It was hardly a secret that she co-wrote the song (although I only learned about the demo much later).

[Starchild 3,545]

Thanks for sharing that, @androiduser.

Gary's always come across as a sincere guy and a deep thinker, which I appreciate.

Geez, why would Clive put his artist in such an unfair and awkward position?

[androiduser 2,815]

7 hours ago, Holger said:

I always wondered why Madonna wasn't credited on the CD single.

It just ways "(Copyright Control / S. Pettibone) Shep Songs (ASCAP)"

It was hardly a secret that she co-wrote the song (although I only learned about the demo much later).

Apparently, Copyright Control is used when the songwriter hasn't yet legally claimed the songwriting credit. I assume it needs to be registered with ASCAP (or another institution?), and Madonna hadn't yet done it when the single was released.

[Prayer 16,672]

I think the "Copyright Control" thing was also used when the paperwork was already happening behind the scenes but the product needed to be out already. So it was like a "coming soon, we're taking care of it". I remember seeing it in other pop CDs at the time (not many times, it wasn't the usual of course), I guess for last minute additions or things like that. So maybe they were sorting out Madonna's legal part and once it was done she was included for the album credits.

But definitely it's not like it was a hidden fact or anything, I always remember hearing and knowing it was written by Madonna since day one and he was asked in interviews about it, etc.

As for Gary not caring about it today, not surprising: he's been a professional songwriter for more than 30 years now. He surely prefers any of his own written material, solo or Take That, and that's just normal I think.

[androiduser 2,815]

7 hours ago, Starchild said:

Thanks for sharing that, @androiduser.

Gary's always come across as a sincere guy and a deep thinker, which I appreciate.

Geez, why would Clive put his artist in such an unfair and awkward position?

I think Clive Davis went with the “standard” procedure for a brand-new act, not taking into account Barlow was already an experienced and accomplished singer/songwriter. Barlow said in multiple interviews Clive Davis just didn't like the songs he wrote and always insisted on cover versions and a different style of music. In the end, it didn't work out and they dropped him. Luckily, he was able to come back with multiple new songs, even stronger than before.

[androiduser 2,815]

5 minutes ago, Prayer said:

As for Gary not caring about it today, not surprising: he's been a professional songwriter for more than 30 years now. He surely prefers any of his own written material, solo or Take That, and that's just normal I think.

Definitely, he has a ton of his own classics, and had some major hits after he was dropped by the label. And he's super respectful of Madonna - when he talks about how he failed with the performance and was subsequently dropped, he never mentions it was with a song written by Madonna. He doesn't go into details, probably because he doesn't want anyone to make assumptions that Madonna's song led to his demise. You know the headline would be "Madonna's song ruined Barlow's career!!!"