I Write the Songs

"I Write the Songs" is a popular song written by Bruce Johnston in 1975 and recorded by David Cassidy, Captain & Tennille and Barry Manilow the same year. Manilow's version reached #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the adult contemporary charts in early 1976, and it became one of his signature songs.

The title has been misunderstood to mean that the singer (or songwriter) "writes the songs"," but the actual songwriter, The Beach Boys' Bruce Johnston, has stated that the "I" in the song is "music." He went on to say that songs come from the spirit of music in all of us: "I am music, and I write the songs." He also stated in several interviews that this song had been written as an homage to Brian Wilson, the "genius" who has written the best music of The Beach Boys.

The first time the song was released on a single was from David Cassidy in 1975 from the album, "The Higher They Climb". The single reached #11 on the charts in Great Britain [ [http://www.superseventies.com/sw_iwritethesongs.html "I Write The Songs" ] ] .

Barry Manilow released his version of "I Write the Songs" as the first to be taken from the album "Tryin' to Get the Feelin'" and was released on November 15, 1975. It reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 nine weeks later, on January 17, 1976.

This song was also recorded by Johnny Mathis, Tom Jones, Dinah Shore, David Osborne, Don Estelle as well as Bruce Johnston himself on his 1977 "Going Public" album. Frank Sinatra sang it as "I sing the songs". In 2008 Me First And The Gimme Gimmes recorded it on their album Have Another Ball.

Manilow once did a parody duet titled "I Write The Songs/I Wreck The Songs" with Rosie O'Donnell on her show on April 18, 1997. A sample of the lyrics are:

B: I write the songs that you sing in the shower
R: You write the songs I mutilate by the hour
B: You sing my songs and make your neighbors complain
B: I write the songs
R: I wreck the songs
B: I am music
R: And I wreck the songs!

Manilow did another shortened performance of this song with Stephen Colbert when he was a guest on The Colbert Report on October 30, 2006.

George Carlin called the song one of "The 10 Most Embarrassing Songs of All Time." [George Carlin, "The 10 Most Embarrassing Songs of All Time," "Napalm & Silly Putty" (New York: Comedy Concepts, Inc., 2001), 187.]

See also

* Hot 100 number-one hits of 1976 (United States)

References