It comes with the territory; when you achieve some sort of prominence in the arts, people are naturally curious about the process. The queries come at me from many angles: what led you into music; how do song ideas come; what advice would you give to young song-writers; etc.
I’m not sure how valuable the answers to those questions may be, because no two situations are ever alike and the surrounding circumstances, as well, change dramatically, even within a few years. However, given that the interest is certainly there – I hear it or read it frequently – let me spend a few minutes answering the intriguing question of “what was it about these songs that made them so popular?”
To begin with, anyone who proposes to tell you specifically why songs get popular will suggest some factors (melody, beat, topicality, etc) but then end up conceding that we never know for
