Riley Green has turned out to be a terrific songwriter, having written or co-written 13 of the 14 songs on his debut album, including his latest single. “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.” But looking back on some of the first songs he ever wrote, like a song called ‘Escalade,’ Riley can’t help but laugh. He says, “It was about me getting an Escalade. Like, for some reason I thought that I had ‘made it’ if I could get an Escalade. I remember one of the last verses was, ‘the man don’t make the car, the car makes the man.’”
While Riley has long since moved on from songs like “Escalade,” he says, “It’s funny; the songs that I wrote years ago – I had a song called ‘Little Hank’ that people still request, and I couldn’t tell you the words to it. That’s one of those things about the fans that I’ve got, is that the ones that were there from day one feel like they had such a hand in my success – and they did – and whatever it was about those songs that to me were just horrible, that they liked or took from it, was something that, you know, I guess made me a better songwriter along the way.”
It was the experience of writing songs like “Escalade” that Riley is thankful for because he says, “Whereas these songs probably aren’t very good as a whole, maybe there’s little lines or tidbits in there that were something that helped me write the songs I’m writing now.”
Riley Green – first song Escalade :42
“One of the first songs I ever wrote was called ‘Escalade,’ and it was about me getting an Escalade. Like, for some reason I thought that I had ‘made it’ if I could get an Escalade. I remember one of the last verses was, ‘the man don’t make the car, the car makes the man.’ And you know, it’s funny; the songs that I wrote years ago – I had a song called ‘Little Hank’ that people still request, and I couldn’t tell you the words to it. That’s one of those things about the fans that I’ve got, is that the ones that were there from day one feel like they had such a hand in my success – and they did – and whatever it was about those songs that to me, were just horrible, that they liked or took from it was something that you know, I guess made me a better songwriter along the way. Whereas these songs probably aren’t very good as a whole, maybe there’s little lines or tidbits in there that were something that helped me write the songs I’m writing now.”