Kanye West lost song to Ian

Saturday, 3 October 2009

Ian Brown wrote a song for Kanye West - but didn't give it to him.

The former Stone Roses frontman has revealed album track 'Vanity Kills' was originally written by him and his songwriting partner Dave McCracken as an "autobiographical" track for the rapper's 2008 LP '808s and Heartbreak'.

He said: "Dave was asked to write a song for Kanye West. Amanda Ghost wrote the melody, Dave wrote the music and they wanted me to write some lyrics. It had to be a sort of autobiographical song for Kanye. So we had a few meetings and Amanda told me about Kanye because she knew him. So she texted him and told him I would do the lyrics and he was delighted."

However, the track missed the album's deadline and instead of letting it go to waste, Ian chose to keep it for himself.

The song includes the lyrics: "All that I am, all I could be / All I decide the many faces of me / All I became the man that I am, got nothing to prove and got it all to gain / Words that are spoken, promises broken, yeah / Now that I've woken, all the cheap thrills with expensive pills / Vanity kills."

Kanye is not the only music star Ian has written a song for.

The 46-year-old musician's latest track 'Stellify' was originally meant for R'n'B beauty Rihanna but he became too attached to it during the songwriting process.

He explained: "After finishing the track, even though she could probably sing it better, I thought I would keep it."