Ondaatje Adds Songwriter to the Resume (Macleans)

Date: 2010.05.11 | Category: press, The Early Widows | Tags:

Justin talks about the editing and arranging skills of Michael Ondaatje, who co-wrote several songs on The Early Widows.

“I brought some lyric sheets to his place and played him the songs,” says Rutledge. “He acted almost like an arranger, an editor. He saw the words on the page and would say ‘What about moving this there?’ or ‘What about trading these lines?’ ” Ninety minutes and a couple of cups of homemade cocoa later, Ondaatje had made suggestions on five songs, and co-written another, On The Russian River, 1849, from scratch.

Read Macleans’ full page feature on Justin and Michael Ondaatje here.