Geez, Toadfrog! You must go to open mike nights! What a gross overgeneralization about singer/songwriters. I don't think I ever heard a song by Bill Staines as an example) that was self-pitying. Subjectivity? That's what every one of these posts are... including mine. Sentimental? How about Old Blue? That's enough to reduce a feller to tears. And it's not by a contemporary singer-songwriter. "Singer-songwriters" are like truck drivers, dentists, garbage collectors and Priests. And folksingers who've never written a song. There are some good ones, and some bad ones. I've heard 'em both. I remember hearing a guy singing a song against guns, with a chorus that recommended flushing them down your toilet. I suspect his day job was as a plumber. I don't like the touchy-feely songwriters any more than you do. But, they ain't all there is, and they aren't all self-piitying...

Honest...

Jerry