Put the Kettle On

Good content starts with elbow grease. And caffeine.

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Issue 15 | May 18, 2017 | Put the Kettle On

The Eagles – that ubiquitous, beloved band of the 70s – used to be on my permanent do-not-play list. Maybe it was because I just missed their heyday, as a child of the 80s. Maybe it was the overexposure to late-era Don Henley on classic rock stations. Maybe it was the memory of their cash-it-in tour of old guys, without the benefit of knowing the full band drama. Maybe it was pure foolishness.

Now I love them. I can’t stop shouting at Alexa to “play the Eagles!” All after watching a Netflix documentary, History of the Eagles, a solid gold gem from 2013. The hair! The mustaches! The station wagons they tour in! The epic journey photo shoots! The personalities! The breakups and the hits! Linda Rondstat! And the shaggy, fluffy, wondrous hair!

But the real magic behind my about-face might boil down to a scene where band co-founder Glenn Frey talks about the songwriting process, and what he learned from living in the apartment above good friend and songwriter Jackson Browne.

Said Frey: “We slept late in those days. Except around 9 o’clock in the morning, I’d hear Jackson Browne’s teapot going off, this whistle in the distance. And then, I’d hear him playing the piano.

“I didn’t really know how to write songs. I knew I wanted to write songs, but I didn’t know exactly, did you just wait around for inspiration, you know, what was the deal?

“I learned through Jackson’s ceiling and my floor exactly how to write songs, ‘cause Jackson would get up, and he’d play the first verse and first course, and he’d play it 20 times, until he had it just the way he wanted it. And then there’d be silence.

“And then I’d hear the teapot going off again. And it would be quiet for 10 or 20 minutes. And then I’d hear him start to play again. And there was the second verse.

“…And I’m up there going, so that’s how you do it. Elbow grease. Time. Thought. Persistence.”

Many dimensions of content are critical. The topic has to be timely. Well produced and presented. Distributed and promoted effectively. But above all else, content has to be good. The ideas have to be nurtured, worked out, and worked on. First step, per Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey: put the kettle on.

Looking for a freelance financial writer with elbow grease to spare? Reach out and let’s talk about your project needs.