Neil Sedaka

And the other was Bad Blood, a duet with Elton himself.

Well, we were the teenagers of New York coming from the Brill Building School of Songwriting.

And yes, we were writing for the teenage market.

The early lyrics or collaboration with Howard Greenfield, who was a marvelous lyricist,

and who could concise... It was almost the art of writing a three-minute song, and we could tell a whole story in three minutes.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen, from the beginning to the end, is a little novelette.

Did you always start with a lyrical hook as well as a musical one?

I always wrote the melody first, and I would prepare two or three melodies for Howie and play him that day, and whatever mood he might be in, he would choose one of those.

And then it was a give and take.

If the lyrics didn't fit, I would change a melody or a motif.

And then he might change some things to accommodate me.

It was a very close collaboration.

Yes, but we refer to it as the new Brill Building, the young writers, as opposed to the Irving Caesars in 1650, the old writers across the street.

Exactly.

I'm always asked.

People are fascinated with the Brill Building.

I brought Carole King, who I was dating in high school.

Howie Greenfield and I were the first writers to be signed to Alden Music at the Brill Building.

And then I brought Carole King and Jerry Goffin.

The others were Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Neil Diamond came for a time, Paul Simon.