The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #137182 Message #3137907
Posted By: Genie
18-Apr-11 - 11:52 PM
Thread Name: Let's give the composers some credit
Subject: RE: Let's give the composers some credit
Tom, thanks for setting the record straight (for me) about the full credits for "My Way." I think when songs are given new lyrics (especially in a new language) or, sometimes, when lyrics are set to new tunes, the proper credits often become even more blurred or mangled. (E.g., the English-language lyricist is often credited but not the guy who wrote the French lyrics to "Cantique De Noël," for which the English lyrics are for the most part a translation or facsimile thereof.)
I agree that making a point of properly crediting composers and lyricists is important to maintaining our cultural heritage and to giving songwriting itself the status it deserves among other arts.
A related issue/phenomenon I've noticed is the general tendency to credit songs to the music composers with no mention of the lyricists. Sometimes, when the lyricist is someone highly celebrated, a song becomes known by the lyricist's name (e.g., "a Johnny Mercer song"). Or a team that's well-known AS a team gets credit (e.g., Rodgers & Hammerstein).
But it seems far more often that it's only the composer who gets credit (Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Harold Arlen, etc.) and not the lyricist (Tim Rice, Gerry Goffin, Hal David, Bernie Taupin, Ted Kohler, Yip Harburg, etc.) The lyricists all too often are forgotten.