One thing I've never been able to get is how a singer who doesn't write their own songs is pretty much beneath contempt as an artist. Granted a singer/songwriter provides a full experience by giving voice to their own words, but that's not the be all and end all of music. If it was, we wouldn't have opera or musical theatre.
This came up because I recently purchased a Dean Martin CD with a Christmas gift card, and somehow it came up that he didn't write his own songs. So what? Bing Crosby wasn't a songwriter either. Neither was Sinatra, Elvis, Streisand, Rosemary Clooney... Well, the list goes on and it's not restricted to crooners and early rock and rollers.
The fact is there have always been people with incredible voices who couldn't write a song to save their lives and vice versa. That doesn't make them less credible or worthy of respect than those who do both.
Except for Britney and the boy bands, of course.
posted
by Tabby at 12/29/2005 01:17:00 p.m.