It would not be hyperbolic to say Tommy Sims has “changed the world” with his songwriting. In addition to famously co-penning that iconic 1997 Grammy-winning Song of the Year by Eric Clapton, Sims has written dozens of other brilliant tracks for the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Kelly Clarkson, Garth Brooks, Cher, Toni Braxton, and many others. Born in the 60s, Sims’ childhood home was brimming with a uniquely eclectic range of musical influences, from his mother’s religious gospel music, to his father’s rock & roll and R&B records (Led Zeppelin, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, etc.). From a young age, Sims says he had that “wild” mix of music constantly permeating his mind and consciousness. By the time he was 16, he fully understood that music could not be simply boiled down to a dichotomy of sacred versus non-sacred. “Music has to just be music.” Through his own experiences, Sims saw that music could be a catalyst for positive things to happen. “Music leads to thinking good thoughts, [and] doing good deeds” he explained. “Both philosophically and spiritually, as well as economically, music could be a way out of ‘the hood’, a route to a better life.” He recalls writing his first “song” at the age of thirteen, when he simply removed the lyrics from “Sweet Love” by the Commodores, and replaced them with his own words. “I thought I had written a song, but really that was just plagiarism,” he quipped. While he lacked any personal connections in the music industry, he always trusted that as long as he improved at writing songs, he could ‘make it’ as a songwriter. “I remember this euphoric feeling of picking up a guitar, playing my own chords, and singing my own lyrics. There was nothing like that feeling. That was the feeling of, ‘I can really do this if I just keep working at it.” “Change the World” The fascinating story behind “Change the World” is a testament to the collaborative and unpredictable nature of songwriting. Though undoubtedly his most notable songwriting credit, the song’s massive success was what both Sims and our host, then president of Interscope Music, Ronny Vance, termed “bittersweet,” as the final cut recorded by Clapton and produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds was a significant deviation from the original meaning of Sims’ lyrics. The earliest version of “Change the World,” written by Sims as a teenager, was about “tikkun olam,” explained Vance, “the Jewish concept for repairing the world.” Over the years, the song evolved through two more versions. The most updated rendition sent to Clapton was deeply rooted in Beatles/Paul McCartney influences, to reflect what Sims’ then-studio-session-mates, Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick and Chris Rodriguez, were looking for when they asked him to fill in on bass for the recordings they were making for a potential deal with RCA. Ultimately, ”the rewrite/re-record with Clapton was clearly a love song,” said Vance, “and we were both underwhelmed.” Recalling the day in Nashville when he and Vance received Clapton’s final copy that they had been anticipating for many months, Sims shared his mixed emotions: “Going back to that moment, I do remember feeling like it had turned into quite a different record from the original demo. The whole McCartney-esque feel was gone. The funny thing is, I saw later interviews with Clapton where he literally mentions feeling the need to “de-McCartney” the song. I think the term he used was, ‘to put some “black” into it’, which was hilarious to me. The irony, that I had apparently done the reverse thing, by taking some of the “black” out of it and putting in the McCartney feel, as the [2nd] version I did with my band had a Prince/funk feel that didn't have a lot of McCartney in it either. After Clapton’s song was released, Sims began playing the song out on songwriting nights. One evening, an audience member who was somehow aware of the original version from Sims’ teenage years, asked him to play that rendition,...