Or is it mostly a joint effort between the four of them? Just re-watching The Circus Live and the songs have some very good and interesting lyrics, just wondered if Gary should take all the credit or should it be shared?

Thanks

Well they say they co-write now, I assume Gary does most. It was one of the agreements they made when they come back, as Gary earned so much compared to the others before due to the songwriting royalties

Gary writes them all and then allows them all to add a couple one syllable words to let them believe they are helping

No, he said himself, that he hasn't wrote on some songs off the album. I still think he writes most of it but I guess they have all have contributed. I think on some songs you can tell that he hasn't wrote them but they are still great

I think Gary writes pretty much everything. Certainly the melodies must come from him, since none of the others have his actual ability to read music.

Like someone said, I think Gary lets them add a word or two to the lyrics to let them feel like "songwriters". One of the conditions for Take That reforming, was that Gary had to share credi for writing the songs (since songwriting Royalties are where most of the money comes from, and the others don't want to end up skint again, while Gary is still rolling in money).

Nobody is really fooled, even if Gary is diplomatic enough to try and share the credit. Most of the media still treat Gary as the creative force behind Take That.

Gary certainly does the bulk of the writing but please don't imply that the other lads don't have the talent to do so. Jason wrote 'Wooden Boat' on the Beautiful World album. The others do contribute too.

I thought Mark had written Shine and the one with the video that was like Hovis ad.

My understanding (from interviews) is that its a lot more democratic than it was before. Particularly between Gary and Mark.

But then I don't own one of their newer CD's so anyone who has one could tell us definitively!

Yes I think Sh@ron is right, im sure Mark wrote Shine. Pretty obvious that Gary is the writing talent though, look at the tunes he has written for all the other artists as well.

Let's just forget the awful Britania High songs , an album that for some reason my uncle bought me for christmas last year, just because I go to a drama school lol. He is a talented writer, I have the circus album and on the little cover thing it tells you who wrote what and they mostly sat Take That and another artist. There are still a few that just say Gary Barlow, eg the Circus, ones that he actually performs alone. I think that he provides most of the chords as well.

Strange that Barlow's solo career bombed.

Not so. Each song is credited to Take That, and sometimes a co-writer outside the band.

People do realise most of the songs are written by other songwriters, right? Maybe the band write the lyrics sometimes, particularly Mark who's had albums out of his own material before. But it's only the odd track like I'd Wait For Life and The Circus that are full Barlow/Take That compositions.

John Shanks is one of the main songwriters they've worked with. He's also written songs for Miley Cyrus, Bon Jovi, Leona, Keith Urban etc. One of the guys in their band also co-writes.

VERY common amongst band frontmen.

Freddie Mercury (only had real success with Montserrat Caballe and after he died other than Great Pretender).

Mick Jagger (only had real success with David Bowie).

Many others I can't think of right now

There are far fewer examples of singers that left a group to achieve notable solo success with the likes of George Michael, Diana Ross, and MJ probably the most significant (but they all have about 10 times more talent than Gary Barlow anyway - and I don't mean that badly).

Didn't Take That do a load of covers before they split up?

There is a belief that Back for good was written by somebody else. George Michael - even went far enough to say that publicly. It just sounds like it was written by an American songwriter.

The people(Jagger, Mercury) you mention are collaborative songwriters, it is unusual that Barlow wrote most of his Take That songs alone, yet as a solo artist bombed.

For one thing it is not just about writing (Diana Ross doesn't write) but about a frontman making it solo. Many people don't know/care who wrote the songs.

For another thing, Mercury was not a collaborative writer - he only collaborated on a handful of songs - those from 1989 were (like Take That) attributed to Queen for money purposes.
And, the songs from Barcelona were collaborations, and were his most successful 'solo' project, so that theory is out the window.

I doubt that. With their recent singles, I think its fair to say he has the talent and ability to write a song like that. I can't imagine anyone else writing it

It wasn't a belief ... it was a vicious rumour (and I have my suspicions about who was behind that rumour). The rumour was spread at a time when Gary Barlow was anybody's target ... the press had turned against him, shops had turned against him (Woolworths refusing to stock his albums! ... well Gary Barlow is still here and where are you Woolworths!) Then - like an arrow to the heart this vicious rumour was started - about the one really precious thing ... this gorgeous song. The rumour (or rather ... lie) was spread that it was actually the 'Gibb Brothers' who wrote the song! Apparently ... he could put his name to it in exchange for them to cover How Deep Is Your Love - I mean ... how pathetic a claim is that! Who could have hated Barlow that much, at that time to have made such a ridiculous accusation ... I wonder!!!!! This claim was denied and has been denied ever since by the Gibb Brothers. It was just a lie to take away another the credit for another of Barlow' beautiful songs. Anyway ... you only have to listen to the lyrics 'lipstick mark still on your coffee cup' and 'fist of pure emotion' to know that they are in keeping with Barlow's lyrics at the time - fairly unsophisticated if I'm honest ... but for me ... its his melodies that do the trick ... not the lyrics.

Back to the original post ... they share writing credits on all songs but not all work on songs together. Barlow gives a good account of it in his book ... for instance on the Beautiful World album - Shine is more of a Mark Owen/Howard Donald effort, whilst Reach Out was instigated more by Barlow and Orange ... with them all working out the fine tuning. Of course Barlow and Owen have more music know-how ... but don't for a minute believe that Orange and Donald don't deserve their place. I'm certain that in the concerts (and lets face it ... that is where the big money is now) Donald and Orange put more into the imagery and creation than Barlow and Owen do. The whole package is a joint effort ... so it doesn't really matter who writes the songs.

Sheila

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Back For Good was written by the Bee Gees. It is very much in their style if you think about it. You can imagine Barry and Robin singing it. However, if this were the case I doubt everyone would go to any length to keep it a secret from people. What would be the point?? If it came out that they wrote it who would actually care? It wouldn't make people like Take That less.

I think it sounds nothing like a Bee Gees song. The words are too 'adolescent' (much in keeping with Barlow's AMLS) the melody has always been his strength - not the lyrics. And seriously ... no-one would give up writer's royalties on the amount of money that BFG has made.

Either way from the first time round ... BFG isn't even Barlow's best song ... Never Forget is a thousand times better - better lyrics for a start and a storming chorus. And everything they've done since is far, far better than the first era.

Sheila

its often said that Jason makes the 'business' decisions for the band

Gary Barlow most definitly wrote back for good, all those rumours were spread at a time when it was the cool thing to dis Gary. THe song writng in the early days was done by Gary but that is not the case since they made their triumphant return, they all write song although gary and mark write more than howard and jason but they write a fair bit aswell.

Yes Jason does make some business decisions for the band, his brother used to look after all Gary's finances but not anymore as i think something happened between them.

I actually think it sounds VERY Bee Gees. Especially the 'want you back...want you back...want you back for good' backing harmonies. The main vocal is in Robin Gibb's style too. Maybe not all the lyrics, they could have changed those. Btw, who says they never took any money for royalties?? Er, if they did write it...obviously. There are such things as deals behind closed doors, and like someone said earlier, it could have involved Take That covering How Deep Is Your Love. Agh who cares...

Well considering Gary has written far better songs than BFG since (I'm sure Patience was a song he had hanging around in a drawer for ages in case of emergencies) no-one really. Besides ... even at the time - Never Forget and Pray were far better songs and as I said before ... the stuff they're doing now is much, much better anyway.

Having said all that ... the way the knives were out for Gary at the time the rumour was started - no-one would have given a thought to his reputation or feelings so if it were true ... Robin Gibb would have said 'yes' when he was asked instead of giving a categoric 'no'. I still think it was a pretty vicious rumour started just to further put the boot into Gary Barlow.

Ha ha! And Robbie Williams thought he had a hard time of it from the media! Poor Ray Heffernan ... he didn't even see a penny of the royalties from Angels ... and that has raked in a lot more money than BFG.