"I'd love to", I replied. "When? Where?"

"How about next week", he said. "I'm going to be in Vancouver".

As it turns out, my regular songwriting partner (Bryan Adams) was in Europe for a month, touring with Tina Turner ... and my wife was in California visiting her sister. So I suggested Burton come and stay in my guest room.

We had a wonderful time, playing music in my studio, going out for dinner, and getting to know each another. I'd been a fan since I was a teenager, so it was a thrill to spend time with "that guy" and "that voice".

We wrote a few songs but nothing got released, nothing ever came of it, other than a fun week hanging with one of my idols. Then -- 40 years later -- Burton called again, to tell me that one of the songs we'd written in 1985 would be on his next album! How cool is that, I thought.

It can happen, long gestations.

For example, Aerosmith waited 20 years to release "Legendary Child" (written in 1992, released in 2012) ... and Bryan Adams waited 42 years to release "War Machine" and "Rock 'n Roll Hell", written for KISS, way back in 1982.

Better late than never, as they say.

Pending