If album credits were anything to go by, The Boys Light Up, which was released in April 1980, was a very democratic project. Each band member, apart from bassist Paul Williams, had at least one writing credit. James Reyne had sole credit on two tracks and shared credit on six others. Guitarist Simon Binks had sole credit on two songs and shared credit on two more. It seemed very much a group affair - an extended group affair, if you factored in Brad Robinson's father, Justice Jim, who co-wrote two tracks. The Sydney Morning Herald promptly christened him "the songbird of the Arbitration Commission".
However, in the years to come, The Boys Light Up album would prove to be a costly learning experience when it came to "ownership" of songs, especially for Simon Binks. In most cases, songwriting publishing was very crudely split down the middle: 50 per cent for the music, 50 per cent for the lyrics. Yet songs could be very organic creations: while someone might bring in the bare bones, other members would work out their individual parts, perhaps even add lyrics, often without a formal credit.
