The Worldwide Shortage of Babies Named Mutt.

Something to think about.

I cruised home tonight listening to Bryan Adams' So Far So Good and the Mutt Lange songs stuck out as clearly as anything I've ever heard from one songwriter. These aren't new songs, of course, but it was only tonight that I realized how easily they could be transformed into Def Leppard or Shania Twain tracks. More specifically the latter.

So the prickly question is this: if the Mutt Lange songs on So Far So Good are all credited as Adams/Lange and the Mutt Lange songs on any given Shania Twain album are all credited as Twain/Lange, and yet all of these songs sound remarkably the same; just what in the hell do Bryan Adams and Shania Twain contribute? Forget about lyrics, because the Adams/Lange songs sound written from the reference book of easy rhymes and love sentiments. We know that it's not the melodies or spunky choruses. So could it be that Lange is just a remarkable pushover when it comes to sharing credit? Is a guitar solo enough to give Bryan Adams songwriting royalties. And are the occasional and spontaneous "yeah"s and "mmm"s enough for Twain to be a co-songwriter?

I don't know. Who can say? I'm not sure that the world of songwriting credit is as regulated and politicked as the world of screenwriting, but clearly something is up.

And who was the better kisser?