They Write Their Own Songs

How often do you hear someone use this line as a defence for their dreadful taste? Way too often, given the statement is worthless. The first five Rolling Stones singles were covers and each was fantastic. Motown had a songwriting team which was behind many of their greatest recordings. Elvis was pretty important and he didn't write a lot. Jimi Hendrix didn't write All Along The Watchtower but he performs it so well that Dylan has adopted his version. Interestingly, many excellent songwriters also produce absolute clangers. Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Paul McCartney have all produced rough amongst the diamonds. On the other side of coin, would you really want your name on a Blink 182 song? Hell no! Their songs have the depth of a toilet bowl and the originality of a photocopier. Great songs are difficult and time consuming to write. They don't grow on trees but that doesn't mean that writing something worthless has more merit than singing something amazing that was written by someone else.