The Power of the Song: Saturday Soundtrack

It is the nature of popular music that it must appeal to common desire and reflect common experience. That is it's power. Who likes to work? No one. If we liked it it would be called something else. Almost everyone would rather be doing something else with their lives. Which is why songs about how horrible work is are a constant presence on the various song popularity charts. Likewise, on radio stations with many teenaged listeners, songs about hating school are popular; Pink Floyd's "The Wall", for example. And, of course, pop song versions of "I see you, you see me, we have to be together or I'm going to die" are legion.

Songwriters, at least the one's who make money, know how to pluck those universal chords. But, to the best of my knowledge, there is only one song about the ability of a songwriter to completely reveal the feelings and thoughts of an unknown listener. (Barry Manilow's "I write the Songs" doesn't count. It wasn't about a songwriter. Rather it had for its subject the platonic ideal MUSIC.) It is a remarkable idea, and the song in question has been covered by the Jackson 5, the Fugees, and countless other artists. With the exception of some up-tempo Japanese girl band recordings, I like almost every version of the song I've ever heard, especially a flamenco version I heard once. I, even I sang it karaoke in a tiny smoke filled room once. But my favorite version is the 1974 Grammy Award winning recording by Roberta Flack. (Music by Charles Fox, lyrics by Norman Gimbel)