29-05-2016, 17:34
There are songs where nearly everyone knows who wrote them. Then there are some songwriters who wrote dozens of well-known songs, but for some reason the writer's name is not a household word, not even when the writer is a performer in his/her own right.
I had occasion to ponder on this when I happened to look up information on Albert Hammond. Most people will know the song "It Never Rains in Southern California" - but how many people know that he wrote or co-wrote all the following songs?
Song titles, followed by artist(s) who recorded them, in brackets:
Little Arrows (Leapy Lee)
Make Me an Island (Joe Dolan)
You're Such a Good Looking Woman (Joe Dolan)
Freedom Come, Freedom Go (The Fortunes)
The Air That I Breathe (The Hollies)
When I Need You (Leo Sayer)(co-written with Carole Bayer Sager)
To All the Girls I've Loved Before (Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson)(co-written with Hal David)
Nothing's Gonna Stop us Now (Starship)
Don't Turn Around (Tina Turner/Aswad/Ace of Base)(co-written with Diane Warren)
He also gets half the royalties for "Creep" by Radiohead, owing to the fact that the bridge in that song plagiarises the melody from the verses of "The Air That I Breathe".
Quite a catalogue. I doubt there is anyone else hailing from Gibraltar who has written so many well-known songs.
I had occasion to ponder on this when I happened to look up information on Albert Hammond. Most people will know the song "It Never Rains in Southern California" - but how many people know that he wrote or co-wrote all the following songs?
Song titles, followed by artist(s) who recorded them, in brackets:
Little Arrows (Leapy Lee)
Make Me an Island (Joe Dolan)
You're Such a Good Looking Woman (Joe Dolan)
Freedom Come, Freedom Go (The Fortunes)
The Air That I Breathe (The Hollies)
When I Need You (Leo Sayer)(co-written with Carole Bayer Sager)
To All the Girls I've Loved Before (Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson)(co-written with Hal David)
Nothing's Gonna Stop us Now (Starship)
Don't Turn Around (Tina Turner/Aswad/Ace of Base)(co-written with Diane Warren)
He also gets half the royalties for "Creep" by Radiohead, owing to the fact that the bridge in that song plagiarises the melody from the verses of "The Air That I Breathe".
Quite a catalogue. I doubt there is anyone else hailing from Gibraltar who has written so many well-known songs.