Well you couldn't have that, could you, as many writers are pretty much unknowm, and who's going to buy a CD by Sid Mitchell? But if it's Robbie Williams singing Sid Mitchell songs, then that makes it sell. What about cover versions? If an artist covers someone else's ong (famous or not) how do you stand on that? In the end, it's the singer who delivers the songs to the public; without their performance the songs, good though they may be, could sit forever on someone's notebook or computer and never see the light of day.
I admit, I was disappointed when I listened to Faith Hills' "Cry" album and saw that she had not written a single song on it, but sometimes that's how these things work. The songs come across to me as less personal because the artist has not (to my knowledge) been involved in the creative process, but it doesn't make them any less their songs. Someone else might deliver the songs completely differently, so it's also a lot about the execution I feel.
What about Sinatra? I'm pretty sure he wrote no songs himself, but surely you wouldn't call him anything less than a consummate artist?
__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
|