I'm presently reading the autobiography of Keith McNally, the owner of some of New York's most successful restaurants (Balthazar, the Odeon and Pastis, to name a few). His book is humorously titled, "I Regret Almost Everything".

Personally, I don't "regret almost everything" ... but I do regret a number of choices regarding this particular song.

In April 2016 Bryan and I were in Los Angeles for meetings with Garry Marshall and members of the production team for "Pretty Woman The Musical". Around that same time we heard that Adam Sandler needed a song for his upcoming Netflix film, "Sandy Wexler", co-starring Jennifer Hudson.

We were confident we had the perfect song for for Jennifer Hudson! -- so we invited Adam to our hotel to have a listen.

If you've ever seen any of Adam Sandler's films, he's not acting ... he really is Happy Gilmore! ... the nicest, sweetest, most humble human. A lovely guy.

He sat and listened intently as we played him a "demo" recording of our song. Eyes closed, he would occasionally nod his head in approval, or quietly say, "Yeah, I like that".

As the last chord faded he looked up and said he loved our song. He'd like to use it in his film!

I was thrilled.

But the next day Netflix's lawyers got involved and everything "went south" from there.

Long story short, Netflix refused to take our song unless we gave up our publishing rights ... in other words, half our royalty income (please note -- this was a Netflix corporate decision that had nothing to do with Adam Sandler).

Let me digress ...

In 1962, The Beatles, who were barely out of their teens, were about to release their first album. Grateful for the opportunity, they happily signed every piece of paper that was put in front of them, including a contract where they unwittingly gave away 100% of their publishing. They never got it back.

This story was legendary in music industry circles and served as a lesson to future songwriters. Giving up your publishing sets a bad precedent, and frankly, in my view, it's a shabby and disrespectful practice on the part of greedy corporations who make such demands.

Anyway, back to Netflix ...

Bryan and I held firm and refused to play their game. Sadly, as a result, our song didn't go in the film. Instead, Bryan recorded the song as a duet with Jennifer Lopez, wheich he included on his 2019 "Shine A Light" album.

Personally, I wasn't happy with J.Lo's performance. Nor did I like the jumpy and erratic- arrangement and production.

I think it's a much better song than this version presents.

My regret?

While I believe it's important to adhere to principles and boundaries when navigating the Music Business, this is the one time I wish I'd made an exception and "caved" to Netflix's demands.

Jennifer Hudson would have done an amazing version of our song! Sadly, we'll never get to hear it.