That Thing You Do, Written By...

…Adam Schlesinger

Right after I got out of college I was working at the Courtyard Marriott on 19th Ave here in Nashville. I was a front desk agent.

(Sidenote: they CAN give you a discount, no one is getting charged for being an hour late for check-out, yes sometimes the wake-up call isn’t entered in correctly)

Being that the hotel is close to downtown, it would get booked by bands and artists playing the various venues or festivals that happen down there.  Even Evander Holyfield stayed there once…I shook his hand…his giant, strong hand.

But I was getting off my shift at 11pm one night and saw a long haired guy sitting in the lobby. Looked like a music dude, probably was, couldn’t really tell.  As I walked through the lobby (in my front desk vest, and baggy pleaded pants) he turned his head just enough that I could tell…it was Adam Schlesinger!

I knew what he looked like because I was completely obsessed with That Thing You Do from an early age, so I had already done all the research on who wrote it, yada yada yada.

So I stopped and said hello (painfully agonizing that I had to meet him in my dumb font desk uniform and not in my cool “I’m a musician too” leather jacket).

We ended up talking for ten or fifteen minutes and he graciously answered my million questions about the song and the movie.

He wrote it as an assignment from his publisher in a few days.  The assignment was to write a song called That Thing You Do for ‘a 1964 band who loved the Beatles’.  He wrote a few different ideas, showed some buddies, and finished the best one.


It’s easy to look back on success and say ‘of course it worked’. Of course Adam Schlesinger’s version of That Thing You Do (and there were 300 other writers’ submissions) was the best one and he was going to make lots of money from it and have a front desk hotel worker notice him in the lobby.

But all Adam really did was show up and work.  It was a writing assignment, that’s it. He’s a huge Beatles fan so he took a crack at it.

It is as boring and unromantic, and REAL as that.

Showing up and doing the work. Nothing magical…except that the magic decided to show up when Adam showed up! If Adam doesn’t show up, the magic would have been left alone in the writing room and we wouldn’t have the song that made the movie. 

Keep showing up. Keep digging. Keep finding ways to get recharged and make another go of it.

*This one was suppose to go out Friday. Sorry about that. I hope today is a good enough consolation prize.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Simply, The Wonders

“Next, this ‘Oneders’, with the O-N-E, it doesn’t work. It’s confusing. From now on you boys will just be, simply The Wonders.”- Mr. White

(Lenny: “As in I Wonder what happened to the O-Needers? :)

It’s so good.

Mr. White clears up all the confusion by being clear and insightful.  

Coming up with The Oneders is akin to spending five days deciding what font to use in your newsletter so you choose Curlz because ’no one does that anymore’.

Coming up with The Wonders is akin to using Helvetica for your newsletter because that was the default and you understand that the content of the newsletter is a million times more important than the font. 

Make the font decision quickly, spend more time on the content…both literally and metaphorically speaking.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

How Did We Get Here?

“Hey Skitch…how did we get here?!” -Lenny, right before they play the Hollywood Television Showcase- That Thing You Do

If you know that part in the movie you know that Lenny’s enthusiasm in that question really meant that he wasn’t looking for an answer. In fact, he probably prefers there isn’t a real answer at all. He just wants it all to happen to him and for him and he’ll be there to have fun and help everyone have a good time.

But there is in fact an answer to the question (for when Lenny asks it, and when you ask it).  It’s always really long and detailed and lucky and serendipitous and unfair and choppy, romantic, heartbreaking and truly unique.

You could never write it. You could never script it. The real answer is too crazy and nuanced. 

But Guy’s response to Lenny is so good. 

“I have lead you here, Sir”

That’s about as true and concise of an answer as he possibly could have given.

You get good places via good leadership. Via having the guts to speed up the song at the Mercyhurst College Talent Show.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Meet Girls And Dance

“We came here to meet girls and dance and we can’t meet girls until we dance!!!!”- the heckler/fan at Villapianos- That Thing You Do

It’s important to realize that while the audience is there BECAUSE of you…they are not there FOR you.

They are there for themselves…and to meet girls and dance :)

That’s what The Wonders represent to our heckler/fan. That’s the story he’s telling himself. “The Wonders are a cool band who will create an environment that is beneficial to my value system and priorities”. So he went to the show.

That’s something that Jimmy hated, Lenny loved, Guy understood, and T.B. Player was oblivious to.  Regardless of how they FELT about it, that’s what was actually happening.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

The Dream You Dream

That Thing You Do

Looking back on his time as The Wonders’ moody frontman, Johnathon Schaech (Jimmy) repeatedly invokes the film’s tagline: 

“In every life there comes a time when that dream you dream becomes that thing you do.”

That’s great. I love the tagline and the way it’s connected to the movie.  It’s very optimistic, which we can all appreciate.

But I’d like to flip it over a little bit…

“In every life there comes a time when you realize that thing you are do is more important than a dream you merely dream.”

I hope you dream the dream, AND do the dream.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

The 3rd Verse

I love 3rd verses.

The 3rd verse is always good…because it’s not necessary.  It’s only included if it’s that good.

And by the 3rd verse the writers are tired of holding back…they’re not writing for the single anymore…as everyone knows that the 3rd verse isn’t the make or break for radio or playlisting.

The writers throw everything they have at the 3rd verse, because why not? 3rd verses are go for broke.

Another great thing about the 3rd verse is it has two verses and two choruses before it, duh.  You already know what the song is about, so the 3rd verse can be a bit of an inside joke, or have a special detail, or be more personal, or more poetic, or more…

It’s the same reason the punch line doesn’t come at the beginning of the joke, but the end of it. The punch line needs the lead-in in order to be the funniest part.

3rd verses aren’t going to make you a household name…but they are a special little nugget for the households who know your name.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com