Make Believe World

"Make Believe World"
Maybe I should make it clear

The man you've seen left standing here
Has just changed a new kind of me
And I don't wait in case you call
No I don't seem to care it all
Now I can't forget about you at night
But sometimes I can't fight
when I must I can't help just
Reaching out to touch you as though you are near me
I need you now you're much too far out to hear me
I must let love die I must try but I can't help just
Calling out I miss you as though you still listen
And I pretend to kiss you with eyes that still glisten
You still hold me tight in a make believe world of the night
You think you couldn't matter less to see my mass of hopelessness
I played a part and each line is right
TOM JONES LYRICS

Check also: TOM JONES VIDEOS
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sort by album | sort by song

album: "Along Came Tom Jones" (1965)
Skye Boat Song
Once Upon A Time
Memphis, Tennessee
Whatcha' Gonna Do
It's Not Unusual
Autumn Leaves
The Rose - Version 2
If You Need Me
Some Other Guy
Endlessly
It's Just A Matter Of Time
Spanish Harlem
album: "What's New Pussycat?" (1965)
What's New Pussycat
Some Other Guy
Bama Lama, Bama Loo
With These Hands
Untrue
The Rose
Endlessly
album: "From The Heart" (1966)
Begin The Beguine
You Came A Long Way From St. Louis
My Foolish Heart
It's Magic
Someday
Georgia On My Mind
Kansas City
Hello Young Lovers
A Taste Of Honey
The Nearness Of You
When I Fall In Love
If Ever I Would Leave You
My Prayer
That Old Black Magic
album: "Green, Green Grass Of Home" (1966)
Riders In The Sky
He'll Have To Go
Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings
Sixteen Tons
Two Brothers
My Mother's Eyes
Green Green Grass Of Home
Ring Of Fire
Field Of Yellow Daisies
Wish I Could Say No To You
Mohair Sam
Cool Water
Detroit City
album: "13 Smash Hits" (1967)
Don't Fight It
You Keep Me Hangin' On
Hold On I'm Coming
I Was Made To Love Her
Keep On Running
Get Ready
(It Looks Like) I'll Never Fall In Love Again
I Know
I Wake Up Crying
Funny How Time Slips Away
Danny Boy
It's A Man's Man's Man's World
Yesterday
album: "Help Yourself" (1968)
Help Yourself
I Can't Break The News To Myself
The Bed
Set Me Free
This House (The House Song)
If I Promise
If You Go Away
All I Can Say Is Goodbye
Ten Guitars
What A Party
Looking Out My Window
Can't Stop Loving You
Let There Be Love
Without Love
album: "This Is Tom Jones" (1969)
Fly Me To The Moon
Little Green Apples
Wichita Lineman
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
Dance Of Love
Hey Jude
Without You
I'm A Fool To Want You
Let It Be Me
album: "I (Who Have Nothing)" (1970)
Daughter Of Darkness
I Have Dreamed
Love's Been Good To Me
Lodi
Try A Little Tenderness
I (Who Have Nothing)
What The World Needs Now
To Love Somebody
Brother Can You Spare A Dime
See Saw
album: "Tom" (1970)
I Can't Turn You Loose
Polk Salad Annie
Proud Mary
Sugar Sugar
Venus
I Thank You
Without Love (There Is Nothing)

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
If I Ruled The World
The Impossible Dream
Let There Be Love
album: "She's A Lady" (1971)
She's A Lady
Do What You Gotta Do
In Dreams
Nothing Rhymed
Til I Can't Take It Anymore
Resurrection Shuffle
Puppet Man
Ebb Tide (The Sea)
You're My World (Il Mio Mondo)
album: "Close Up" (1972)
Witch Queen Of New Orleans
Tired Of Being Alone
Woman You Took My Life
If
The Young New Mexican Puppeteer
All I Ever Need Is You
You've Got A Friend
I Won't Be Sorry To See Suzanne Again
Kiss An Angel Good Morning
album: "The Body And Soul Of Tom Jones" (1973)
Runnin' Bear
Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone
(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right
Since I Loved You Last
Lean On Me
Letter To Lucille
Today I Started Loving You Again
album: "Somethin' Bout You Baby I Like" (1974)
Somethin' 'bout You Baby I Like
You Make Me Smile
Rainin' In My Heart
Make Believe World
Right Place, Wrong Time
album: "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow" (1977)
Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow
One Man Woman
Anniversary Song
Papa
We Had It All
Have You Ever Been Lonely
album: "Rescue Me" (1979)
Rescue Me
Never Had A Lady Before
Dancing Endlessly
What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted

Once You Hit The Road
Don't Cry For Me Argentina
album: "Darlin'" (1981)
Darlin'
But I Do
Lady Lay Down
What In The World's Come Over You
One Night
Dime Queen Of Nevada
The Things That Matter Most To Me
Come Home Rhonda Boy
album: "Country" (1982)
I Don't Want To Be Alone Tonight
A Woman's Touch
If I Ever Had To Say Goodbye To You
We Could Be The Closest Of Friends
It'll Be Me
album: "Don't Let Our Dreams Die Young" (1983)
This Ain't Tennessee And She Ain't You
That Old Piano
You Lay A Whole Lot Of Love On Me
album: "Love Is On The Radio" (1984)
My Kind Of Girl
Bad Love
Picture Of You
album: "Tender Loving Care" (1985)
That's All That Matters
It's Four In The Morning
I Can Help
album: "Move Closer" (1988)
Kiss
What You Been Missing
Move Closer
After The Tears
Who's Gonna Take You Home Tonight
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
I'm Counting On You
At This Moment
Touch My Heart
album: "Carrying A Torch" (1991)
Carrying A Torch
Some Peace Of Mind
Strange Boat
I'm Not Feeling It Anymore
Do I Ever Cross Your Mind
Fool For Rock'n'roll
Only In America
Couldn't Say Goodbye
Killer On The Sheets
Give Me A Chance
It Must Be You
album: "The Lead And How To Swing It" (1994)
If I Only Knew
A Girl Like You
I Wanna Get Back With You
Situation
Fly Away
Love Is On Our Side
Lift Me Up
Show Me
Changes
album: "Reload" (1999)
Burning Down The House
Mama Told Me Not To Come
Are You Gonna Go My Way
All Mine
Sunny Afternoon
I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone
Sexbomb
You Need Love Like I Do
Looking Out My Window
Sometimes We Cry
Lust For Life
Little Green Bag
Ain't That A Lot Of Love
She Drives Me Crazy
Never Tear Us Apart
Baby, It's Cold Outside
Motherless Child
album: "Mr. Jones" (2002)
Tom Jones International
Younger Days
Holiday
Whatever It Takes
Heaven's Been A Long Time Coming
Black Betty
Jezebel
The Letter
This Is My Life
We've Got Tonight
I (Who Have Nothing)
album: "Tom Jones & Jools Holland" (2004)
(performed with Jools Holland)
Life's Too Short (To Be With You)
200 Pounds Of Heavenly Joy
Good Morning Blues / One O'clock Jump
It'll Be Me
Who Will The Next Fool Be
Linda Lu
St. James' Infirmary Blues
Roberta
Baptism By Fire
Think
Mess Of Blues
My Babe
Slow Down
Glory Of Love
Mam & Dad's Waltz
End Of The Road
album: "24 Hours" (2008)
I'm Alive
If He Should Ever Leave You
We Got Love
Feels Like Music
Give A Little Love
The Road
In Style And Rhythm
Sugar Daddy
Seasons
Never
The Hitter
Seen That Face
24 Hours
album: "Praise & Blame" (2010)
What Good Am I?
Lord Help
Did Trouble Me
Strange Things
Burning Hell
If I Give Me Soul
Don't Knock
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Didn't It Rain
Ain't No Grave
Run On
album: "Spirit In The Room" (2012)
Tower Of Song
(I Want To) Come Home
Hit Or Miss
Love And Blessings
Soul Of A Man
Bad As Me
Dimming Of The Day
Traveling Shoes
All Blues Hail Mary
Charlie Darwin
Just Dropped In
When The Deal Goes Down
other songs:
16 Tons
A Little You
Ballad Of Tom Jones
Delilah
Funny How Times Slips Away

Ghosts Riders In The Sky
I Believe
I Couldn't Say Goodbye
I Got'cha Number
I'll Never Fall In Love Again
I'll Never Let You Go
I'm Coming Home
It's Been A Long, Long Time
Love Me Tonight
My Elusive Dreams
Promise Her Anything
Satisfaction
Sexbomb
The Young New Mexican
This And That
Thunderball
Try To Remember
You Can Leave Your Hat On
Send Tom Jones Ringtones to your
t Unusual" Ringtone to your Mobile
"It's Not Unusual"

It's not unusual to be loved by anyone
It's not unusual to have fun with anyone
but when I see you hanging about with anyone
It's not unusual to see me cry,
oh I wanna' die
It's not unusual to go out at any time
but when I see you out and about it's such a crime
if you should ever want to be loved by anyone,
It's not unusual it happens every day no matter what you say
you find it happens all the time
love will never do what you want it to
why can't this crazy love be mine
It's not unusual, to be mad with anyone
It's not unusual, to be sad with anyone
but if I ever find that you've changed at anytime
it's not unusual to find out that I'm in love with you
whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
"Help Yourself"
Love is like candy on a shelf
You want to taste and help yourself
The sweetest things are there for you
Help yourself, take a few

That's what I want you to do.
We're always told repeatedly
The very best in life is free
And if you want to prove it's true
Baby I'm telling you
This is what you should do
Just help yourself to my lips
To my arms just say the word, and they are yours
Just help yourself to the love,
In my heart your smile has opened up the door
The greatest wealth that exists in the world,
Could never buy what I can give
To my arms, and then lets really start to live
Allllllllll right. Yeah
My heart has love enough for two
More than enough for me and you
I'm rich with love, a millionaire
I've so much, it's unfair
Why don't you take a share
Just help yourself to the love,
In my heart your smile has opened up the door
The greatest wealth that exists in the world
Could never buy what I can give
So help yourself to my lips, to my arms
And then lets really start to live
Just help yourself to the love
In my heart your smile............[fade]
"What's New Pussycat"
What's new, Pussycat?
Whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa
Pussycat, Pussycat, I've got flowers
And lots of hours
To spend with you.
So go and powder your cute little pussycat nose!
Pussycat, Pussycat, I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussycat nose!
Whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa
Pussycat, Pussycat, you're so thrilling
And I'm so willing
To care for you.
So go and make up your cute little pussycat eyes!
Yes, I do!
You and your pussycat eyes!
What's new, pussycat?
Whoa, whoa
What's new, pussycat?
Whoa, whoa
Pussycat, Pussycat, you're delicious
And if my wishes
Can all come true
I'll soon be kissing your sweet little pussycat lips!
Yes, I do!
You and your pussycat lips!
You and your pussycat eyes!
You and your pussycat nose!
"Skye Boat Song"
Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing,
Onward the sailors cry,
Carry the lad that is born to be King,
Over the sea to Skye.
Loud the winds howl, loud the winds roar,
Thunderclouds rend the air,
baffled our foes, stand on the shore,
follow they will not dare.
[Instrumental]
Burned are our homes, Exile and death,

Scatter the loyal men,
yet oer the sword, cool in the sheath,
Charlie will come again.
"With These Hands"
With these hands, I will cling to you,
I'm yours forever and a day.
With these hands, I will bring to you,
A tender love as warm as May.
With this heart I will sing to you,
Long after stars have lost their glow,
And with these hands, I'll provide for you,
Should there be a stormy sea,
I'll turn the tide for you,
And I'll never,
No, I'll never let you go.
"If Ever I Would Leave You"
If ever I should leave you, it wouldn't be in summer
Seeing you in summer, I never would go
Your hair streaked with sunlight, your lips red as flame
Your face with a luster that puts gold to shame
But if I'd ever leave you, it couldn't be in autumn
How I'd leave in autumn, I never will know
I've seen how you sparkle when fall nips the air
I know you in autumn and I must be there
And could I leave you running merrily through the snow
Or on a wintry evening when you catch the fire's glow
If ever I would leave you, how could it be in springtime
Knowing how in spring I'm bewitched by you so
Oh, no, not in springtime, summer, winter, or fall
No never could I leave you at all
"Danny Boy"
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be
For ye shall bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.
"Fly Me To The Moon"
Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring's like
On a-Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, darlin', kiss me
Fill my heart with song
And let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please, be true
In other words, darlin', I love you
Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring's like
On a-Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
Please, in other words
Darlin', kiss me
You got to fill my heart with song
And let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please, be true
In other words, in other words

Oh, baby, in other words
Baby, I love you, yeah!
"Without You"
No I can't forget this evening
or your face as you were leaving,
but I guess that's just the way the story goes.
You always smile but in your eyes,
your sorrow shows,
yes it shows. Wo...
No I can't forget tomorrow
when I think of all my sorrows.
When I had you there but then I let you go.
And now it's only fair that
I should let you know.
What you should know. Wo...
I can't live, if living is without you.
I can't live, I can't give anymore.
I can't give, I can't give anymore.
Well I can't forget this evening
or your face as you were leaving,
but I guess that's just the way the story goes.
You always smile but in your eyes,
your sorrow shows
Yes it shows Wo...
I can't live, if living is without you
Woo...
"Little Green Apples"
And I wake up in the morning, with my hair down in my eyes,
And she says hi, and I stumble to the breakfast table,
While the kids are going off to school goodbye.
And she reaches out and takes my hand,
Squeezes it, says, how you feelin' hon?
And I look across at smiling lips that warm my heart and see my morning sun.
And if that's not lovin' me, then all I've got to say.
God didn't make little green apples
And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime.
There's no such thing as Dr. Zeuss, Disneyland, and Mother Goose no nurs'ry rhyme.
God didn't make little green apples
And it don't rain in Indianapolis when the winter comes.

There's no such thing as make-believe, puppy dogs, and autumn leaves and B.B. guns.
Sometimes I call her up at home knowing she's busy
And ask if she could get away and meet me, and grab a bite to eat.
And she drops what she's doin' and hurries down to meet me, and I'm always late.
But she sits, waiting patiently and smiles when she first sees me
Cause she's made that way and if that's not lovin' me
Then all I've got to say.
"Daughter Of Darkness"
Woman, I can remember a woman
Warm were her kisses and tender was she lying there in my arms
Why
Why, did you deceive me so?
What devil inside made you go when I needed you most of all-ll
Oh Daughter of Darkness
Stay out of my life, my life
You took my heart and broke it apart, you daughter of darkness
Daughter of darkness
Please, leave me alone forever
Daughter of darkness, gone is the love that we shared together
Heaven, we had our own kind of heaven
Sharing together the magic of love in a world of our own
Then oh so suddenly you were gone
The love I depended upon disappeared when you weren't away-ay
Oh devil daughter of darkness, gone is the love that we shared together
Oh devil daughter of darkness, gone is the love that we shared together
[FADE]
"Love's Been Good To Me"
I have been a rover
I have walked alone
Hiked a hundred highways
Never found a home

Still in all I'm happy
The reason is, you see
Once in a while along the way
Love's been good to me
There was a girl in denver
Before the summer storm
Oh, her eyes were tender
Oh, her arms were warm
And she could smile away the thunder
Kiss away the rain
Even though she's gone away
You won't hear me complain
I have been a rover
I have walked alone
Never found a home
There was a girl in portland
Before the winter chill
We used to go a-courtin'
Along october hill
And she could laugh away the dark clouds
Cry away the snow
It seems like only yesterday
As down the road I go
I've been a rover
I have walked alone
Never found a home
"I (Who Have Nothing)"
I, I who have nothing
I, I who have no one
Adore you, and want you so
I'm just a no one,
With nothing to give you but Oh
I Love You
He, He buys you diamonds

Bright, sparkling diamonds
But believe me, dear when I say,
That he can give you the world,
But he'll never love you the way
I Love You
He can take you anyplace he wants
To fancy clubs and restaurants
But I can only watch you with
My nose pressed up against the window pane
I, I who have nothing
I, I who have no one
Must watch you, go dancing by
Wrapped in the arms of somebody else
When darling it's I
Who Loves you
I Love You
I Love You
I Love You
"What The World Needs Now"
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.
Lord, we don't need another mountain,
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,
Enough to last till the end of time.
No, not just for some but for everyone.
Lord, we don't need another meadow
There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine
Oh listen, lord, if you want to know.
No, not just for some but for everyone.
No, not just for some, oh, but just for everyone.
"Sugar Sugar"
Sugar, ah, honey, honey
You are my candy girl
And you got me wanting you
Honey, ah, sugar, sugar

I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you
(I just can't believe it's true)
I just can't believe the wonder of this feeling to
(I just can't believe it's true)
Ah, sugar, ah, honey, honey
Oh, honey, ah, sugar, sugar
When I kissed you girl I knew how sweet a kiss could be
(I know how sweet a kiss can be)
Like the summer sunshine pour you sweetness over me
(Pour your sweetness over me)
(Oh, sugar)
Pour a little sugar on it , honey
Pour a little sugar on it , baby
I'm gonna make your life so sweet, yeah,yeah,yeah
Pour a little sugar on it, oh, yeah
Pour a little sugar on it , honey
Pour a little sugar on it, baby
I'm gonna make your life so sweet, yeah, yeah, yeah
Ah sugar, ah, honey, honey
Oh, honey, honey, sugar,sugar
Honey, honey, sugar, sugar
"Without Love (There Is Nothing)"
To live for today and to love for tomorrow
Is the wisdom of a fool
Because tomorrow is promised to no one
You see love is that wonderful thing that the whole wide world needs plenty of
And if you think for one minute that you can live without it
Then you are only fooling yourself
Listen please I'd like to tell you something that happened to me just the other day
I awakened this morning, I was filled with despair
All my dreams turned to ashes and gone, oh yeah
As I looked at my life it was barren and bare
Without love I've had nothing at all

Without love I've had nothing
I have conquered the world
All but one thing did I have
Once I had a sweetheart who loved only me
There was nothing, oh that she would not give, oh no
But I was blind to her goodness and I could not see
That a heart without love cannot live
Without love I've had nothing
I have conquered the world
All but one thing did I have
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"
You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips
And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips
You're trying hard not to show it
But baby, baby, I know it
You've lost that lovin' feeling
Whoa, that lovin' feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone, whoa
Now there's no welcome look in your eyes when I reach for you
And girl, you're starting to criticize little things I do
Oh, it makes me just feel like crying
'Cause baby, something beautiful is dying
Now it's gone, gone, gone, whoa
Baby, baby, I get down on my knees for you
If you would only love me like you used to do, whoa
We had a love, a love, a love you don't find everyday
So don't, don't, don't, don't throw it away, oh
Bring back that lovin' feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone

Now it's gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone
"The Impossible Dream"
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To fight for the right, without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell for a heavenly cause
And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
"She's A Lady"
Well she's all you'd ever want,
She's the kind they'd like to flaunt and take to dinner.
Well she always knows her place.
She's got style, she's got grace, She's a winner.
She's a Lady. Whoa whoa whoa, She's a Lady.
Talkin' about that little lady, and the lady is mine.
Well she's never in the way
Always something nice to say, Oh what a blessing.
I can leave her on her own
Knowing she's okay alone, and there's no messing.
She's a lady. Whoa, whoa, whoa. She's a lady.
Talkin' about that little lady, and the lady is mine.
Well she never asks for very much and I don't refuse her.
Always treat her with respect, I never would abuse her.
What she's got is hard to find, and I don't want to lose her
Help me build a mountain from my little pile of clay. Hey, hey, hey.
Well she knows what I'm about,
She can take what I dish out, and that's not easy,
Well she knows me through and through,
She knows just what to do, and how to please me.
She's a lady. Whoa, whoa, whoa. She's a lady.
Talkin' about that little lady and the lady is mine.
Yeah yeah yeah She's a Lady
Listen to me baby, She's a Lady
Whoa whoa whoa, She's a Lady
And the Lady is mine
Yeah yeah yeah She's a Lady
Talkin about this little lady
Whoa whoa whoa whoa
Whoa and the lady is mine
Yeah yeah She's a Lady
And the Lady is mine.
"You're My World (Il Mio Mondo)"
You're my world you're every breath
I take you're my world you're every move I make
Other eyes see star up in the skies
but for me they shine within your eyes
As the trees reach for the sun above
So my arms reach out to you for love
With your hand resting in mine
I feel a power so divine
You're my world you are my night and day
You're my world you're every breath I breathe
If our love ceased to be then
It's the end of my world for me
With your hand resting in mine
I feel a power so divine
You're my world you are my night and day
You're my world you're every breath I breathe
If our love ceased to be
Then it's the end of my world for me
End of my world
End of my world for me
"Anniversary Song"
Oh, how we danced on the night we were wed
We vowed our true love, though a word wasn't said
The world was in bloom, there were stars in the skies
Except for the few that were there in your eyes
Dear, as I held you close in my arms
Angels were singing a hymn to your charms
Two hearts gently beating, murmuring low
"Darling, I love you so"
The night seemed to fade into blossoming dawn

The sun shone anew but the dance lingered on
Could we but recall that sweet moment sublime
We'd find that our love is unaltered by time
Dear, as I held you close in my arms
Angels were singing a hymn to your charms
Two hearts gently beating, murmuring low
"Darling, I love you so"
"Papa"
Everyday my papa would work
To try to make ends meet
To see that we would eat
Keep those shoes upon my feet
Every night my papa would take me
And tuck me in my bed
Kiss me on my head
After all my prayers were said
And there were years
Of sadness and of tears
Through it all
Together we were strong
We were strong
Times were rough
But Papa he was tough
Mama stood beside him all along
Growing up with them was easy
The time had flew on by
The years began to fly
They aged and so did I
And I could tell
That mama she wasn't well
Papa knew and deep down so did she
So did she
When she died
Papa broke down and he cried
And all he could say was, "God, why her? Take me!"
Everyday he sat there sleeping in a rocking chair
He never went upstairs
Because she wasn't there
Then one day my Papa said,
"Son, I'm proud of how you've grown"
He said, "Go out and make it on your own.
Don't worry. I'm O.K. alone."
He said, "There are things that you must do"
He said, "There's places you must see"
And his eyes were sad as he

As he said goodbye to me
Every time I kiss my children
Papa's words ring true
He said, "Children live through you.
Let them grow! They'll leave you, too"
I remember every word Papa used to say
I kiss my kids and pray
That they'll think of me
Oh how I pray
They will think of me
That way
Someday
"If I Ever Had To Say Goodbye To You"
If I ever had to say
good bye to you
Let the world come to an end
it wouldn't matter to me then
I wouldn't want to live
with just your memory
Deep inside myself
I never would be free
This life would hold no
happiness for me
I could never say hello
to someone new
If I looked into her eyes
I'd be ashamed and I
despise myself for trying
to recapture what was gone
Just an imitation dream
to wish upon
I'd only hurt her
and that kind of love
is wrong
If I ever had to say good bye to you
I can't imagine where I go
or what I'll do
There is no way I could face
the world alone
I'd be a puppy dog scared
and lost without a home
So please stay with me
until our time is through
Let me look into your heart
and know that we can

never part and I will
always try to make you
happy too
And the tears I shed
are for a love that's true
You make me laugh,
you make me cry
You make me want to live or die
Just let me look into
your heart
I know that we can never part
Then I'll never have to say
good bye to you
"Love Me Tonight"
I know that it's late and I really must leave you alone
But you're too good to hold that I feel such a long way from home
Yes I know that our love is too new, But I promise Its going to be true
Please let me stay and don't you send me away Oh no no
Aaahh
Tell me baby that you need me, say you'll never leave me
Love me tonight
Hold me now my heart is aching, until the dawn is breaking
Love me tonight
Something is burning inside, something that can't be denied
I can't let you out of my sight, darling
Love me tonight
Let me love you baby
Baby love me tonight
I've waited so long for the girl of my dreams to appear
And now I can hardly believe that you really are here
Here in my arms you belong, how can this feeling be wrong
Darling be kind for I'm out of my mind over you
Aaahh
Tell me baby that you need me, say you'll never leave me
Love me tonight
Baby now the pain is stronger, I can't wait a moment longer
Love me tonight
Something is burning inside, something that can't be denied
I can't let you out of my sight darling
Love me tonight
Baby love me tonight
Love me To ni-i-i-i-ght!
ms" Ringtone to your Mobile
"My Elusive Dreams"

You followed me to Texas, you followed me to Utah,
We didn't find it there so we moved on.
Then you went with me to A-la-bam',
Things looked good in Birmingham,
I know you're tired of fol-low-ing
My elusive dreams and schemes
For they're only fleeting things,
My elusive dreams.
You had my child in Memphis then I heard of work in Nashville,
But we didn't find it there so we moved on.
To a small farm in Nebraska, to a gold mine in Alaska,
My elusive dreams.
Now we've left A-las-ka because thewas no gold mine,
But this time only two of us moved on.
And now all we have is each other and a little memory
To cling to and still you won't let me go on alone.
I know you're tired of following
My elusive dreams.
"Try To Remember"
Try to remember the kind of September
when life was slow and oh, so mellow.
when grass was green and grain was yellow.
when you were a tender and callow fellow,
Try to remember and if you remember the follow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
that no one wept except the willow.

Try to remember when life was so tender that
dreams were kept beside your pillow.
Try to remember when life was so tender that
love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember and if you remember then follow.
Deep in December it's nice to remember
altho you know the snow will follow.
without the hurt the heart is hollow.
the fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December our hearts should remember and follow.
"Delilah"
I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window
I saw the flickering shadows of love on her blind
She was my woman
As she deceived me I watched and went out of my mind
My, my, my, Delilah
Why, why, why, Delilah
I could see that girl was no good for me
But I was lost like a slave that no man could free
At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting
I cross the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more
My, my, my Delilah
Why, why, why Delilah
So before they come to break down the door
Forgive me Delilah I just couldn't take any more
[insert trumpet solo here]
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more
My, my, my, Delilah
Why, why, why, Delilah
So before they come to break down the door
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again"
I've been in love so many times
Thought I knew the score
But now you've treated me so wrong
I can't take anymore
And it looks like
I'm never gonna fall in love again

Fall in love, I'm never gonna fall in love
I mean it
Fall in love again
All those things I heard about you
I thought they were only lies
But when I caught you in his arms
I just broke down and cried
And it looks like
Fall in love, no, I'm never gonna fall in love
I mean it, I mean it
Fall in love again
I gave my heart so easily
I cast aside my pride
But when you fell for someone else, baby
I broke up all inside
And it looks like
That's why I'm a-singin' it
Fall in love, no, I'm never gonna fall in love
Please don't make me
Fall in love again
"I Believe"
I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows,
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows,
I believe for everyone who goes astray,
Someone will come to show the way,
I believe, I believe.
I believe above the storm a smallest prayer
Will still be heard,
I believe that someone in the great somewhere
Hears every word,
Every time I hear a newborn baby cry,
Or touch a leaf, or see the sky,
Then I know why,
I believe.
Every time I hear a newborn baby cry,
Or touch a leaf, or see the sky,
Then I know why,
I believe.
"My Elusive Dreams"
You followed me to Texas, you followed me to Utah,

Then you went with me to A-la-bam',
Things looked good in Birmingham,
My elusive dreams.
You had my child in Memphis then I heard of work in Nashville,
But we didn't find it there so we moved on.
To a small farm in Nebraska, to a gold mine in Alaska,
My elusive dreams.
Now we've left A-las-ka because thewas no gold mine,
But this time only two of us moved on.
And now all we have is each other and a little memory
To cling to and still you won't let me go on alone.
I know you're tired of following
My elusive dreams.
"Riders In The Sky"
An old cowpoke went ridin' out one dark and windy day,
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed cows he saw
Come rushin' through the ragged skies and up a cloudy draw.
Yipie i ay Yipie i oh
Ghost riders in the sky
Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel
Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath you could feel
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky
He saw the riders coming hard... and he heard their mournful cry
Ghost riders in the sky.
Their face is gaunt their eyes were blurred their shirts all soaked with sweat
They're ridin' hard to catch that herd but they 'aint caught 'em yet
'cause they've got to ride forever in the range up in the sky
On horses snorting fire as they ride hard hear them cry
The riders leaned on by him he heard one call his name
If you want to save your soul from hell a riding on our range
Then cow-boy change your ways today or with us you will ride
Tryin' to catch this devil herd.... a-cross these endless skies.
"My Foolish Heart"
(originally by Martha Mears)
How white the ever constant moon, take care, my foolish heart!
There's a line between love and fascination,
That's hard to see on an evening such as this,
For they give the very same sensation.
When you are lost in the passion of a kiss.
Your lips are much too close to mine, beware my foolish heart!
But should our eager lips combine, then let the fire start.
For this time it isn't fascination, or a dream that will fade and fall apart,
It's love
"When I Fall In Love"
When I fall in love it will be forever
Or I'll never fall in love
In a restless world like this is
Love is ended before its begun
And too many moonlight kisses
Seem to cool in the warmth of the sun
When I give my heart it will be completely
Or I'll never give my heart
And the moment I can feel that you feel that way too
Is when I fall in love with you.
[instrumental interlude first two lines]
And the moment I can feel that you feel that way too
Is when I fall in love with you.
Make Believe World - text

Maybe I should make it clear
The man you've seen left standing here
Has just changed a new kind of me
And I don't wait in case you call
No I don't seem to care it all
Now I can't forget about you at night
You think you couldn't matter less to see my mass of hopelessness
I played a part and each line is right
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/12/great-songwriters-who-are-they-and-whyhavent-there-been-any-for-the-last-20-years.html
Monday, December 19, 2011
Great Songwriters: Who Are They, And Why Haven't There Been Any For
The Last 20 Years?
by Evert Cilliers aka Adam Ash

Every morning, millions of humans belt out songs in their showers. There's no art more popular
than song. A great melody is a whoosh of sublime emotion plugged straight into the human
heart in the snappiest concentrate imaginable that, once stuck, stays stuck forever.
Great paintings can go unseen by many; great novels can go unread by most humans; but a
great song is heard by all.
I've been thinking about the greatest songwriters who ever lived, and the greatest songs ever
written, and naturally, the Beatles sprang to mind. But then I started making some comparisons,
and came to a number of bizarre conclusions.
BTW, when I say greatest songs, I mean those with the greatest melodies, which more or less
restricts us to ballads, and also excuses some terrible lyrics (the words of Irving Berlin's classic
White Christmas are absurdly banal; the lyrics of Puccini's soaring One Fine Day are awkward,
to say the least; and the Rolling Stones' most moving ballad, Wild Horses, has the stupidest
lyrics extant).
Here are my conclusions, briefly, before I get to a putative canon of actual songwriters and
their songs: something that's never been attempted before, which is why I'm doing it now.
Conclusion one: there are only eight truly greatest songwriters of all time, and they leave all
the others in belly-crawling dust, for an obvious reason that will be revealed shortly.
Conclusion two: there are no great songwriters working today, and those who are still alive,
have their best work long behind them. Today we get unbelievably excellent pop confections
and sonic surprises on the pop charts -- Umbrella, Kanye West's amazing Runaway -- but no
great songs. Tell me one. Just one. 2010's Need You Now by Lady Antebellum is excellent, but
not great, like Unchained Melody and Hey Jude are great. We haven't had one of those in 20
years. It's been a goddam bare, empty, denuded desert out there for almost a quarter of a
century. The creative spasm of the sixties lasted until the 90s, and then songwriting oomph hit
the skids. It's been riding its banana skin downhill ever since. Why? After providing the canon,
I'll give you four reasons why.
1. SONGWRITING IS THANKLESS: WE KNOW THE SINGER, NOT THE CREATOR
Conclusion three: songwriting is the only art form for which people know the song and the
singer, but hardly ever know the creator -- the person who actually wrote the damn song. A
Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley or Johnny Matthis song was never written by Frank Sinatra or
Elvis Presley or Johnny Matthis. And Barry Manilow didn't write I Write The Songs, although
he did write a jingle for Bowlene Toilet Cleaner. A guy called Bruce Johnston wrote I Write
The Songs. This credit-the-singer-not-the-writer practice pisses me off so much, I could
swallow a porcupine ass-end first. In fact, I wrote this piece to redress this travesty of ignorant
bliss under which we all labor. Maybe you'll find out who's really responsible for the songs you
sing in your bath.
Conclusion four: when you look at the greatest songwriters -- one of whom wrote 1500 songs
-- their most incredible songs never number more than ten per individual. It's as if there are no
more than ten truly great tunes in any one human person.
Conclusion five: even weirder, you can easily pick the three best songs of any songwriter from
their top ten. Maybe it's because three is a magic number in and of itself. Fact is, when I was
making my picks, the three top songs of any writer jumped at me like puppies. You'll find the
same instant rapport, though your choice of puppies may not agree with mine.
2. THE GREAT EIGHT OF SONGWRITERS
Anyway, let's get to the Great Eight of songwriters, each one towering many staves above all
the rest.
1. Paul McCartney, born 1942. Because of his wide range -- intimate and big ballads, soft and
hard rockers, English Music hall, novelty ditties -- and his melodic fluency, Paul is probably
the greatest of the great, with Richard Rodgers a close second (or the other way around,
depending on the day of the week).
McCartney's top three songs: Yesterday, Hey Jude and Let It Be.
Second-tier cream of the crop: Eleanor Rigby, The Long And Winding Road, Here There And
Everywhere, And I Love Her, Michelle.
Then there are all the other songs you know, including such exotica as the utterly bizarre Uncle
Albert/Admiral Halsey (Hands Across The Water). People always think John Lennon was the
more way-out experimental Beatle, but Paul was actually the one who was driving around
London going to John Cage performances and soaking up the avant-garde. Only when they
were older did John marry into the avant-garde and McCartney settle down on a big estate as
gentry with his blue-blood American wife.
2. Richard Rodgers, 1902--1979, Jewish. He wrote more than 900 songs and, until Paul
McCartney came along, was the richest songwriter who ever lived. His 43 musicals (29 with
Lorenz Hart, 12 greats with Oscar Hammerstein II) are the backbone of American theater. With
Oklahoma, he and Hammerstein invented the classic book musical.
His top three songs: You'll Never Walk Alone, Some Enchanted Evening, If I Love You.
Second-tier cream of the crop: People Will Say We're In Love, Falling In Love With Love,
Hello Young Lovers, Edelweiss, Climb Every Mountain, The Sound of Music, The Surrey with
the Fringe On Top, Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered, Blue Moon, Getting To Know You,
The Lady Is A Tramp, My Funny Valentine, Oh What A Beautiful Morning, Oklahoma, Do Re
Mi, I Whistle A Happy Tune, I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair, With A Song In
My Heart, There Is Nothin' Like A Dame.
OK, that's more than ten, but it's Richard Rodgers we have here.
3. John Lennon, 1940--1980. My personal favorite, even though my head tells me Paul was a
slightly better songwriter. I like John because he was much more confessional, a Robert Lowell
of song; more than any other songwriter, he exposed himself brutally. Songs like Help were
actually about him needing help.
Top three: Imagine, In My Life, Across the Universe.
Second-tier cream of the crop: Strawberry Fields Forever, Woman, Jealous Guy, If I Fell,
Norwegian Wood, Instant Karma, Come Together, All You Need Is Love. And the many others
you know.
The interesting thing about Lennon is that he produced his best work in and out of the Beatles,
while McCartney's quality -- despite some great songs on Ram -- sank notably once the Beatles
broke up and Paul started working without the goading spirit of John. Arguably the best Beatles
album ever, and certainly the most artistically coherent, is Lennon's first post-Beatles album,
the stripped-down piano-demo solo effort Plastic Ono Band -- his primal scream of pain with
such devastating tracks as Mother, God, Remember, Love and Working Class Hero. McCartney
never produced anything like that after the Beatles, and his latest stuff is either forgettable fluff
or total dreck. Of course, when they wrote together, they gave us the incredible She Loves You
and A Day In The Life -- the best early Beatles and the best later Beatles.
4. Jerome Kern, 1885--1945, Jewish. He wrote more than 700 songs and at least 10 fine
musicals. Although many of his shows were big hits, only Showboat from 1927 is ever revived.
It dealt with themes like racism and alcoholism when musical comedy was all there was; at the
time, it totally stunned audiences. Kern wrote with everyone from P.G. Wodehouse to Dorothy
Fields to Guy Bolton to Johnny Mercer to his greatest collaborator Oscar Hammerstein II. He
wrote music for silent movies, and for Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers dance films. He hated jazz
arrangements of his songs, but that didn't stop jazz players from doing them.
Top three songs: Ol Man River, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, All The Things You Are.
Second-tier cream of the crop: The Way You Look Tonight, The Song Is You, A Fine Romance,
Long Ago And Far Away, Yesterdays, I Won't Dance, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Pick Yourself
Up, Why Was I Born? Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, Who? Look For The Silver Lining, She
Didn't Say Yes, Make Believe, The Night Was Made for Love, Let's Begin, I've Told Every Little
Star, I'm Old Fashioned, In Love in Vain.
5. Bob Dylan, born 1941, Jewish. One of the most venerated cultural figures ever, and in the
60s, the reluctant spokesman for an entire generation. You had to live back then to realize what
a god-like presence he was.
Top three songs: I Shall Be Released, Just Like a Woman, Lay Lady Lay.
Second-tier cream of the crop: Like a Rolling Stone, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Ballad of a
Thin Man, The Man In Me, One More Cup Of Coffee, Hurricane, All Along The Watchtower,
Mr Tambourine Man (his own version of this song doesn't hold a candle to the sublime redo by
the Byrds).
Then there are all the other songs you know. And yes, I realize, most of you think Like A
Rolling Stone is one of his three best songs, and Rolling Stone magazine thinks it's the best
rock song ever. I happen to think its melody is not quite as strong as my top three picks.
Bob Dylan is a bit of a special case. He's unquestionably the greatest lyricist of all time -- most
of his stuff is actual poetry, says his Oxford Professor fan Christopher Ricks, who puts Dylan
in the company of Milton, Keats and Tennyson (well, I don't buy Keats, but maybe Tennyson).
Plus, Dylan has not only written the best songs of social consciousness (Masters of War,
Blowing in the Wind, The Times They Are A-Changing, Chimes of Freedom, A Hard Rain's
Gonna Fall) and the toughest, most sardonic breakup songs ever (It's All Over Now Baby Blue,
Don't Think Twice It's All Right, Most Likely You Go Your Way, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It
Ain't Me Babe, You're A Big Girl Now), but also the best endlessly going-on-forever songs
(Visions of Johanna, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, Positively 4th Street, Desolation Row).
He even wrote two great singalongs: Quinn The Eskimo (Mighty Quinn) and Rainy Day
Women #12 & 35 (Everybody Must Get Stoned).
6. George Gershwin, 1898--1937, Jewish. He left school at 15 to become a song plugger. At 17,
he sold his first song for $5. Gershwin bestrode the worlds of pop, jazz and classical music,
and was influenced by French classical composers like Ravel and Debussy. His piano concerto
Rhapsody in Blue, an enduring classic written when he was 25, contains one of his finest
melodies. His Porgy and Bess is the greatest American opera of the 20th century. He died
before he was forty, the wealthiest classical composer ever. His elder brother Ira wrote most of
the lyrics for his songs.
Top three songs: Summertime, Embraceable You, Our Love Is Here To Stay.
Second-tier cream of the crop: Someone To Watch Over Me, Swanee, Oh Lady Be Good,
Fascinating Rhythm, All The Live Long Day, Bess You is My Woman, But Not For Me, A Foggy
Day, For You For Me For Evermore, I Can't Be Bothered Now, I Got Plenty O' Nuttin', It Ain't
Necessarily So, Let's Call The Whole Thing Off, Love Walked In, My Man's Gone Now, Nice
Work If You Can Get It, Shall We Dance? They Can't Take That Away From Me, A Woman Is A
Sometime Thing, The Man I Love, Somebody Loves Me, I Got Rhythm, Isn't It A Pity, They All
Laughed, I've Got A Crush On You.
7. Cole Porter, 1891--1964. Cole Porter was gay and rich; his saucy lyrics reflected his urban
sophistication; call him the American Noel Coward. Porter lived large and decadently, in Paris
and Manhattan, with plenty of sex, drugs and parties. He had a marriage of convenience with a
wife whom he adored. There's an excellent movie of his life, Night and Day, starring Cary
Grant, but it makes him out to be straight. Ha, ha.
Top three songs: Night And Day, I Get A Kick Out Of You, Begin The Beguine.
Second-tier cream of the crop: All Of You, Anything Goes, At Long Last Love, C'est
Magnifique, I Love Paris, I've Got You Under My Skin, In The Still Of The Night, Let's Do It
Let's Fall In Love, Wunderbar, You Do Something To Me, You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To,
You're The Top, Hey Good Lookin', Just One Of Those Things, Let's Misbehave, Love For Sale,
Well Did You Evah?, What Is This Thing Called Love? Miss Otis Regrets, What Am I To Do,
My Heart Belongs To Daddy.
8. Irving Berlin, 1888--1989, Jewish. He grew up dirt poor. He lived to be over a hundred. He
started as a singing waiter. In 1911, one of his first songs, Alexander's Rag Time Band, became
a worldwide hit, as far away as Russia, and made him an overnight sensation. He wrote 18
musicals and the scores of 19 Hollywood movies. He wrote 1500 songs. He could play piano in
only one key and had a piano built with a lever that transposed keys for him.
George Gershwin called Irving Berlin "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived" and Jerome
Kern said that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music -- he is American music. Berlin
himself said: My ambition is to reach the heart of the average American, not the highbrow nor
the lowbrow but that vast intermediate crew which is the real soul of the country. The highbrow
is likely to be superficial, overtrained, supersensitive. The lowbrow is warped, subnormal. My
public is the real people. (Funny how elitist he sounds in stating his case for the average.)
Top three songs: Always, Cheek To Cheek, White Christmas.
Second-tier cream of the crop: Alexander's Rag Time Band, A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody,
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better, Be Careful It's My Heart, Blue Skies, Doin' What
Comes Naturally, Easter Parade, Follow The Crowd, The Girl That I Marry, God Bless
America, How Deep Is The Ocean? I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, Lady Of The
Evening, Let's Face The Music And Dance, Marie, Oh How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning,
Play A Simple Melody, Puttin' On The Ritz, Remember, Say It Isn't So, Say It With Music, The
Song Is Ended But The Melody Lingers On, Soft Light And Sweet Music, There's No Business
Like Show Business, What'll I Do? When I Lost You, You Keep Coming Back Like A Song,
You're Just In Love.
So those are the Great Eight -- the greatest songwriters ever. Bar none.
The bar none is because of their volume of output. All eight of these folks wrote at least thirty
good songs each, if not a hundred; no one else comes even close to this number. In fact,
between them the Great Eight have written more good songs than everyone else combined.
That teeny number of eight accounts for at least half of all the good songs ever written. The
only other real-world analogy I can think of that is equally bizarre and out-of-whack is the fact
that America spends as much on defense as the rest of the world combined.
Another bizarre fact: five of the Great Eight are Jewish, which proves once again they're the
most inescapable nation on earth, having given us Jesus, Einstein, Marx, Freud and
Hollywood.
3. THERE ARE ONLY TWO HUNDRED OTHER GOOD SONGWRITERS
By my count there are around two hundred other good songwriters in total, if you use an
arbitrary rule of thumb that I've sucked out of my very own thumb, namely: to call yourself a
good songwriter, you need at least three great songs to your credit.
Only three. An admittedly low bar. Yet as low as it is, it gives us only two hundred good
songwriters who ever lived.
And none of them come near the Great Eight. Lack of volume keeps the Other Two Hundred
out of the top rank -- even when their three best songs rank up there with the three best of the
Great Eight. In fact, the second-rank Other Two Hundred are so severely lacking in output,
you'd be hard put to find even six great songs by even the most prolific of them.
Take the excellent songwriter Jimmy Webb. Count his great songs: McArthur Park, By The
Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Linesman. Second tier: Galveston, Up Up and Away, P.F. Sloan.
That's all he's got. It's a solid and varied group, and they will live forever. But that's all, folks.
Compare that brilliant but meagre output with the prolific riches of Lennon or Kern or
Rodgers, and you've got the difference between good and great, even though McArthur Park is
as great as anything by Lennon or Kern or Rodgers.
Take Jim Steinman, who wrote those monsters for Meat Loaf. What's he got? Total Eclipse of
the Heart, Making Love Out of Nothing At All, I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do
That).
Take Hoagy Carmichael: Stardust, Georgia On My Mind, The Nearness Of You, Heart And
Soul, Up A Lazy River, In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Skylark, Am I Blue. That's it.
Take LA's prolific shlock hit writer Diane Warren: Unbreak My Heart (Toni Braxton), I Don't
Want to Miss A Thing (Aerosmith), How Do I Live (Trisha Yearwood), Because You Loved Me
(Celine Dion). She's written 80 Top Ten hits, but these songs are her only really good ones.
Take Andrew Lloyd Webber, another of our richest composers, creator of the shlockiest
megamusicals ever. What's he got? I Don't Know How To Love Him, Don't Cry for Me
Argentina, Memory, Music of the Night. That's it.
Take Puccini, the most melodic opera songwriter by far. One Fine Day from Madame
Butterfly, O Mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schichi, Visi D'Arte from Tosca, Che Gelida
Manina from La Boheme, and Nessun Dorma from Turandot. Utterly transportive stuff, but
that's it.
And finally, take George Harrison. His three best songs -- Something, While My Guitar Gently
Weeps, Here Comes The Sun -- stack up very respectably against Paul and John's best, but how
many other good songs did he write? Beware Of Darkness, Isn't It A Pity, If I Needed Someone,
Taxman, Think For Yourself, Don't Bother Me, I Me Mine ... that's it.
You go through all the second-rank writers, and lack of volume is what keeps the Other Two
Hundred way out of the orbit of the Great Eight.
BTW, I'm not thinking of rock bands at all, which as a rule produce interesting sonics, but not
many great songs. Even the mightiest groups like U2, The Police, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin,
The Band, Queen, The Eagles, AC/DC, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Radiohead, Green Day
and REM have at best no more than five excellent songs each, if that. The Police, for example:
Every Breath You Take, Roxanne, Message In A Bottle and ... nothing else. U2: One, Where The
Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With Or Without You.
That's it. From the highly regarded Radiohead there's only one song early in their career, Creep,
that you'd ever feel like humming. The rest they've done is great music, but nary a great song.
However, among bands there are four special cases, which I will get to after I've listed the
second rank of songwriters who aren't top-ranked because none of them wrote enough good
songs to be among the Great Eight.
4. THE OTHER TWO HUNDRED GOOD SONGWRITERS
Here's my list of the Other Two Hundred -- folks who've written at least three great songs -broken down into rough categories (I've tried to be inclusive, but please spank me for any
omissions).
1. Classical:
Serious classical composers wrote some great tunes. Here are the ones who wrote at least three
or more:
Puccini, by far the best melody writer among opera composers. Rachmaninoff and
Tchaikovsky wrote great melodies, too -- and sometimes dumb words have been applied to
them. Johann Strauss wrote very catchy waltzes. I guess one should add Wagner and Verdi.
Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story) and Kurt Weill (Mack The Knife, September Song,
Alabama Song) are both amazing songwriters (with amazing lyricists: Bernstein had Stephen
Sondheim while Weill had Bertolt Brecht). Leroy Anderson, popularized by the Boston Pops,
wrote great melodies. At least three of Stephen Sondheim's musicals, Sweeney Todd, Passion
and Sunday In The Park With George, lift him out of Broadway into the classical category, too.
The musically complex and adventurous Frank Zappa belongs in the classical category as well.
His songs include the very tuneful Sharleena, Broken Hearts Are For Assholes, Muffin Man,
Easy Meat, Chunga's Revenge, Transylvania Boogie and many others. I don't count Schubert
and his many Lieder. Can you whistle or hum even one of them?
2. American Songbook and Broadway Musicals:
There are five distinct American musics: American Songbook, jazz, blues, rock 'n roll, and rap.
One of these is white and Jewish. The others are all black. Here is a list of our white and
predominantly Jewish writers of the American Songbook:
The March King John Philip Sousa, George M. Cohan (Give My Regards To Broadway, Yankee
Doodle Dandy, You're A Grand Old Flag), Harold Arlen (Somewhere Over The Rainbow and
other songs from The Wizard Of Oz), Nacio Herb Brown (Singin' In The Rain, All I Do Is
Dream Of You), Hoagy Carmichael (Stardust), Walter Donaldson (Makin' Whoopee, Yes Sir
That's My Baby, My Blue Heaven), Duke Ellington (Sophisticated Lady, Satin Doll, It Don't
Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing, Mood Indigo), Jimmy McHugh (I Can't Give You
Anything But Love Baby, On The Sunny Side Of The Street), Jimmy Van Heusen (Come Fly
With Me, High Hopes, All The Way, Call Me Irresponsible), Harry Warren (You Must Have
Been A Beautiful Baby, You'll Never Know, The More I See You, I Only Have Eyes For You, The
Lullaby Of Broadway).
Then there are the guys whose great Songbook melodies can be found in their great musicals:
Sigmund Romberg (the operettas The Student Prince, The Desert Song, The New Moon), Fritz
Loewe of Lerner-Loewe (the perfect musical: My Fair Lady), Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls),
Arthur Schwartz (The Band Wagon), Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly!), Harvey Schmidt (the longrunning The Fantasticks), Charles Strouse (Bye Bye Birdie, Golden Boy, Applause, Annie, the
opera Nightingale), Galt MacDermot (Hair), Jerry Bock (Fiddler On The Roof), Marvin
Hamlisch (Chorus Line), Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Wicked), Claude-Michel
Schonberg (Miss Saigon, Les Mis), John Kander (Cabaret, Chicago), Jule Styne (Gypsy, Funny
Girl), Andrew Lloyd Webber (Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Evita, The Phantom Of The
Opera), Alan Menken (Little Shop Of Horrors and the Disney movie musicals The Little
Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas).
Here you would have to add the Brits Albert Sullivan from Gilbert and Sullivan, Noel Coward,
Willy Russell (the long-running Blood Brothers), Anthony Newley (Stop The World, I Want To
Get Off) and Lionel Bart (Oliver!).
3. The Early Rock Progenitors:
Rock 'n roll was a black thing, but really broke out when a southern white guy, Elvis, put it on
the map. Its early writers were both black and white.
Willie Dixon (Little Red Rooster, Hoochie Coochie Man, Evil, Spoonful, Back Door Man, I
Just Want To Make Love To You, I Ain't Superstitious, My Babe, Wang Dang Doodle, Bring It
On Home), Hank Ballard (The Twist, Finger Poppin' Time, Work With Me Annie), Johnny Otis
(Willie And The Hand Jive, Every Beat Of My Heart, Roll With Me Henry), Fats Domino,
Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Mike Stoller of Leiber-Stoller (There Goes My Baby with Ben E.
King, Hound Dog, Kansas City, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Yakety Yak, Poison Ivy, Charlie Brown,
Ruby Baby, Stand By Me with Ben E. King, Jailhouse Rock, Love Potion No. 9, Searchin',
Young Blood with Doc Pomus, Is That All There Is?, I'm A Woman, Lucky Lips, On Broadway
with Barry Mann, Spanish Harlem with Phil Spector), Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Eddie
Cochran (Summertime Blues, Come On Everybody, Something' Else, Three Steps to Heaven),
Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes), Roy Orbison, Jackie DeShannon (When You Walk In The
Room, Put A Little Love In Your Heart, Bette Davis Eyes; she's co-written with Randy Newman
and Jimmy Page), Doc Pomus-Mort Shuman (A Teenager In Love, Save The Last Dance For
Me, Sweets For My Sweet, Can't Get Used To Losing You, Little Sister, and Something
Beautiful Dying by Pomus alone), Paul Anka, Bob Gaudio of the Four Seasons, Dion, and
Sonny Bono of Sonny & Cher.
4. Tin Pan Alley and its heirs:
In the Brill Building in New York, kids wrote hits for the new music of rock 'n roll and modern
pop which, departing from the American songbook tradition, was aimed strictly at teenagers.
Here they are:
Ellie Greenwich (Be My Baby, Then He Kissed Me, Da Doo Ron Ron, Hanky Panky, Do Wah
Diddy), Phil Spector (who wrote with Greenwich and her husband Jeff Barry, or perhaps
simply insisted on a credit), Carole King (Goffin-King), Neil Sedaka (Oh Carol, Stairway To
Heaven, Calender Girl, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Solitaire),
Paul Simon, and Barry Mann (You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, Blame It On The Bossa Nova,
Never Gonna Let You Go, On Broadway, We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, You're My Soul &
Inspiration). Latterday heroes of this tradition are Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini, and Jimmy
Webb.
5. Nashville:
Country music is basically southern white people's blues -- white music with plenty of
plaintive soul. Here are the great country songwriters:
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant (they wrote hits for the Everley Brothers), Hank Williams, Hank
Cochran, Harlan Howard, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty, Wayne Carson Thompson (Always On
My Mind, The Letter, Neon Rainbow, Soul Deep), John D. Loudermilk (Ebony Eyes, The
Language Of Love, Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye, This Little Bird), Willie Nelson (Crazy,
On The Road Again, You Ought To Hear Me Cry), Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Mac Davis
(In The Ghetto, I Believe In Music, Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me), John Prine, Loretta Lynn,
Dolly Parton, the Dixie Chicks, Brad Paisley.
6. Motown, soul, rhythm and blues:
Rock 'n roll was a black thing taken over by white kids. But blacks kept going with their own
version of it, and successfully sold this to whites, via Motown. But they stayed corralled in
their own camp until Michael Jackson broke open white MTV for black performers, and until
white kids all over the world took to rap. Here's a list of the great black songwriters:
Berry Gordy, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson,

Norman Whitfield, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cook, Ray Charles, James Brown, Otis Redding, Bobby
Womack, Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Al Green, Bill Withers (Lean On Me, Ain't No Sunshine,
Use Me, Just The Two Of Us), Philadelphia Soul's Gamble and Huff, Sly Stone, Rick James
(Super Freak), Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic (Le Freak), R. Kelly, and Prince.
And OK, let's sneak in Big Boi and Andre 3000 of Outkast, too.
7. British Invasion:
In the 60s, English kids listened to American rock 'n roll and then created their own brand,
becoming as important as American rock. Then they invaded America with it.
Ray Davies of the Kinks, Jagger-Richard of the Stones, Pete Townsend of The Who, George
Harrison of the Beatles, Paul Samwell-Smith of the Yardbirds (the band that gave us guitar
masters Clapton, Beck and Page), Rod Argent of The Zombies (She's Not There, Tell Her No,
Time of The Season), Jimi Hendrix (the American who went to England to make it), Rod
Stewart of The Faces, Eric Clapton of the Yardbirds/Cream/Derek and the Dominoes, Jack
Bruce of Cream, and Steve Winwood of the Spencer Davis Group/Traffic/Blind Faith (the
lesser ones like Dave Clark Five, The Searchers, Herman's Hermits didn't write their own
songs).
Then there's songwriter Tony Hatch, who wrote Downtown, Don't Sleep In The Subway and
other hits for Petula Clark, as well as Look For A Star, Forget Him, Sugar and Spice, You're
The One, Call Me, Where Are You Now?, Joanna, and a host of British TV themes. There's also
Les Reed, who wrote It's Not Unusual and Delilah (Tom Jones), The Last Waltz (Engelbert
Humperdinck), and with Geoff Stephens, There's A Kind Of Hush (Herman's Hermits). Geoff
Stephens wrote The Crying Game, Winchester Cathedral, Sorry Suzanne, Silver Lady, You
Won't Find Another Fool Like Me, It's Like We Never Said Goodbye. Graham Gouldman wrote
For Your Love, Heart Full Of Soul, Bus Stop, Look Through Any Window, and then started 10cc
with songwriting partner Eric Stewart, and Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. 10cc did Donna, I'm
Not In Love, Rubber Bullets, and Une Nuite A Paris (the inspiration for Queen's Bohemian
Rhapsody). Dusty Springfield's brother Tom Springfield wrote hits for The Seekers: I'll Never
Find Another You, A World Of Our Own, The Carnival Is Over, Georgy Girl. Two other Brits,
Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, wrote a string of British hits for Suzie Quatro and The
Sweet; Chapman eventually came to the US, where he wrote Kiss You All Over and Love Is A
Battlefield. Jim Lea of Slade (Cum On Feel The Noize, Cuz I Luv You, Merry Xmas Everybody)
dominated the UK charts with six number ones between 1971--74.
8. British Art-Rock:
Those pretentious Brits thought there could be more to rock 'n roll than populist thumpawump,
and they proved it with more complex sit-down-and-listen music.
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel out of Genesis, Bryan Ferry of
Roxy Music, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Jeff Lynne from ELO, David Bowie, Kate Bush,
Morrissey of the Smiths, Mark E. Smith of The Fall, Paul Weller of The Jam/The Style
Council, and Sting of The Police. (Their later Britpop spawn -- Blur, Suede, Oasis, Pulp -- were
one-shot wonders or spotty crap merchants. A tad more interesting were the New Wave power
pop lads -- Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, as well as the ska bands -Madness, The Specials, English Beat -- and the post-punk avant-gardish cerebral bands like
Gang of Four, Joy Division, The Cure, Siouxie and the Banshees, and Johnny Rotten's Public
Image Limited. And of course, the Clash. Their American counterparts, what one might call the
CBGB bands -- Television, Blondie, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth -- were pretty
interesting, too.) From the 80s, Roy Hay of Culture Club needs mention (Boy George sang,
wrote lyrics and looked bizarre, but the musical genius was Roy Hay). Also, Martin Gore of
Depeche Mode (Personal Jesus, Enjoy The Silence, I Feel You). The dance-duo Neil Tennant
and Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys (22 top ten UK hits, four #1s) should be saluted too.
9. The West Coast mellow folk-rock types:
On the West Coast of America, what with the sun and all, a more relaxed rock 'n roll happened.
Also, a more drug-infused rock 'n roll. The best songwriters:
Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, John Sebastian of
The Lovin Spoonful, John Philips of The Mamas and the Papas, The Byrds, Don Henley and
Glenn Frey of The Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie and
Stevie Nicks.
10. The Heartland Rockers:
If rock 'n roll is a populist thing, it was never more populist than with the heartland rockers:
music to be played and heard in bars. They are:
John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellenkamp, Bob
Seger, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Sheryl Crow. Curt Cobain of Nirvana probably belongs here,
too.
11. The Singer-Songwriters:
Hey, music is personal, one person speaking to you. Hence, the great singer-songwriters:
Roy Orbison, Captain Beefheart, Malvina Reynolds (Little Boxes, What Have They Done To
The Rain, It Isn't Nice, Turn Around), Neil Young, Donovan, Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam, Arlo
Guthrie, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Lou Reed (all his good songs are on the Bowieproduced album Transformer: Walk On The Wild Side, Perfect Day, Satellite Of Love, Vicious),
Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Tom Waits, Laura
Nyro, Don McLean, Richard Thompson, Chris de Burgh (Lady in Red, High On Emotion,
Spanish Train, The Head And The Heart), Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, Rickie Lee Jones,
John Denver, Randy Newman, Paul Westerberg, Alanis Morissette, Suzanne Vega, Beck, Bjork,
Sufjan Stevens, Elliott Smith, and Bruce Springsteen (he may be a heartland rocker with a
great band, but he's also a classic singer-songwriter, which is why he takes time out to do
albums like Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust).
12. The unjustly-despised MOR radio staples:
What's the difference between David Bowie and Billy Joel? Simple: David Bowie is
intellectually respectable, Billy Joel is not. But this is an intellectual construct of image and
posture and accent. As songwriters, they're the same: both wrote great tunes; in fact, Billy Joel
probably wrote more and better tunes than Bowie. The MOR radio staples, our
popsongmeisters, are the heirs of Irving Berlin; their ambition is to reach the hearts of the
average American, and they do. More power to them; they shouldn't be sneered at.
Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters, Elton John (amazingly prolific, but I think he penned only
eight true greats: Candle In The Wind, Daniel, Tiny Dancer, Your Song, Goodbye Yellow Brick
Road, Rocket Man, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Bennie and the Jets), Billy Joel (Just the
Way You Are is a classic American Songbook-type standard), Neil Diamond, Journey, Barry
Manilow, Paul Williams (An Old-Fashioned Love Song, You And Me Against The World, Rainy
Days And Mondays, Evergreen), David Gates of Bread (Make It With You, It Don't Matter To
Me, If, Baby I'm-a Want You, Everything I Own), Diane Warren, Desmond Child (Poison, I Was
Made For Loving You, Angel, Dude Looks Like A Lady, Living On A Prayer, You Give Love A
Bad Name, How Can We Be Lovers, Livin' La Vida Loca), Peter Cetera of Chicago (If You
Leave Me Now, Baby What A Big Surprise, Hard To Say I'm Sorry, You're The Inspiration),
Hall and Oates, Christopher Cross, Lionel Ritchie, George Michael, Jim Steinman and Andrew
Lloyd Webber.
13. European writers:
The pop song in Europe is a bouncy, flouncy affair, the four-on-floor of Europop -- witness
Abba. But there's also the French chanson (Edith Piaf sang 'em great), often very literary and
different from their ye-ye pop music; as well as the Italian ballad, and the Spanish tradition of
flamenco. Under Franco, Spanish pop music didn't exist. The cultural flowering of La Movida
Madrilena changed art, film and music in Spain, and today, like the rest of Europe, Spain has
everything from heavy-metal to rap. A major songwriter like Manuel Alejandro wrote for the
big star Raphael, who also recorded songs written by Joe Luis Pelares and Roberto Livi.
Influenced by Bob Dylan, Spanish singer-songwriters like Juan Manuel Serrat wrote cancio
protesta (protest songs), and Joaquin Sabina introduced rock 'n roll into his political songs. An
extremely popular writer and singer was Camilo Sesto.
The biggest thing in European songwriting is the Eurovision Song Contest, as big there as
American Idol is here. Abba got its start when it won in 1974 with its first hit Waterloo.
To tell the truth, I don't know much about European songwriting, and would appreciate anyone
telling me more. I do know that gazillions of records have been sold by France's Johnny
Halliday, Germany's Boney M and the Modern Talking duo, Italy's Andrea Bocelli, Sweden's
Ace of Base and Roxette, Norway's A-ha, and Turkey's Orhan Gencebay. Here are the writers I
know about:
The French writer-performers Gilbert Becaud (Let It Be Me, What Now My Love, The
Importance Of Your Love, A Little Love And Understanding, It Must Be Him, and co-written
with Neil Diamond, Love On The Rocks and September Morn), Jacques Brel (Ne Me Quitte
Pas, If We Only Have Love, Amsterdam), Serge Gainsbourg and Charles Aznavour (he wrote a
1,000 songs); the Italians Carlo Donida (Al Di La, I Who Have Nothing, Help Yourself),
Fabrizio De Andre and Pino Donaggio (whose Lo Che Non Vivo in its English incarnation, You
Don't Have To Say You Love Me, was a monster hit for Dusty Springfield); the Swedish Abba;
the Greeks Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hatzidakis (Never On Sunday, All Alone Am I sung
by Brenda Lee); the Dutch Boudewijn de Groot (Avond); and the Russian Vitas, he of the
impossibly high range.
14. The Latin-Americans:
They fall in two categories. There are the serious ones whom I wish I knew more about, like
Jorge Drexler; the bosa nova writer-performer Antonio Carlos Jobim; and the Chilean singersongwriter Victor Jara, who ended his life in a football stadium with his fingers chopped off
while his torturers urged him to play his guitar for them. (If you know of the others, or can
direct me to somewhere I can learn more, I'd really appreciate it.) There's also the salsa
tradition, in which Ruben Blades thrives.
Better known are the Latin pop performers like Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Julio Eglesias,
Luis Miguel, Roberto Carlos, and Enrique Iglesias, of whom Shakira is the best songwriter. A
bunch of folks churn out hits for Latin pop performers, and these writers include Juanes,
Estefano, Kike Santander, Juan Luis Guerra, Mario Domm and Robi Draco Rosa.
15. Reggae:
Reggae has its own beat, its own drug -- Jamaica-grown marijuana -- and its own religion -rasta. It has produced two remarkable singer-songwriters: Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff, who
starred in the brilliant movie The Harder They Come (BTW, Jimmy Cliff's version of No
Woman No Cry is the best one; worth tracking down on his album Follow My Mind).
16. Bollywood, Mid-Easterners, Japan, etc:
We English-language humans know nothing about our planet's Vast Other, but believe me,
they're sure to have their own canons -- how deep and rich I have no idea. Perhaps there are
3QD commenters who can tell us about them. Like who's the best Bollywood songwriter, who's
the best in Japan, Africa (besides Fela), Korea (besides Rain), Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, China?
17. As a coda, here's a personal short list of extremely talented new-comers in America who
may yet stumble upon a great tune or two, one hopes, mayhaps: Regina Spector, Joanna
Newsom and Andrew Bird. Lady Gaga has potential, too; she reminds me a lot of Abba.
5. FOUR SPECIAL SONGWRITING CASES
In bands, there are very few good songwriters, but there are four special cases: Jagger-Richards
of The Rolling Stones, Queen, the BeeGees and Abba.
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones are a special case because, besides
having penned at least eight great ballads (top three: Ruby Tuesday, Angie, Wild Horses; second
tier: Streets Of Love, Far Away Eyes, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Moonlight Mile,
As Tears Go By, Shine A Light) they have, along with Chuck Berry, come up with the greatest
number of the greatest rock songs of all time, driven by the riffs of the greatest rock riff writer
of all time, Keith Richards (Satisfaction, Gimme Shelter, Honky Tonk Women, Jumpin Jack
Flash, Street Fighting Man, Paint it Black, Tumbling Dice, Brown Sugar, Start Me Up, Can't
You Hear Me Knocking). They almost belong among the Great Eight, but I don't think they
wrote enough good songs -- i.e more than thirty -- to qualify, although they're certainly in a
rank of their own between the first and the second ranks, having written way more good songs
than anyone else in the second rank of the Other Hundred.
The second special case is Queen, because of three reasons. One, they came up with two
monster rock standards that even five-year-olds know: We Will Rock You and We Are The
Champions. Two, along with the Beatles they were the most versatile rock band ever, going
from Another One Bites the Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love to the ballads Play The
Game, Save Me, Somebody To Love and You're My Best Friend, and to the amazing Bohemian
Rhapsody, one of only four long-form rock monsters along with Stairway to Heaven, Free Bird
and Deep Purple's Child In Time. Three, they are 7th in overall world-wide sales, the sales
rankings being The Beatles first, then Elvis Presley, followed by Michael Jackson, Abba,
Madonna (the only non-tune-writer among the top sellers), Led Zeppelin, and Queen, all
claiming to have sold more than 300 million records each, after which you get all the rest.
Incidentally, all four Queen members wrote big hits, even if Freddie Mercury wrote the most.
Then there's the special case of the brothers Barry and Robin Gibbs of the BeeGees, who
besides having written at least thirteen great ballads -- yes, more than ten (Massachusetts, How
Deep Is Your Love, To Love Somebody, I Can't See Nobody, Got To Get A Message to You, I
Started A Joke, Words, More Than A Woman, 1941 New York Mining Disaster, How Can You
Mend A Broken Heart, Tragedy, If I Can't Have You, Too Much Heaven), also came up with the
best club-dance music ever: Staying Alive, Night Fever, and You Should Be Dancing.
Then there's Abba, who dominated the charts everywhere, except in America. Between 1974
and 1981, a mere seven years, their two songwriters, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson,
churned out the hits sausage-factory style for what must be the ultimate girl group ever. Their
greats: The Winner Takes It All, Knowing Me Knowing You, Dancing Queen, Fernando, The
Name of the Game, One Of Us. And then there's the Bjorn-Benny forte: oodles of the best
bubble gum ever written, a bonanza of inimitable camp catchiness. Their compilation album,
Abba Gold: Greatest Hits, contains 19 hits, all of them number ones all over the world outside
America, which together with their 1984-penned One Night in Bangkok, make 20 number ones.
To put their hold on worldwide charts in perspective, compare the only other writers who've
had more number ones than Abba: the Beatles, with 27 number ones (five written by John and
Paul together, thirteen by Paul solo, eight by John solo, and one by George Harrison:
Something), and Motown's Holland-Dozier-Holland, with 25 number ones, which include ten
number ones for the Supremes.
The greatest hit machine of all time is Paul McCartney, whose Beatles and post-Beatles output
add up to 32 Billboard number ones, which include his World Without You for Peter and
Gordon, and 24 number ones in the UK. Trailing way behind Abba, the Beatles and HollandDozier-Holland is ... Michael Jackson with 10 number ones written or co-written by him.
(Incidentally, on the US country charts, George Strait has had 54 number ones, beating
Conway Twitty's long-held record of 50.)
Another special case is Roy Orbison. He didn't write much, but what he did write was so offthe-wall weird and rule-breaking, and so gorgeously operatically over-the-top grandiose, and so
cunningly story-telling, that he deserves a category of his own. Plus, he's got more than ten of
them. I count fourteen: Only The Lonely, Pretty Woman, Crying, Running Scared, It's Over,
Blue Angel, In Dreams, Blue Bayou, Dream Baby, Not Alone Anymore, She Wears My Ring,
Mean Woman Blues, All I Can Do Is Dream You, Uptown. Orbison is the most original sui
generis outlier of all songwriters. And damn, what a voice: the man was the Pavarotti of rock 'n
roll.
6. THE THIRTY SPECIAL MENTIONS
In fact, thinking of these special cases, one might create a third category of songwriters: the
Thirty Special Mentions, who because of output -- number of songs more than the three
stipulated to be in the Other Two Hundred -- deserve not to be buried in the Other Two
Hundred.
They are: Leiber-Stoller, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Jagger-Richards, Roy Orbison, Barry and
Robin Gibbs of the BeeGees, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Abba's Bjorn Ulvaeus and
Benny Andersson, Pete Townsend of the Who, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder,
Jacques Brel, Kurt Weill, Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, Fritz Loewe of
Lerner-Loewe, Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Carole King, Neil
Young, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, David Bowie, Prince, Bruce Springsteen and ... Chris de
Burgh, who is another special case. He is the greatest songwriter known by the fewest people,
especially unknown in America (Lady in Red, Borderline, Carry Me Like A Fire In Your Heart,
A Child Is Born, The Crusader, Diamond In The Dark, Don't Pay The Ferryman, Five Past
Dreams, Flying, Forevermore, The Head And The Heart, Here For You, High On Emotion,
Hold On, I'm Not Crying Over You, It's Me And I'm Ready To Go, Just Another Poor Boy, The
Last Time I Cried, Lebanese Night, Lonely Sky, The Mirror Of The Soul, Missing You, My
Father's Eyes, Patricia The Stripper, The Road To Freedom, Rose of England, Sailor, She
Means Everything To Me, Shine On, A Spaceman Came Travelling, Spanish Train, Spirit, So
Beautiful, Tender Hands, When I Think Of You, When Winter Comes (instrumental), Where
Peaceful Waters Flow, A Woman's Heart, The Words I Love You). His songs are all on
YouTube: google them.
De Burgh has written so many good songs, he's closer to the Great Eight than Jagger-Richards.
He is certainly the best power ballad writer ever. Maybe I should just add him to the Great
Eight and rename them the Divine Nine (or add Holland-Dozier-Holland as well, for the
Titanic Ten). If I have one wish for this article, it's to turn more Americans on to the
tunesmithery of Chris de Burgh. BTW, his daughter was Miss World 2003.
(Before I forget, I hope to maybe count myself somewhere one day: check out this song I've
written for my band The Dingbots as tentative proof of my hubris.)
Who Am I
7. GLORIOUS ONE-OFFS
We can't abandon the topic of songwriters without mention of a final category: the glorious
one-offs. A songwriter may write mediocre malarkey by the mile and still come up with one
deathless jewel of a miraculous hair-raising melody. Here's a very short selection of these
lightning-struck-but-once goodies.
Without You written by Badfinger's Pete Ham and Tom Evans; the definitive version sung by
Harry Nilsson.
All By Myself by Eric Carmen.
Everything I Do (I Do It For You) by Bryan Adams.
Unchained Melody by Alex North; the definitive version sung by Bobby Hatfield of The
Righteous Brothers.
Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Lou Handman, done to perfection by Elvis Presley.
Nights In White Satin by Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues.
Go Now by Larry Banks; best version by The Moody Blues.
Wild Thing and Angel Of The Morning written by Chip Taylor, two one-offs (Chip Taylor is
Angelina Jolie's uncle and Jon Voight's brother).
Where Do You Go To My Lovely? by Peter Sarstedt. (He wrote some other nice ones, too, like I
Am A Cathedral and Blagged. Check out his The Best of Peter Sarstedt.)
Ode To Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry.
I Want To Know What Love Is by Foreigner.

Louie Louie written by Richard Berry in 1955. This song has been covered hundreds of times.
Berry sold the copyright cheap in 1959, and didn't make a dime off the song till 1986 and 1993,
when he got paid some guilty money.
I'm All Out Of Love by Graham Russell of Air Supply -- with lyrics by, of all people, the music
mogul Clive Davis.
When A Man Loves A Woman by Percy Sledge.
The Flame by Cheap Trick.
Close My Eyes Forever by Lita Ford and Ozzy Ozbourne -- yep, old Oz hisself. (Lita Ford was
in the teen-girl band The Runaways with Joan Jett.)
Give To Live by Sammy Hagar.
Born To Be Wild by Mars Bonfire (real name Dennis Edmonton) performed by Steppenwolf.
Sugar Sugar, the ultimate bubblegum song, written by Andy Kim and Ronald Frangipane
(Andy Kim also wrote Rock Me Gently).
Only You by Buck Ram and Andre Rand, done superbly by the Platters.
Runaway by Del Shannon and Max Crook, who played that astonishing instrumental break -the best ever -- on his self-invented clavioline-based electronic keyboard called a Musitron.
No Woman No Cry by Vincent Ford (though some say Bob Marley credited the song to Ford to
keep Ford's business going).
96 Tears by Rudy Martinez, the question mark of ? and the Mysterians.
Be Bop A Lula by Gene Vincent.
Israelites by Desmond Dekker.
Stagger Lee, based on a 1895 fatal shooting over a hat. Nobody knows who wrote it. We don't
know who wrote House Of The Rising Sun either (brilliant 1964 version by the Animals); it
may have been written as early as the 1600s.
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh) written in the 1920s by the South African singer Solomon
Linda and recorded by him in 1939, when he got a small fee. In the 1950s it was popularized in
the US by Pete Seeger. In 1961 a perfect version by The Tokens thundered on to the charts.
Linda never got a dime for his song's worldwide success, which earned over $15m from being
licensed to Disney's The Lion King alone. After journalist Rian Malan exposed this travesty in
2000 in Rolling Stone magazine, there was a lawsuit, and Linda's dirt-poor descendants started
getting royalties.
Feel free to suggest your own favorite one-off. Bizarrely, there are quite a number of glorious
one-off power ballads by terrible rock bands, written so chicks will consent to come to the
headbanging concerts that their headbanging boyfriends like to attend. There are even some
pearls by the ghastly corporate-rock LA hair-metal cretins like Poison, Cinderella, and
Whitesnake et al, among whose dire bottom-feeding putrid stinker ranks I like to place Guns 'n
Roses, Van Halen and Bon Jovi, just to annoy their fans.
8. SO WHY AREN'T THERE ANY GOOD SONGWRITERS TODAY?
OK. Final big question: why aren't there any great songwriters today, even if amazing music is
still being made?
There are at least four reasons for this.
Number one, there is not much need for great songwriters anymore, being that the music
business is dominated by rappers, to whom great producers are more important than great
songwriters. Call it the revolt of the lyricists, and the rule of the beat. Music so basic, it doesn't
need melody. Just a voice and a beat. Rhythmic spoken word. And when rap does give a nod to
melody, it's something real basic, like a simple chant.
Rap is a kind of anti-music. Hence, a real music revolution -- the biggest since rock and roll.
Rock 'n roll was a revolution because it made the beat as important as the melody. Rap was a
revolution because it made the beat oust the melody altogether.
There's something odd about the rap revolution, though, odder than the fact that it made
America's black urban youth angst a worldwide cultural commodity, which is mighty odd all
by itself.
Here's the absolute oddity about rap. Rap is novelty music writ large. Yep, to me, rap is Purple
People Eaters and Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and Hello Mudda Hello Fadda here I am at Camp
Granada -- all in a gritty urban context. Here I am in the hood. Rappers are the natural heirs of
Alan Sherman and the satiric spoof bandleader Spike Jones. The playfulness, the
outrageousness, the absurdity, the sonic surprises -- rap is pure novelty music. It is this, I
believe, that makes it popular all over the world -- not just the fact that the youth of the world
can empathize with its rude posture of defiance. Jay-Z, Fifty Cent, 2Pac, Ice Cube, Snoop
Dogg, Ludacris and Biggie Smalls are at their core supreme novelty acts. If nothing else, their
silly names tell you that.
Reason number two why there are no great songwriters today: indie rock, aka college radio
rock. Here intelligent thoughtfulness and English Major pretensions prevail. Nothing as vulgar
as a good melody needed. Just make your music sound smart and hipsterish and not too
obvious. Consider Arcade Fire. Amazing music, but where are the tunes? Where is something
you find yourself spontaneously belting out in the shower?
Number three, the creative rock 'n roll explosion of the 60s happened so long ago, it no longer
inspires. After the 60s created the genres of rock -- hard rock, metal, folk, art rock -- its
influence kind of petered out around 1990.
The 60s were inspiring for all artists, not just in music. A great youth ferment broke down
social conventions, upended bourgeois sentiments, and smashed barriers of class and race and
gender. There was the Nouvelle Vague in movies, there were the Beats in literature, there were
hippies and drugs and free love and flower power, and rude working class youth taking over
the music business. Look at George Martin, an upper-class mandarin record producer,
mentoring the working-class Beatles and then becoming their handmaiden.
The 60s was a Furious Flowering of Art and Culture from the bottom up, and now it's all over
and done with, and in another ten or twenty years most of its then-teenagers will be stone dead.
More's the pity. Let's face it, there has not been any flowering of its like since. In music, the
punk and grunge movements are like itsy-bitsy blips in comparison.
9. GOOD SONGWRITERS ARE RARER THAN GOOD PAINTERS OR GOOD
NOVELISTS OR GOOD FILMMAKERS
Reason number four why there haven't been any great songwriters for some time is kind of
obvious: a great songwriter is a rare thing. Jeez, we've had only eight so far in more than a
century of recorded popular song.
And how many times could you have a miracle like the Beatles? What makes the phenomenon
of the Beatles so unrepeatable is that two of the greatest songwriters who ever lived grew up in
the same shitty English town, where they were bound to connect. This has got to be the most
miraculously fortuitous coincidence in all of artistic history. John and Paul would probably not
have been as great as they were, had they not met young and been able to rub their talents
against each other and spark the best they could be in each other. The fact that Paul McCartney
came up with very few good songs after their breakup shows that he needed Lennon to light a
fire under his ass and keep him up to par.
Great songwriting is a gift that's rarer than the gift of painting or writing prose. Only eight
songwriters have managed to produce a great number of great songs: that's how rare the gift is.
Compare that to the hundreds of paintings and novels produced by hundreds of great painters
and novelists.
And if you want to expand your canon of songwriters beyond a meager eight, you have to
lower the bar down to needing as few as three great songs to be counted as a good songwriter -like we've found here. And when you do that, you don't get more than two hundred good
songwriters. Amazing that this art form produces so few greats. It proves one thing for sure:
songwriting is the most demanding art form ever. Another art form, movie-making, is pretty
demanding too, since it entails writing and directing and editing and whatnot to make one
movie. But there have been at least fifty great movie-makers and hundreds of pretty good ones
(aha, idea for another article), while songwriting -- a four-minute abab-or-aaba-stripling
compared to a 120-minute years-in-the-making movie -- has delivered no more than eight great
and two hundred good creators.
What a pity that nobody as good as those two hundred songwriters is writing now.
Let's hope the new ones are a-coming. But don't hold your breath. We're lucky two of the Great
Eight are still alive. Unfortunately, one of them seems incapable of writing anything close to
what he did as a Beatle or even in Wings, while the other one, Bob Dylan, who is still touring
like crazy, makes good music but hasn't written a memorable tune since .... well, since Not
Dark Yet, released in 1997.
I for one am getting desperately hungry for a tasty platter of great new songs. Twenty years is a
long time to wait for even a good songwriter to come along, let alone a great one. People who
are in their twenties now have little idea what a great song is, since none of them have been
written in their lifetime.
So where the heck are the great songwriters of today? Where are our contemporary Lennons
and Gershwins? Is he or she already here now? Who can it be? Can you think of a likely
candidate? If you can, please let me know, because all I see is a blank void in an empty desert
of sheer nothingness buried up the ass end of a black hole in a galaxy far, far away.
Which is a bit of an annoying and sad let-down, given the incomparable ecstasies wrought by
the Other Two Hundred, the Thirty Special Mentions, and those amazing masters -- the Great
Eight.
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"Make Believe World"

Maybe I should make it clear

TOM JONES LYRICS

sort by album | sort by song

Without Love (There Is Nothing)

What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted

Funny How Times Slips Away

t Unusual" Ringtone to your Mobile

"It's Not Unusual"

Help yourself, take a few

Burned are our homes, Exile and death,

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

In other words, in other words

And it don't rain in Indianapolis when the winter comes.

Never found a home

He, He buys you diamonds

Honey, ah, sugar, sugar

Without love I've had nothing at all

Bring back that lovin' feeling

The night seemed to fade into blossoming dawn

And his eyes were sad as he

and know that we can

ms" Ringtone to your Mobile

"My Elusive Dreams"

that no one wept except the willow.

I'm never gonna fall in love again

You followed me to Texas, you followed me to Utah,

Make Believe World - text

Monday, December 19, 2011

by Evert Cilliers aka Adam Ash

Berry Gordy, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson,

I Want To Know What Love Is by Foreigner.

- See more at: http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/12/great-songwriters-who-arethey-and-why-havent-there-been-any-for-the-last-20-years.html#sthash.giqRhMQQ.dpuf

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