I wrote “Hotter than the 4th of July” according to the songwriting principle espoused by Harland Howard.
Howard, the songwriting genius of such hits as “I Fall to Pieces,” “Busted” and “Streets of Baltimore,” is to have said he couldn’t start a song until he had a title.
This one came to me first as a title.
Melissa and I were honeymooning in Austin the week of July 4. (For those who know my music, I wrote, “Never been to Austin” before this trip.)
It was the week of Michael Jackson’s death. So inside our Austin Motel room, it was wall-to-wall coverage.
Austin Hotel: So Close Yet So Far Out
It was also an historic Texas hit wave. And being tourists and trying to escape the incessant Jackson-saga, we ventured into the heat more than we would have during a Georgia heat wave. Until this trip, I couldn’t imagine anything hotter and more humid than an August in South Georgia.
Now I know better. Lord, was it hot.
“Hotter than the 4th of July,” which is what I kept saying, thinking I was repeating a well-known phrase. At some point, I asked Melissa where that saying came from. She informed me that I was making stuff up again.
I was embarrassed. Then mystified. Then inspired.
When we returned home, I wrote “Hotter than the 4th of July.”
The insecurities songwriters suffer is best illustrated by the rest of story, after this song was written.
I played it for my guys in Atlanta and Wade said, in passing, casual like, that it sounded like a Jimmy Buffett song.
Immediately I was paranoid that I had inadvertently copied some melody of Buffett’s, whose music I really didn’t know, except for “Margaritaville” and one of his early hits “Come Monday.”
Still, I became reluctant to play it, as I didn’t want others thinking I’d copied Buffett. (Remember, I said insecurities.)
So, over the next couple of years, I would play it only occasionally, always anticipating the Buffett comparison. By then I’d even downloaded several Buffett songs to check out any similarities and I’d met some folks on Tybee who were Buffett fans and play several of his songs as well.
I couldn’t hear what Wade had heard but I remained a little weird about it.
As I was putting together the list of songs to record for this CD, “Hotter than the 4th of July” was on the edge.
When a musician friend asked which songs were going on my CD, I mentioned I might not include “Hotter…” I even admitted to my insecurity because someone suggested it sounded like a Buffett song. To which he said, one, it didn’t sound like Buffett to him, and two, he really liked the song.
Being obviously guided by ego, I, of course, went with the last, complimentary comment and included it.
Here’s the kicker.
I’m in Nashville to record the song. After going over the song’s musical charts with the band assembled in his studio, my producer last instructions were: “It’s got a Buffett feel to it, guys.”
I still don’t get it, but I’m over my willies.
To read the story behind “A Place to Call Home” click here.
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