The Smiley Smile Message Board

Just watched him sitting there on Fallon's show, taking all the credit for I Write  the Songs.  It made me sick. His plastic surgery stiff face is enough to make one gag, but  the fake, I'm the greatest act persona is beyond overbearing. We know who wrote that song and just once, just once, he should acknowledge that fact. Ranting here.

Funny too that he does it for such boring schmaltz of the song, ha!

I wonder if Manilow and Bruce had a falling out?  Might be a bit difficult for an LGBT person to be buddies with someone who politically supports a president with bigoted cabinet members. Maybe that's not the case here though, just a theory.

Has Manilow ever talked about Bruce in the past?

Found this recent photo of them together:

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BluuVeiR1-c/WK-K9NG_S3I/AAAAAAAAAxU/7SpnwOO3dMoAHt-OZPSRdXUlGD_IpxUsQCLcB/s1600/Mike%2BLove%252C%2BBarry%2BManilow%252C%2BBruce%2BJohnston%252C%2BMichael%2BLloyd%2BNovember%2B2016.jpg)

Beach Boys front man Mike Love, Barry Manilow, Beach Boys keyboardsman Bruce Johnston and Michael Lloyd, backstage in November 2016.

Source: http://blitzmag.blogspot.nl

Looks as ugly as Phil Spector.

just watched the 'jimmy fallon' official channel on youtube, Barry doesn't actually say that he 'wrote it'.
is there more of this interview leading to jumping to that conclusion online?
otherwise, seemed pretty straight forward to me, I didn't read into anything lucrative at all.

In 1975, composer-arranger-singer Barry Manilow was going through a creative crisis. In his own words: “My self-esteem as a creator was questioned.” He had vowed that after “Mandy” went to #1 (a song he didn’t write), “Mandy” was going to be the only “outside” song he’d record.  Yet, Arista Records head-honcho Clive Davis (who discovered Whitney Houston), kept sending song demos that he (Clive) guaranteed would be hits.

One was “I Write The Songs.” Barry listened to studio demos recorded by Bruce Johnston (the song writer), David Cassidy, and The Captain & Tennille. The song gives credit to “music” for having written every song. The lyric goes: “I am music, and I write the songs.” Manilow states in his 1987 autobiography “Sweet Life-Adventures On The Way To Paradise,” that the song’s concept was “intriguing.”  Yet, he still didn’t want to record the song, because it WASN’T his song, from his pen.  Clive Davis insisted, telling his hit-maker: “You’re being foolish and childish.”

The rest is rock and roll history.  “I Write The Songs” was the first single off the “Tryin’ To Get The Feeling” album (1975), and it shot to Number 1 in two weeks.

Source: http://nj1015.com/barry-manilow-didnt-write-i-write-the-songs-audio/

It's really funny & absurd that such travesty as "I Write The Songs" won Grammy. Is the jury or whoever picked it dumb or what? :-D

Oh! but it makes a great introduction for Mr Love every single damn show to acknowledge it.
who can get tired of hearing it over and over, year after year  :-\
it's a single classic, no child would have ever heard if they weren't from the 70's...

Agree 100%. Just that it's "classic" :quote

This song has somehow managed to pass me by. I've never heard "IWTS", in any of its manifestations. But then I'm not from the '70s. ;D

hahahaha 'Range' that's funny!

Not a big Manilow fan myself,  but my mom is!  ;)

Being a songwriter himself, Barry is actually pretty reverential about writers in interviews as I recall it. I'm sure I'm heard him namecheck Bruce on a couple occasions in the past.

Maybe Barry didn't "write" it....but Bruce and Mike look like they ate it.  ...  and often.

Barry Manilow is alright in my book. He had a huge string of hits and many songs that people sing along to without realizing who it is. You cannot deny his string of hits: Copacabana, Weekend in New England, Even Now, Can’t Smile Without You, I Write The Songs, Ready To Take a Chance Again, Looks Like We Made It, Mandy, It’s a Miracle, Could It Be Magic... His grandiose music style with building crescendos fits in with Bruce's music quite well, I think. Surprised they did not do more together, actually.

Well geez, how often has Bruce or Mike or any of the BBs mentioned that Fred Fassert wrote "Barbara Ann?" How often does Mike namecheck Scott McKenzie when he speaks about or performs "Kokomo?"

Nobody should feel sorry for Bruce if Manilow doesn't mention him much, or ever. Bruce is beyond rich from that song among other things, and is able to live his rich, bloated lifestyle beyond most folks' wildest imaginations. His name is on every release of "I Write the Songs." Bruce will be fine.

Wanna know what would happen if Barry Manilow mentioned, especially on *Jimmy Fallon's* show, that a guy named Bruce Johnston wrote that song? Crickets. Nobody would care, and nobody would know who that is. Manilow is rich and famous and doing what he wants in life. Bruce is rich and famous and doing what he wants in life. Jimmy Fallon is rich and famous and doing what he wants in life. Feel sorry for none of these people.

Well said, Mr. Jude!

Yes, thanks HJ for the well executed logic. Years ago, back in and around 1972, I had lunch with Manilow and a popular DJ. We ate at a hamburger joint at a small table. I had heard things through the rumor mill about his preferences but it was no big deal to me. He came off as a down to earth, interesting person that one could relate to quite easily. He lavished heaps of praise upon Bruce and his songwriting. Came away thinking he was a good guy for sure.

Good post!

Yes indeed. So much for BM taking all the credit for "IWTS"! Thanks, OSD.

I have always liked the version on Bruce's album.  Good song, a neat idea in lyrically framing music as a spirit that "writes the songs".   As far as name-checking Bruce, I think it would have just led to, "who's Bruce Johnston", and oh, "he's one of the BBs, sort of", the type of conversation likely not sought by the host.  Guys like Manilow have been on tv a lot and probably have an instinctive feel for these things.  Bruce could care less, he's happy cashing the royalties checks even after all these years.

Remember him stating on the Britain board a few years ago he got $250,000 in royalties for that song in one year after it was featured on some greatest hits album decades after its initial release....he's surely grossed a million off its many releases by now....

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BluuVeiR1-c/WK-K9NG_S3I/AAAAAAAAAxU/7SpnwOO3dMoAHt-OZPSRdXUlGD_IpxUsQCLcB/s1600/Mike%2BLove%252C%2BBarry%2BManilow%252C%2BBruce%2BJohnston%252C%2BMichael%2BLloyd%2BNovember%2B2016.jpg)

Ehhh...So explain to me the benefits of a healthy vegetarian diet will you Mike?  ::)

W(h)ino! ;D