They DO! The problem is that no record label wants to produce anything but whatever is "hot" at the moment, especially Top 40 material. It's been said - often - that if Irving Berlin or Cole Porter were alive today, they'd be living on their royalties from the good old days: no one would want to publish/record anything they were still writing.

I've met guys who had hits years ago but had given up since Rock drove out the good ballads. One went into the paint business! One big record company exec told me he loved my music, and said "Wow! A great song. If it had come out in the forties, we could revive it now for so-and-so." When I asked what he meant he explained, "That's what we call 'nostalgia music.' The only people who want to hear it (read Buy It!) are people who were growing up in those days. It reminds them of when they were young."

Now the only ones who sing the great hits are cabaret singers. Their records sell in pretty small numbers, usually on specialized labels without big sales. And even those artists aren't at all receptive to new material in the same style and quality.

A big producer I wrote to replied that I'd have to be a reincarnation of Cole Porter for him to be interested. I don't pretend to be that great, but how many songwriters of his time were? He added that my competition with singers is the Great American Songbook.

And then you read articles quoting cabaret artists who say they're looking for new material. But when you contact them, they rarely even answer.

I know this sounds like a self-serving bellyache, but it's really a dirge for new music. The classical critics are complaining that few symphony orchestras ever play anything but the old war-horses. Theater critics say they're producing only revivals of hit shows. Producers explanation is that's what the public wants. The way things are going, all our creative people will end up in the paint business, or something like it.

All knowledgeable pros give the same advice: write because you love it, not because you expect it to go anywhere. Okay, I do just that, but every creative person wants to have an audience, however small. Relatives and friends are just not enough if you feel you have something good to say. As for making dough with it, that would be great, but secondary.

The few brave Web sites like Lyrical Line and other songwriter sites have lately given me a bit of hope. I've even made direct contact with a publisher and singers that way.

But the next time I hear someone say "They don't write songs like that any more, " I'm going to get up on a chair and SCREAM, "Oh yes we do, but you'll have to let the publishers and record companies know you want them, and not just complain wistfully!"

Anyone wants to comment? I'd love to hear from you (especially if you're a singer or producer.)

Arnold J. Olenick, ASCAP
1501 Beacon Street
Brookline, MA 02446
email: ajo@world.std.com