By Randal C. Hill
Who is the “I” in this well-known oldie?
I write the songs that make the whole world sing
I write the songs of love and special things
I write the songs that make the young girls cry
I write the songs, I write the songs
The answer may—no, will—surprise you.
These lyrics come from the recording by Barry Manilow, a hit single that he didn’t write. No problem. Arista Records president, iconic music veteran Clive Davis, felt strongly that “I Write the Songs” had success written all over it if only roster artist Manilow would record it.
Manilow hesitated. For one thing, he hadn’t written the tune; also, he felt that the lyrics sounded “egotistical.”
He recorded it anyway.
Well, just who did compose “I Write the Songs”? Here we need to swing the spotlight to the Beach Boys. Born in 1942, Bruce Johnston, the adopted son of the owner of the Rexall Drug chain, had grown up in the wealthy West Los Angeles suburb of Bel Air. Always enamored with music, Bruce mastered keyboards and the bass guitar.
He later worked with record producer Terry Melcher (Doris Day’s son) before joining the Beach Boys in 1965 as a replacement for leader Brian Wilson, the pop-music genius who had recently trashed his brain with psychedelic drugs.
In the mid-1970s, Bruce temporarily stepped away from the popular band to go solo with an album called “Going Public.” His LP fizzled commercially, but it did contain his original composition of “I Write the Songs,” a quiet, lightly orchestrated offering nowhere near the bombastic dynamics of Manilow’s million-selling version.
Related: Music Flashback: Barry Manilow Croons “Mandy”
Many people have opined that Bruce’s ballad was a heartfelt tribute to Brian Wilson. Not true, Johnston testifies, as he cites the opening lines:
I’ve been alive forever
And I wrote the very first song
I put the words and the melodies together
I am music, and I write the songs
Had this song been about Brian?
Nope. The answer, which is hidden in plain sight, is that Bruce Johnston was talking about God, and Johnston has even gone on to dub his creation a hymn.
