Reflecting on Adam Schelsinger
marc lawrence:
“I first met Adam Schlesinger in 1999. Well, not exactly Adam, but his music, via Fountains of Wayne. I’d read about the band in a music magazine, bought their first album, and it was love at first listen. I was writing and producing Miss Congeniality at the time, and I drove cast, crew, beauty queens and Teamsters insane by blasting the album in my trailer, car, production office, and humming the songs in between takes. The melodies were Beatle-quality with magical hooks and the lyrics — all about losers, nerds, and underdogs from New Jersey and Long Island — were suburban poetry. And funny. And clever. They were my new favorite band.
When I was directing my first movie, Two Weeks Notice, I worked up the nerve to contact Adam directly, to see if perhaps he might be interested in contributing some music. This is always a risky gamble — meeting your heroes. What if you don’t like them in real life? Or way worse, what if they don’t like you? Adam responded, and fortunately, we liked each other. We could talk about music, writing, movies, our physical ailments, families, and whatever was on the menu — we had a lot of lunches. Everything except sports — I don’t think Adam was a big sports guy, although “All Kinds Of Time” wound up being used by the NFL as a promo I think — proving that even when he wasn’t trying, he could write about anything brilliantly.
When I was doing Music and Lyrics, Adam contributed four songs and supervised many of Hugh Grant and Hailey Bennett’s vocal performances. Arguably the most important song in the film was “Way Back Into Love,” which threads through the entire story, much as Adam’s incredible “That Thing You Do” did for that film. So when he came to my apartment to play it for me on a tinny little keyboard we had, I was nervous — the whole movie was riding on this. Three minutes later, when he hit the last note, I asked if I could kiss him. That’s how perfect it was. The song summed up the entire emotion of the movie in a few verses and choruses.
Adam was amazing that way — whether it was writing for Broadway, television, a movie, or an Awards show, he was a gifted chameleon — and nothing ever sounded inauthentic or tossed off. He put as much passion and craft into a parody for Colbert as he did into a Fountains song or the theme song for a film.
And Adam totally disproved the theory that incredibly talented people have to be self-absorbed or full of themselves — he was the most unpretentious, supportive and generous guy around. In our case, that extended to our family, where he got involved with Clyde’s musical career early on and asked Gracie to sing demos for him and showed up at the band’s performances and provided guidance and advice whenever asked. Adam and I continued to talk about projects, worked on a couple, and he was never less than a frighteningly clever and wonderfully warm person.
In one of the last texts we shared, Adam let me know that he wasn’t going to be able to attend a LAWRENCE show because “I’m on kid duty tonight and can’t make it. Please repeatedly yell ‘one more song’ for me at the end.” I know he loved his daughters and of course totally understood. But today, more than anything, I wish I could could yell “one more song” to you, Adam. But thank you for the ones you already gave us, and the work and laughs and friendship. Lunch will never be the same…”
Clyde Lawrence:
“Adam Schlesinger was not only one of the greatest songwriters of all-time, but an incredibly important personal mentor and friend to me. I can imagine it could have been weird for a successful songwriter/producer in his late 30s to be working on the music for a big studio movie (Music & Lyrics) and getting told that the writer-director’s son was also going to be writing some songs and score for it. But from the moment I met him, Adam welcomed me into his creative environment, took me under his wing and treated me with respect while still teaching me tons of valuable lessons.
After the movie was over, Adam and I got together and he wanted me to play him literally every song idea I had. Starting that day and continuing for several years, he was the main person whose songwriting wisdom I valued, and throughout that time he gave me feedback and tips that still take up a lot of space in my songwriting brain. Meanwhile, he hired Gracie to sing on demos that he had written for female artists when she was still a young child, the first time anyone ever gave her an opportunity to sing professionally, which I know was extremely meaningful to her. Adam was the first person to ever invite me into a recording studio, the first person to produce my music (he worked on my first EP Homesick), and the first person to compliment my singing voice and tell me that I should consider singing my own songs (I had never thought of myself as a singer or frontman up to that point). When it was time for me to apply to college, Adam wrote my college recommendation letter. It’s worth noting that he also did all of this completely for free.
When he set up a showcase for me to play for a record-label executive, Adam told me afterwards that the executive had commented to him that he had liked most of my material, but not the newer batch of my stuff that made me sound “like a 14-year-old Randy Newman.” I told Adam that I actually quite liked that musical direction and appreciated the comparison even if it wasn’t meant to be a compliment. With no hesitation, he told me to keep going down that path if it’s what I was into, that he had been told countless times before that there was no space for a band like Fountains of Wayne in pop music, that I would find industry people and fans that would share my vision for my music, and that besides, he also liked Randy Newman. A different kind of person with a different attitude might have said something else right then and fundamentally changed the course of my career and creative approach.
From his work with Fountains of Wayne (one of the most underrated bands ever) to the contributions to films/tv like That Thing You Do! and Music and Lyrics and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to what I’m sure is going to be an amazing soundtrack to Sarah Silverman’s upcoming Broadway musical, Adam Schlesinger was an unbelievably versatile and talented songwriter who wove genres, time periods and emotions masterfully, not to mention an extremely cool guy with a great sense of humor that is apparent in his work. I internalized the lessons he taught me so much that, to this day, whenever I write something, I’m able to think about what he might think of it, what notes he might give me and what choices he might make without even reaching out to him. I’m thankful for the fact that although he’s no longer around in person, I will continue to be able to do that for the rest of my life. RIP to one of my idols.”