“I write the songs,” sang Barry Manilow, though ironically, that particular number was composed by Bruce Johnston. He has written plenty, though, but it sounds like he may not be doing it for too much longer.
Not only is Manilow in the midst of his ‘The Last Concerts’ series – he isn’t retiring, but these gigs are in cities that he claims he won’t be playing again – but he’s also indicated that his upcoming album will “probably” be his last.
Describing it to Billboard as a pop album, Manilow says that he’s happy with the record and that it should please his fans, but he concedes that his brand of songwriting is quite different to what a lot of today’s most successful artists are practising.
“The songwriting has changed,” he says. “Young people don’t write the way I was trained to write. There’s no verse which goes into the chorus which goes back to the verse which goes to the ending, and you change keys. They don’t do that. They start the song and then they just…it feels like a run-on sentence to me. I can’t find the hook. I can’t find the chorus. It just keeps on going, and then it ends.”
It’s certainly true that, in a lot of cases, traditional songcraft has given way to something more simplistic, with just a single groove or chord progression carrying an entire track. In these instances, the production is left to add a lot of the variety, but it sounds like Manilow has no interest in trying to compete with the current wave of stars.
“That’s not what this album is, and that’s not the way I know how to write,” he says, “and I think my contemporary songwriters and people I work with would say the same.”
Manilow certainly isn’t writing himself off just yet, though, and says that he’ll continue to perform for as long as he’s able to meet his own exacting standards.
“I’m still healthy. I’m strong and I’ve still got my voice and my energy,” he says. “The night I can’t hit the F natural on Even Now, that’s the night I throw in the towel. But I can still do it.”
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