I Write the Songs

[retrokid67]

Ok, I love Barry Manilow and the way he delivers it, and I like the arrangement, but the lyrics?  they're good but they're not great so how did Bruce get a Grammy when songs like "Good Vibrations", "Forever", "Baby Blue", "Surfs Up", "God Only Knows", "In the Back of My Mind", "Add Some Music To Your Day", most of the songs from Pacific Ocean Blue or even something simple like "In My Room" or "Surfer Girl" didn't? 

[Andrew G. Doe]

The Grammys have made some horrible choices down the years, none worse than in 1967, when the nominations for Best Contemporary Song were:

The New Vaudeville - Winchester Cathedral
The Mamas & The Papas - Monday Monday
The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
Association - Cherish
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
Monkees - Last Train To Clarksville

Guess which one of these songs the Academy voted the Best Song of 1967 ?  Correct, that rock classic and eternal standard... "Winchester Cathedral".

The BB were also nominated in the Vocal Group Performance category:

The Anita Kerr Quartet - A Man and a Woman
Association - Cherish
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
The Sandpipers - Guantanamera
The Mamas & The Papas - Monday Monday

Again, guess the winner ? Correct, The Anita Kerr Quartet.

[retrokid67]

I know that's bull  .  and then when the Wilsons presented Starland Vocal Band with a Grammy instead of  Boston, who made history that year with their debut, and that same night is when they had to witness Bruce getting a Grammy for "best songwriter"  I wonder what was going through their minds, especially after Brian had written many songs for years that were waaay better than that 

[Moon Dawg]

  My guess is they were happy for and proud of Bruce.

[RangeRoverA1]

The Grammys have made some horrible choices down the years.

Absolutely agree with you! Isn't it ironic Bruce was the only one who got that award (Brian doesn't count as Cow is a remake of an old Smile tune)? With that in mind, I find his version more compelling than Manilow's; just a very horrible voice, unbelievably. Not to mention arrangement.

[Ted]

Brian doesn't count as Cow is a remake of an old Smile tune

Yeah, there's no way Brian should take credit for Brian's achievements.

[RangeRoverA1]

Yeah, there's no way Brian should take credit for Brian's achievements.

1st off, Happy New Year, Ted! All the nice wishes & stuff. 2nd, I get your light irony, but I meant it's a late award-winning, after 40 years of the real deal. If Brian with the rest of The BBs got it in the 60s, I'd count it, of course. As retrokid, I also find it baffling & sad that the band didn't get notice way back then, in the midst of their avant-garde direction.

[The Shift]

Madam de Leary's Cow is still avant-garde to these ears… always will be.

Give it another Grammy tomorrow far as I'm concerned!

[Emdeeh]

The Grammys have made some horrible choices down the years, none worse than in 1967...

AGD, Mike Love sometimes mentions GV losing out to "Monday, Monday" in the Grammys. Was there any category in the Grammys or other award shows in '67 where that happened?

Agreed, the Grammys have made some bone-headed picks over the years. I'm also a Jethro Tull fan, and am dismayed about the backlash that band still gets for winning in a poorly-defined category.

[Micha]

The Grammys have made some horrible choices down the years.

Absolutely agree with you! Isn't it ironic Bruce was the only one who got that award (Brian doesn't count as Cow is a remake of an old Smile tune)?

I say MOC counts.

[Mike's Beard]

Agreed, the Grammys have made some bone-headed picks over the years. I'm also a Jethro Tull fan, and am dismayed about the backlash that band still gets for winning in a poorly-defined category.

The Tull can out rock Metallica any day! Actually these days they probably could - Metallica suck gonads.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

I Write The Songs is gooey shite - Bruce at his schmaltzy worst, which is pretty damn schmaltzy. I don't care what it won - it's bloody awful! Celine Dion wins awards also - I'd still rather insert hot iron spikes into my eardrums than listen to her music. Very pleased IWTS was never released on a BB album...

[retrokid67]

The Grammys have made some horrible choices down the years.

Absolutely agree with you! Isn't it ironic Bruce was the only one who got that award (Brian doesn't count as Cow is a remake of an old Smile tune)? With that in mind, I find his version more compelling than Manilow's; just a very horrible voice, unbelievably. Not to mention arrangement.

Omg have you heard him singing "Your Song" by Elton John live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmCWNJFkC9Q  I showed my mom and she was cringing throughout most of it  .  now people don't get me wrong, I like Bruce as a Person but as a BB.....I put Mike Love over him, but as a person I put him over Mike Love 

[retrokid67]

Madam de Leary's Cow is still avant-garde to these ears… always will be.

Give it another Grammy tomorrow far as I'm concerned!

Heck, Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again should get a Grammy, we've waited 40 years for that too you know 

[retrokid67]

I Write The Songs is gooey shite - Bruce at his schmaltzy worst, which is pretty damn schmaltzy. I don't care what it won - it's bloody awful! Celine Dion wins awards also - I'd still rather insert hot iron spikes into my eardrums than listen to her music. Very pleased IWTS was never released on a BB album...

Agreed 

[Mr. Wilson]

I knew about Winchester Cathedral  BUT... BUT   The Anita Kerr quartet beating out BB for vocal award of the Year.. ! Lets see GV.. One of the most experimental  off the wall glorius single records ever produced which is a madcap rockin song + performance that even non beach boy scholars  admit to it  being in a class by itself .. Lost the award to CHEESE !!      Oh did I mention im a Beach Boy's fan.. 

[Sheriff John Stone]

IF BRIAN WILSON HAD COMPOSED and The Beach Boys recorded "I Write The Songs", Beach Boys' fans would be using the term "genius", it would be on all of our (and Reprise/Capitol) comps, we wouldn't be able to mention it without alluding to Frank Sinatra covering it, and Brian Wilson would probably be performing it at every concert.

[filledeplage]

The Grammys have made some horrible choices down the years.

Absolutely agree with you! Isn't it ironic Bruce was the only one who got that award (Brian doesn't count as Cow is a remake of an old Smile tune)? With that in mind, I find his version more compelling than Manilow's; just a very horrible voice, unbelievably. Not to mention arrangement.

Omg have you heard him singing "Your Song" by Elton John live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmCWNJFkC9Q  I showed my mom and she was cringing throughout most of it  .  now people don't get me wrong, I like Bruce as a Person but as a BB.....I put Mike Love over him, but as a person I put him over Mike Love 

Wildly successful song.  And, magnificently performed at Symphony Hall, Boston with its great acoustics.  Context is important. The did do covers, which by-and-large drove me crazy.  For example: Rock and Roll woman, (Buffalo Springfield) Aeroplane (Boxtops) especially in terms of a short setlist and time constraints with the warm-up acts.  

[The Shift]

IF BRIAN WILSON HAD COMPOSED and The Beach Boys recorded "I Write The Songs", Beach Boys' fans would be using the term "genius", it would be on all of our (and Reprise/Capitol) comps, we wouldn't be able to mention it without alluding to Frank Sinatra covering it, and Brian Wilson would probably be performing it at every concert.

Excellent point.

[Andrew G. Doe]

The Grammys have made some horrible choices down the years, none worse than in 1967...

AGD, Mike Love sometimes mentions GV losing out to "Monday, Monday" in the Grammys. Was there any category in the Grammys or other award shows in '67 where that happened?

My bad - I left that one out. The category was Rock & Roll Group Performance and the nominees were:

The Mamas & The Papas - Monday Monday
Association - Cherish
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
The Sandpipers - Guantanamera
Monkees - Last Train To Clarksville

The Sandpipers ? Rock & Roll ??!!?

[runnersdialzero]

The Grammys are not to be taken seriously.

[runnersdialzero]

'd still rather insert hot iron spikes into my eardrums than listen to her music.

I bet, if it came down to it, you would choose awful music over getting hot iron spikes inserted into your eardrums. Can you imagine?

[alf wiedersehen]

The Grammys have made some horrible choices down the years, none worse than in 1967...

AGD, Mike Love sometimes mentions GV losing out to "Monday, Monday" in the Grammys. Was there any category in the Grammys or other award shows in '67 where that happened?

My bad - I left that one out. The category was Rock & Roll Group Performance and the nominees were:

The Mamas & The Papas - Monday Monday
Association - Cherish
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
The Sandpipers - Guantanamera
Monkees - Last Train To Clarksville

The Sandpipers ? Rock & Roll ??!!?

To be fair, I don't think any of those songs are really "Rock & Roll."

[The Shift]

'd still rather insert hot iron spikes into my eardrums than listen to her music.

I bet, if it came down to it, you would choose awful music over getting hot iron spikes inserted into your eardrums. Can you imagine?

Aye but we fellow boarders could help out if Disney insists… that's what friends are for!

[retrokid67]

IF BRIAN WILSON HAD COMPOSED and The Beach Boys recorded "I Write The Songs", Beach Boys' fans would be using the term "genius", it would be on all of our (and Reprise/Capitol) comps, we wouldn't be able to mention it without alluding to Frank Sinatra covering it, and Brian Wilson would probably be performing it at every concert.

Or better yet if it was a Beatles song we'd be calling it "genius", and it would've gotten more than just one Grammy