Diane Warren: Relentless (9/10)

by Tony Medley

91 minutes.

NR.

This is a fascinating documentary about a songwriter who came from nowhere to become a songwriter for more than 450 artists with a catalogue valued at more than a half billion dollars. Directed by Bess Kargman, the story is told by Diane herself and a myriad of artists and friend, including Cher, Common, Gloria Estefan, jerry Bruckheimer, Clive Davis, Quincy Jones and a myriad of others.

She says she played records when she was growing up in the “golden era of popular music, the ’60s and the ‘70s” and says she looked at the label one time “and in parentheses they had the songwriters’ names. I knew I wanted to be there; I wanted to be the writer.”

“I keep playing a song over and over again until I get it right.”

“I was a total rebel growing up. I would say, ‘F U; F the world’. I didn’t hurt anybody.” Her friend Cindy Wiener says she went to all the parties but would go straight to the bathroom with her guitar and write songs.

“I got arrested. I was sent to juvenile hall for a couple of weeks. I think they thought they were saving me, but it was kind of a traumatic thing when you are a kid.”

“I wanted a 12 string. My Dad said if you get nothing lower than a B I’ll get it for you. I did that and after I got my guitar, I went back to getting nothing but Ds and Fs.

Reminiscent of John Lennon, whose mother told him, “Playing the guitar is fine, John, but you’ll never make any money at it,” Diane’s mother told her father, “She can’t make a living at it.”

She says, “I love it when people tell me I can’t do something.” Her dad took her for guitar lessons, but she didn’t want to learn the scales, so the teacher told her father, “Don’t bring Diane back. She has no future in music.” So she taught herself.

“Rhythm of the Night” was her first hit when she was 29. She was signed with Jack White and wanted to get out of the contract. Jack White says “I gave up and we made a deal. But it is true that without me there would be no Diane Warren.”

Diane says, “I started my own company, settled the lawsuit and I never looked back. I’ve owned all my own songs since then.”

Cher fought not to record “If I Could Turn Back Time.” “I hated it.” But Diane said she’d pay for the track and wouldn’t give up. Cher says that she is so cheap that if she was going to pay for the track, she’d sing it, and it turned out to be her biggest hit. “The minute I started the track, it was perfect. I did it in about 15 minutes. Diane is unrelenting; she’s unrelenting, but it’s one of my favorite songs, one of my biggest hits.”

 Diane says, “you just need one believer and that one believer has to start out being you.”

Clive Davis, “She knows the power of love. She knows the heartbreak of love. She knows all the emotional qualities surrounding it. But it’s fantasy. Because to my knowledge, she’s never really been in love.”

She says. I’m straight. Everyone thinks I’m gay. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be in a relationship. It doesn’t matter. I don’t think you have to be in love to write a great love song. To me it’s like method acting. When I’m writing these songs, I’m the character. I feel everything.”

She reads from a list of the top 10 most influential living songwriters:

1.    1. Bob Dylan

2.   2. Paul McCartney

3.   3. Elton John

4.   4. Neil Young

5.   5. Bruce Springsteen

6.   6. Diane Warren

7.   7. Desmond Child

8.   8. Paul Simon

9.   0. Brian Wilson

1010.   Leonard Cohen

She sums up, “I great songs and I work my ass off for it.”

Near the end she gives probably the best Oscar® acceptance speech ever. It closes with a full performance of her song, “Dear Me,” a letter to herself.