As a Song Thief of Long Standing I have nothing against Song Writers at all, as long as their songs are worth singing and are available to Thieves like myself.If No One wrote any new songs, all we would be doing was to rehash the 'Old'songs. If we did not let the Song Writers do their thing, we would have missed out on Harvey A, Ralph Mc Tell and Uncle Tom Paxton and all. Sadly Too many song writers do
not have the talent of Harv, Ralph and Tom ,and only manage the occasional bearable song out of dozens.
From the point of view of this thread, and its instigator, I am at a severe dissadvantage as I regularly attend at least one of the Clubs where El Grecko turns up to try out his latest offering. And I hate him!! I dont mind writers, I dont mind guitarists, and I dont mind singers, but when they do all three so well - and are NICE people as well. I think its a bit much for us mere mortals.
I know a number of writers, and some of them deserve ALL the crap you can throw at them,but at least they are TRYING and every now and then they come out with a beaut. I often wonder how many songs Paul Simon never sang, or Tom Paxton or any of the other good'uns
So IF you are a writer, dont despair and if you are an audience, dont just switch off - Give em all a chance, even the guy who will only ever write the crap.