Adrian Humphreys National Post

Songwriting takes singing star Sarah McLachlan into an intimate, brooding, solitary state of mind, a personal state she did not share with Darryl Neudorf, McLachlan testified at her civil trial before the British Columbia Supreme Court yesterday.

Neudorf, a music producer and former drummer with the popular band 54-40, is suing McLachlan, her record company, and others involved in her 1988 debut album, Touch. He claims he has not received adequate compensation or credit for co-writing four of the songs.

McLachlan stood at her keyboard and later picked up her 12-string guitar to show Judge Bruce Cohen the development of some of those songs. Her voice lilted elegantly through the small courtroom, obviously thrilling some of her fans who have made pilgrimages to the courthouse throughout the three-week-long trial.

But the songs on Touch were not easy to write, she said. She likes the creative atmosphere to be unstructured and loose. "If it comes it does, and if it doesn't it doesn't," she said, adding her mood dictated which songs she wanted to work on. And collaborating on songwriting means linking in a deep way with a partner, she said.

"You open up more when you write with someone else," becoming "vulnerable" and "intimate."

"I never thought I was writing songs with Neudorf and I still don't." McLachlan said she spent many hours reviewing when the songs were written.

Her lawyer, Jennifer Conkie, put to McLachlan statements by Neudorf which claimed some ownership over portions of songs. McLachlan said many of Neudorf's suggestions were ignored. "I didn't really want his input; I didn't appreciate it; I didn't like it. . .

She did agree Neudorf had some input on the melody line in the song Steaming.

She said her re-examination of the songs has convinced her that she "did write these songs. . . I believe in my heart that I did."