Eddie Schwartz Triumphantly Returns with New Single “We Win” and Movie Faculty EP
For many years, Eddie Schwartz has remained one of the crucial revered figures within the music world—an iconic Canadian songwriter, producer, performer, and rights advocate whose songs have echoed throughout generations. Together with his new single “We Win,” Eddie marks a daring and provoking return to his roots as a solo artist, main into the discharge of his new EP Movie Faculty, each out now. The venture showcases the complete spectrum of his brilliance: lyrical poignancy, musical craftsmanship, and the indomitable spirit that has outlined his legacy.
A Member of the Order of Canada and the Canadian Songwriters Corridor of Fame, Eddie Schwartz is the architect behind enduring hits like “Hit Me With Your Finest Shot,” popularized by Pat Benatar, and “All Our Tomorrows,” later coated by Joe Cocker. His catalog spans greater than 200 recorded songs and over 65 million bodily gross sales worldwide—lengthy earlier than streaming platforms entered the dialog. With Movie Faculty, Eddie provides a robust new chapter to his discography and inventive journey.
The lead single “We Win” pulses with optimism and resolve, themes that mirror the artist’s personal return to songwriting after a protracted pause. “We’ll break down the partitions, we’ll tear up the foundations / Come out swinging, combating, not afraid to lose,” Eddie sings within the refrain—his phrases now layered with private and cultural which means. “We rise up off our knees / We get up and imagine / Irrespective of how the story ends, we win.” Delivered with trademark sincerity, “We Win” feels as well timed as it’s timeless.
“These songs didn’t come simply,” Eddie writes in his artist notes. “After stepping away from writing, I wasn’t certain I’d ever return. However with encouragement from my spouse Joanne and associates in Nashville and past, I discovered my method again.”
His inventive rebirth is deeply felt all through Movie Faculty, a group of largely new songs that channel reflection, goal, and an undiminished inventive spark.
Born in Toronto in 1949, Eddie Schwartz holds a level in music and English literature from York College. He first made his mark within the band Icarus alongside trade titans Bob Ezrin and Ben Mink, earlier than launching a solo profession that led to a number of hit singles and a permanent position as one in every of Canada’s nice musical exports. “Hit Me With Your Finest Shot” could have been dismissed by a writer early on, however Benatar’s iconic recording turned it right into a cultural lightning rod. Eddie, ever gracious, all the time let the music communicate for itself.
His songs have been recorded by an astonishing roster: Paul Carrack, The Doobie Brothers, Carly Simon, America, Donna Summer season, Rita Coolidge, Rascal Flatts, and Mountain, amongst many others. As a producer, his credit embody the Doobie Brothers’ Cycles, Carrack’s Groove Accredited, and his personal albums, all resonating with an unmistakable mix of expertise and soul.
Movie Faculty arrives not solely as a creative assertion but in addition as a deeply private one.
“After quite a lot of years doing the Nashville-style co-writing daily—two songs a day, 5 days per week—I burned out,” Eddie displays. “The clean web page stayed clean for a very long time.”
His capability to re-engage with songwriting—on his personal phrases—underscores the quiet energy behind “We Win” and the complete EP.
From the cinematic textures of the title observe to the soul-stirring honesty of “We Win,” each notice on Movie Faculty reveals a grasp returning to type.
“I wrote these songs slower than earlier than. However each line, each melody got here from an actual place,” Eddie notes. “I wished the music to replicate what I’ve lived via and what I nonetheless imagine in.”
That perception has prolonged far past music. Eddie’s work as a world music creators’ advocate has earned him deep admiration. As previous president of the Worldwide Council of Music Creators and the Songwriters Affiliation of Canada, and as president of Music Creators North America, Eddie has formed coverage and fought for the rights of the inventive group worldwide.
SOCAN acknowledged his impression with their Cultural Impression Award, whereas his induction into the Canadian Songwriters Corridor of Fame stays a testomony to his artistry and affect. Nonetheless, regardless of the accolades, Movie Faculty reminds audiences why Eddie Schwartz is—in the beginning—an artist.
“I wrote ‘We Win’ as a music of hope,” he says. “I hope folks hear it and really feel the facility of standing up once more. As a result of there’s all the time a purpose to strive once more, to maintain transferring ahead.”
With Movie Faculty, Eddie Schwartz continues to just do that—creating music that uplifts, empowers, and endures.
Hello, Eddie! Good to satisfy you! Care to introduce your self to the readers for these not aware of your music?
Positive, my title is Eddie Schwartz, and I’m a songwriter, artist, and document producer. I’ve written songs recorded by Joe Cocker, Rascal Flatts, Donna Summer season, Carly Simon, America, Meatloaf, Gowan, Honeymoon Suite, and lots of others.
My finest recognized songs recorded by different artists are “Hit Me With Your Finest Shot” recorded by Pat Benatar, “Don’t Shed a Tear” by Paul Carrack, and “The Physician” by the Doobie Brothers. I used to be additionally a producer on Paul Carrack’s “Groove Accredited” album, and the “Doobies” Cycles album, and quite a lot of Lawrence Gowan albums, for instance.
As an artist, “Particular Woman” and “All Our Tomorrows” are two of my very own data that people could have heard.
Younger music creators face loads of challenges as of late, so with out getting too far into the weeds, I additionally spend time advocating for songwriters and artists to attempt to strengthen their rights and skill to make a residing making music.
What impressed the title Movie Faculty for the EP, and the way does it join with the themes within the songs?
“Movie Faculty” is a group of six songs which can be all type of like quick movies, or vignettes with tales and characters and dialogue. The folks within the songs face challenges very similar to characters in a film would. In quite a lot of the songs, they discover methods to face these challenges and transfer ahead with their lives, or in some songs like “Outbound Prepare,” we associate with the principle character on a considerably otherworldly trip. Yeah, so I feel that type of cinematic strategy is the essence of this assortment of songs.
And in addition, a brand new music is uncharted territory, and the expertise of discovering my method via the writing and recording course of is a studying expertise. This was much more true this time round, since I hadn’t written a music in fairly a number of years, so I needed to relearn tips on how to do it. So given all that, “Movie Faculty” felt like a strategy to tie the totally different components of the venture collectively.
You’ve written lots of of songs over your profession. What felt totally different about writing “We Win” and the opposite tracks on this venture?
There are a handful of songs I’ve written through the years, when after struggling for days or perhaps weeks and even months to discover a method ahead with the music and arising empty, the fog clears and there may be what I can solely describe as a second of revelation. “Hit Me along with your Finest Shot” was like that, and so was “We Win”. And as talked about earlier, I had taken years off from writing, so if I used to be going to do it once more, I wished to dig deeper and discover issues to say that have been extra significant to me, and hopefully to different folks as properly.
I did loads of considering and listening throughout that lengthy interval I couldn’t write, and it gave me the chance to judge what songs I had written again within the day that also appeared related, that had handed the check of time. And the songs that stood out have been those that finest captured an actual second in my life, and I had discovered a strategy to specific that actuality in order that different folks might relate to it. So on “Movie Faculty,” I had the reward of a greater perspective on what I had written earlier than – the time to take a tough have a look at the place I’ve been as a songwriter and artist, and the time to actually think about each music concept and resolve if it rang true, if it related. Was it one thing that was worthy of different folks’s time and a spotlight? It’s not that I had been insensitive to these issues earlier than, however “Movie Faculty” benefited from that perspective and, I suppose, maturity.
You’ve stated these songs didn’t come simply. What helped you discover your method again to writing after your time away?
The reply to that’s folks, expensive associates, and my household who’ve supported me and have been encouraging me to get again to songwriting. I used to be very burnt out after quite a lot of years of writing in Nashville, writing two songs a day, day after day, for years. There are songwriters who’re wonderful at doing that, however I knew in my coronary heart that I wasn’t one in every of them, as a lot as I attempted. So I finished writing, and for some years I centered on different issues, predominantly advocacy for copyright within the US, Canada, and world wide.
However all through, my spouse Joanne, my children, and good associates like Roger Moutenot, a beautiful musician and recording engineer in Nashville who combined the songs on “Movie Faculty”, stored encouraging me to get again to songwriting.
Roger and I began writing, and “You Don’t Belong” was the outcome. “Outbound Prepare” was an concept I had been kicking round earlier than I finished writing, so I went again to that music with recent ears and realized it wanted a center part, which I then wrote. So yeah it’s actually in regards to the folks, the encouragement, the love and help that I had from my household and associates that obtained me again into writing once more.
What message or feeling do you hope listeners stroll away with after listening to Movie Faculty and “We Win”?
It appears to me we’re in a really tough time proper now, and I actually have been battling how to deal with the day by day madness. The second of discovering “We Win” was an immediate the place I discovered a strategy to a extra hopeful place. I felt the message of “We Win” introduced what is sweet in our lives into focus, into the forefront, versus dwelling on what we’ve to take care of on this loopy world on a regular basis. The grind of what’s onerous and irritating and painful.
And as soon as I had the music written, I very a lot wished to share that with different folks, as a result of I believed simply perhaps the message of the music might assist people struggling as of late as properly.
There’s a world the place folks care about one another, the place we have fun our connection to one another, regardless of who we’re. That’s a world I need to assist construct, as a result of I imagine that’s a world the place we win. Not simply the few on the prime, however all of us.