Barry Manilow’s “I Write the Songs” Lyrics Meaning

Letting the cat out of the bag early, the “I” in the title is not intended to be a reference to Barry Manilow or, conventionally speaking, whoever it is that may be singing this song. At least that is not how the person who did actually write “I Write the Songs” intended it to be. Rather, most simply put, he was writing from the perspective of God. 

Such is kinda revealed from the very first line of the piece, where the narrator asserts that he’s “been alive forever”. Or viewed differently, God is the source of all creativity, so to speak. Thus He or She, however you want to put it, is responsible for all the songs that we hear, like the really deep, soul-touching pieces, which is what the vocalist is most specifically referring to. And it is upon such a concept upon which this song is based.

And even though some artists may cover or sample “I Write the Songs” under more of a braggadocious disposition, there are actually other clues within the lyrics that the vocalist is referring to something more-powerful than himself. For instance, he notes that his “home” is actually “deep within you”. 

And as with that first line, he also implies later on that he bore witness to the entire chronology of music, like even from day one. 

Moving Vocals

Moreover in terms of vocal presentation, Barry Manilow couldn’t have presented this song any humbler than he did. But it’s like the vocals are so moving that it becomes one of those types of songs where the mood overpowers the wording. Or put differently, you would have to really listen to the lyrics in order to fully appreciate what’s going down here.

That may be why even to this day, over four decades after this song was first released, Barry Manilow is still concerned that people don’t understand what, as popular as it may be, it actually means. It’s almost as if he did too good of a job in terms of making it emotive. For at the end of the day this is not about the narrator being an effective songwriter, even if Manilow may in fact be one in real life.

Rather it is speaking to the very concept of music itself, going back to the days of Jubal, if you will. And what the vocalist is ultimately saying is that underneath all of the really special songs which have been dropped throughout the ages there is this life force, if you will, that is present throughout.

Who wrote “I Write the Songs”?

This song was written by Bruce Johnston, i.e. the long-standing member of a musical act even more popular than Barry Manilow, that being The Beach Boys. In fact it was an old Beach Boys’ affiliate, a husband-and-wife duo known as Captain & Tennille, who first laid down a version of “I Write the Songs” in 1975. 

Barry Manilow’s Version

The Partridge Family’s David Cassidy also came out with a rendition that same year, prior to Manilow. And as for Manilow’s own cover, it came out on 1 October 1975.

Manilow himself produced the track, doing so alongside Ron Dante. In fact a lesser-known fact about Manilow is that he is actually a prolific producer. He has been nominated for Grammys in that regard and even produced albums for the likes of Bette Midler and Dionne Warwick.

As the story goes Manilow was not too keen on the idea of recording this song, as he felt it sounded too self-centered. But Clive Davis, i.e. the patriarch of Arista Records, helped convince him to do so. And also, Barry himself liked the tune. But for a moment there, he still felt embarrassed when he heard it in public. And yes, Manilow’s version is a product of Arista Records.

Achievements of “I Write the Songs”

And his version also proved, by far, to be the most-popular of the aforementioned. For instance, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and came in at number 13 on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 for 1976. It also resulted in Bruce Johnston taking home the 1977 Song of the Year Grammy, making him the only Beach Boy to have ever done so. In fact it wasn’t way until 2005 that any of the other Beach Boys won a Grammy ever. And that was for an instrumental Brian Wilson dropped entitled “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow”.

And while we’re on the subject of Brian Wilson, he is considered one of the 20th Century’s most important songwriters. As such, many people were actually under the impression that Bruce Johnston wrote this song as a tribute to Wilson. In fact that theory became so pervasive that Johnston himself was compelled to explicitly state that the “song has nothing to do with Brian”.

In 1979 Barry Manilow did go on to win a Grammy of his own, in the field of Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, as a result of another well-known song he dropped entitled “Copacabana (at the Copa)”.

And to note David Cassidy’s version of “I Write the Songs” was also pretty successful, peaking at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.