Swan Song For The Songwriters

The beginning of the end of the dedicated songwriter came before the digital music revolution arrived

Way back when I was a little boy, not more than 7 or 8, I had a fascination with songwriting.  In those days, the music was played on vinyl records.   The label was located in the center of the disc, and I regularly held up the record, not to see the listings of the songs, but to see who wrote them.  The songwriter was always listed in parentheses after the name of the song.

I was particularly fascinated with recording artists who wrote most or all of their own material.   I compared John Denver, who wrote by himself most of his own songs, with Barry Manilow, who co-wrote many and mixed that with covers, with Glen Campbell, who wrote none of his own.

At that time I was still in second grade.   In music class, we regularly sang children’s songs.  I thought it would be awesome if I could compose my own songs.  Although I didn’t yet know how to play a musical instrument, I recorded, a cappella, my first album when I was 9.  Half of the songs were composed by me.  The rest consisted of John Denver or Barry Manilow tunes.

Even after I began learning how to play the guitar a year or two later, it was always more important to me to be able to compose my own tunes than it was to become an accomplished musical virtuoso.   Plenty of people were competent musicians but how many could write memorable songs?    In fact, by the time I was ten, the thought was pretty much solidified in my brain that the best musicians were not usually the best composers.   Eddie Van Halen and Steve Howe were better guitarists than Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond, but who wrote the better songs?

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